Chicken With Vinegar Recipe (2024)

I agree, except I wouldn't bother skimming the fat. Honestly, Bittman, some days I wonder about you. Throw away the pan juices?! Never!

I brought back an authentic recipe for this traditional Lyonnaise dish 25 years ago. It is the favorite dish in my cooking class "Great Chicken Dishes from France." However Mr. Bittman is missing one essential ingredient from the dish that is ALWAYS included, no matter where in Lyon I've eaten it, and that is the big dollop of creme fraiche that is stirred into the syrupy vinegar mixture at the end. This dish is incomplete without that!

If you are using red vinegar which does have 5% acidity, is it necessary to add the 1/2 cup of water at the end?

This is a recipe to learn by heart. Simple, aromatic, and delicious. I was in a bit of a hurry so bought six chicken thighs rather than a whole chicken.

I've made something like this, stovetop, but with garlic and mushrooms. Main difference is to add half and half red wine and red wine vinegar, and reduce after removing the chicken to rest, so you wind up with an agrodolce sauce. Pastene's imported red wine vinegar is lovely and inexpensive, with 5% acidity. Easily to find in Boston, not sure about the rest of the country.

May be from Lyon, France but my mama from Naples, Italy did this very same thing, EXACTLY, and I have been doing it forever too. So tasty and easy, generally a twice a month meal along with plain cheese risotto and nice green salad.

For my husband and myself I used 4 chicken thighs with bones and skin.
After baking the browned thighs for 15 minutes I transferred to a plate and keep them warm in a preheated 200 degree oven while I made the sauce. Though the thighs were under 3 lbs. I still made the same amount of sauce.
The thighs were moist. I will make this again because it's fast for a weeknight meal. Loved the crispy skin.

I was surprised to see this dish as I thought I invented it! My dish is the same idea but much simpler. After sauteing, add the shallots and vinegar over the chicken with a sprinkling of olive oil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. I use 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar instead of the red vinegar, no extra water. I've added diced mushrooms on occasion.
The mushrooms absorb the flavor of the juices/vinegar. No acrid flavor or smell. I'll try this recipe and see which my family likes better.

Easy to take it out of the oven and throw in a pyrex pan and return to the oven after 12-15 minutes (vice 15-20) and keep the oven on. Then prep the shallots in the drippings/vinegar during the last bit of cooking time. Extra shallots a good idea as they taste good.

Holy Cow....! As a retired Chef, I have never, and I mean NEVER, been directed to discard/throw away, pan juices...YIKES....SACRILEGiOUS...!

Just throw in some garlic and peppercorns and you'll have Filipino Adobo.

Mr. Bittman is missing one essential ingredient from the dish that is ALWAYS included, no matter where in Lyon I've eaten it, and that is the big dollop of creme fraiche that is stirred into the syrupy vinegar mixture at the end. This dish is incomplete without that!

THIS WAS AWFUL. The chicken, cooked as directed, was delicious. the sauce tasted like pure vinegar, even diluted with water and butter. what did I do wrong?

Only had skinless, boneless chicken thighs so I coated in a gf flour. Thought it was going to be a disaster, but worked exactly per the recipe. Also only had vegan butter. Delicious!!!!

Nice easy meal. Definitely use butter and sprinkle with parsley if have any on-hand.

The vinegar sauce was too strong for me, so I added some chicken stock and red wine to the vinegar, reduced the liquids, and finished with butter. Served with boiled and then roasted (until crispy) garlicky yellow potato chunks, and sauteed cabbage. I served the vinegar sauce on the side. Very nice!

In response to a previous comment: As the recipe directs, I would skim fat off the drippings before adding vinegar (if you tilt the pan, there is more fat than needed for the sauce). This Bittman recipe is excellent: relatively little work for a chicken sauté, excellent texture (crisp chicken) and taste (sauce).

I have made this before, except I used duck fat instead of butter, and also Raspberry Wine Vinegar instead of Red Wine Vinegar. It was wonderful! I roasted some veggies in the cooking juices, even better! I never throw out cooking juices - freeze then and serve over rice or with fresh made noodles and veggies.

Delicious…had it with broccoli…Next time have rice or potatoes to soak up the sauce and have leftovers…

Made a hybridized version of this recipe and the one from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Samin’s version is done all on the stove top and cooks for much longer. I browned and baked per this recipe, then looked to Samin’s for the sauce. Used 3/4c white wine and 1/4c white wine vinegar, added a pinch of rosemary (hers calls for tarragon), and finished with a hefty dollop of creme fraiche. Lovely and simple.

This was really, really delicious. I didn't have any fresh thyme, so I used paprika on the chicken and served this alongside blackened string beans and a dollop of pureed parsnips, which perfectly soaked up all the juices from the onion. Someone said that this is a recipe to learn by heart, and that's true! Such a perfect winter dish. I loved it.

Used this recipe with 6 chicken legs so I reduced the vinegar to 1/2 cup. Simple but delicious. Will definitely use this recipe again.

How is it possible for half a cup of water to reduce to thickness in 2 minutes??

Just made this for my family using boneless chicken thighs and it was a huge hit!

Sauté with extra butter. Dollop of creme fraiche at the end.

This is amazing exactly as the recipe is written. I thought it would taste really vinegary, but it doesn't. The sauce is just sweet, smooth, and perfect over the chicken. Next time I'm going to calorie splurge and make some baby potatoes to roll around in that yummy sauce, too!

Delicious! I diluted the vinegar with red wine. I agree with not discarding the pan juices. Next time I will try it without the butter!

truly 20 minutes and really good - tangy and wonderful. No changes except used chinese scallions as that's what I had around.