Slow Cooker Chicken Marbella

This Chicken Marbella is inspired by the dinner party classic from the 1980s. With the unusual combination of chicken, prunes, olives, and capers, it is so unexpectedly delicious.

The original recipe for Chicken Marbella was published in the Silver Palate Cookbook (affiliate link) in 1982. At the time, the cookbook was considered revolutionary and sophisticated. The recipes were dinner party ready, yet much less labor intensive than ones from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

When the book was first published, it introduced new fresh ingredients and flavors as well as a relaxed style. It was sort of The Joy of Cooking for the 1980s. I still cook from this book, as well as The New Basics cookbook.

This Chicken Marbella, made in the slow cooker, is even less work than the original recipe (no basting required). The combination of ingredients, sweet prunes and briny olives and capers, finished with white wine and a splash of orange juice, is unexpectedly delicious.

Tips for making slow cooker Chicken Marbella:

First, to prevent the sauce from getting greasy from the chicken skin, brown the chicken, skin side down, to render most of the fat.

In addition, reserve some of the olive prune mixture for adding at the end of the cooking time, both for appearance and freshness.

Serve this chicken with rice, couscous, and/or bread to sop up the delicious sauce.

You start the chicken in a cold nonstick skillet and turn on the heat to render the fat.

Next, you pulse the olives, some of the capers, some of the prunes, some brown sugar, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper, and some salt and pepper in a food processor. You want it to be chunky, not smooth, so keep an eye on it.

If you can't find pitted green olives, just tap into your martini olives and remove the pimentos! That's what I ended up doing.

Cook the chicken in the slow cooker with all but 1/4 cup of the olive mixture, chicken broth, dry white wine and more prunes.

After the chicken is done cooking, place the pieces on a serving plate and then stir the rest of the olive mixture, capers, and a splash of orange juice. Serve the chicken with the sauce.

This chicken dish was a big hit in our house. I made a batch of white rice and served it with the chicken, spooning some of the sauce over both the chicken and the rice.

If you have some crusty sourdough or French bread, dip it in the sauce. It's delectable.

Multicooker Monday April 2020:

Recipes for Instant Pots, Slow Cookers, Sous Vide and More!

• Instant Pot Corned Beef with a BBQ Whiskey Glaze from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Instant Pot Beef Tacos from Palatable Pastime
• Easy Beef Stroganoff Pasta (Instant Pot) from Food Lust People Love
• Instant Pot Creamy Broccoli Mac N Cheese from Making Miracles
• Badshahi Chicken Legs - Air Fryer from Sneha's Recipe
• Slow Cooker Chicken Marbella from Karen's KItchen Stories

Slow Cooker Chicken Marbella

Get the flavors of Chicken Marbella in the slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Chicken Marbella

Yield: 6 servings

Author: Karen Kerr

This Chicken Marbella is inspired by the dinner party classic from the 1980s. With the unusual combination of chicken, prunes, olives, and capers, it is so unexpectedly delicious.

Ingredients:

• 8 bone-in chicken thighs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup pitted green olives
• 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup pitted prunes, halved, divided
• 3 tablespoons caper, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

How to cook Slow Cooker Chicken Marbella

1. Dry the chicken thighs with paper towels and sprinkle with 1/2 each of salt and pepper. 
2. Place the chicken, skin side down, in a cold nonstick skillet. 
3. Cook the chicken over medium heat until the skin is browned, about 10 minutes. 
4. Place the chicken, skin side up, in the slow cooker. 
5. In the bowl of a food processor, place the olives, 1/2 cup of the prunes, 2 tablespoons of the capers, the sugar, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Pulse until finely chopped but not pureed, about 10 pulses. 
6. Remove 1/4 cup of the mixture from the food processor and set aside. 
7. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture from the food processor over the chicken. 
8. Pour in the chicken broth, white wine, and the rest of the prunes. 
9. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. 
10. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Add the orange juice, the rest of the olive mixture, and the final tablespoon of capers into the slow cooker. 
11. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
12. Ladle the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with the parsley. 

Calories
445.39

Fat (grams)
27.05

Sat. Fat (grams)
7.60

Carbs (grams)
10.72

Fiber (grams)
1.73

Net carbs
8.99

Sugar (grams)
6.09

Protein (grams)
41.68

Sodium (milligrams)
1381.67

Cholesterol (grams)
222.70

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2020/04/slow-cooker-chicken-marbella.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

chicken, marbella

Main dish, Crock Pot

American

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This recipe was adapted from Cook's Country Magazine, Feb/Mar 2020. I look forward to receiving every edition of this wonderful magazine.