Roast Chicken Thighs with White Wine, Pancetta, and Olives

There’s nothing more comforting than roast chicken. I can’t count how many times I’ve cooked it, but I can never get tired of this dish. Chicken has a nice flavor when roasted with just salt, pepper and herbs, but there are a number of other ingredients you can add.

The way I roasted it this time was inspired by my sausage and potatoes one-pot dish last week. I added a few slices of pancetta for a crunchy top, some pitted olives and a few of the husk tomatoes I used in the sausage dish. We had a little Pinot Grigio wine left over, so I included that at the end for a nice sauce to form when in the oven. The wine also keeps the chicken moist. I served it with some roasted vegetables and the rest of the Pinot Grigio.


Roast Chicken Thighs with White Wine Recipe

  • 4 chicken thighs
  • 4 slices pancetta, or bacon
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1 cup pitted olives
  • 1 handful husk tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    2 teaspoons dried thyme

  • salt & pepper, to taste

    Preheat oven to 400°F. Place chicken thighs in a large baking pan, then put in olives, garlic, husk tomatoes and wine. Place one pancetta slice on top of each thigh. Top with the thyme and salt & pepper then drizzle olive oil on chicken. Depending on the size of your chicken thighs, bake for an hour to an hour and a half, until golden brown. Check every 15-20 minutes and stir the ingredients around a bit. The wine, olives and garlic will make a delicious sauce.

    Total Time: 60-90 minutes
    Yield: 2-4 servings

  • Comments

    1. says

      This looks delicious! I would never have thought of putting olives in this dish. Or husk tomatoes (ground cherries to us PA Dutch folk). Is the tart sweetness of the husk tomatoes preserved in the final result? What does this taste like??

      • says

        Thank you! Yes, the sweetness of the husk tomatoes (ground cherries 😉 ) contrasted well with the salty flavored olives. It was more of an experiment to add those ingredients so I’m surprised by how nice it worked out. It also makes a nice sauce with the wine so I thought it would be a nice compliment for the crispy chicken.

        • says

          Success! I also added a cup of chopped zucchini (needed to use them up) so the olive tomato part wound up being like a ratatouille-esque side dish. Next time I’ll add more wine (I used a chardonnay) ’cause the sauce was so yummy and I almost reduced it down to nothing on the stovetop after the thighs were done.

          Thanks for inspiring me to cook with olives! I think that was the key ingredient with the tomatoes playing an important role in counterbalancing all the savory goin’ on.

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