Chicken Marbella
This Chicken Marbella is a classic recipe that you’ll want to make over and over again! It’s made with a rich marinade of olives, wine vinegar, capers, and more.
What is Chicken Marbella?
This recipe originated from a cookbook called the Silver Palate Cookbook and was popular in the 1980s. It’s marinated with red wine vinegar, olives, capers, prunes, and herbs and then baked with wine. It’s a rich chicken dish that’s super tender and full of flavor!
Why I love Chicken Marbella
- It’s packed with flavor! This chicken is so flavorful and rich!
- It’s an impressive recipe to serve a crowd but requires minimal effort. This is the perfect meal for a dinner party, dinner date, or to impress your friends. It seems like it’s super fancy and took a lot of skill, but it’s really simple.
The Ingredients to make Chicken Marbella
- Bone-In, Skin-On Chicken Thighs. You can also use breasts, but you really want the bone and skin!
- Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar. The vinegar adds a rich and deep flavor!
- Capers. Add some of the liquid with the capers for more flavor.
- Green Olives. You’ll want to get pitted, unfilled olives.
- Prunes. It sounds random, but it’s delicious!
- Parsley and Oregano. The chicken has a strong oregano flavor.
- White Wine.
- Coconut Sugar.
How to make Chicken Marbella
- Prepare the chicken marinade.
- Marinate the chicken for minimum 2 hours, or overnight.
- Transfer the chicken to the baking dish with the marinade and top with red wine and coconut sugar.
- Bake in the oven and serve.
What do you serve with Chicken Marbella?
- Roasted vegetables, like carrots
- Rice or cauliflower rice
- Pasta of your choice
- A side salad with a vinaigrette dressing
What if you want to avoid the wine?
If you’re AIP and want to avoid alcohol, keep in mind that alcohol does cook out in dishes like this. However, if you’d rather forgo it altogether, you can add a bit more vinegar and some chicken broth instead. It won’t pack as much flavor as the wine, but it will work.
What kind of olives should you get?
Spanish green olives are what’s used in the traditional recipe, but green olives of any kind will work. Make sure they’re pitted and aren’t stuffed with anything.
Really, prunes? Why?
Trust me on the prunes! It seems weird, but they’re delicious when roasted. It adds a hint of sweetness and texture. Make sure they’re pitted!
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Chicken Marbella
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup capers, with some liquid
- 1/2 cup green olives, pitted
- 1 cup prunes, pitted
- 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 lbs chicken thighs, bone in skin-on
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup white wine
Instructions
- Prepare the marinade in a large bowl or glass tupperware. Combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, capers (with some of the liquid), green olives, prunes, parsley, oregano, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Add the chicken and toss to coat in the marinade. Cover and transfer to the fridge for 2 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and add the chicken to a large baking dish with the marinade. Add wine to the baking dish and top the chicken with coconut sugar.
- Cover the baking dish and transfer it to the oven. Bake for 50 minutes.
- Remove the cover from the baking dish and turn the oven heat up to 400 F. Bake for another 10 minutes. The chicken should be at least 165 F.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before transferring to a serving tray.
Notes
All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Estimations do not include optional ingredients.
If you’re AIP and want to avoid alcohol, keep in mind that alcohol does cook out in dishes like this. However, if you’d rather forgo it altogether, you can add a bit more vinegar and some chicken broth instead. It won’t pack as much flavor as the wine, but it will work.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Baked
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 457
- Fat: 25.6g
- Carbohydrates: 28.1g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 27.5g
Keywords: chicken marbella
AIP
Low Carb
Paleo
Whole30
If using boneless how long should I bake?
You’d probably reduce the cooking time. I’d try 10 minutes less and then check and see the progress from there.
This was very easy and very good! I misplaced my bag of prunes so I used some dried figs….delicious. Thank you for the recipe, it was a hit with the family I made it for and with me. Can’t wait for the left for lunch.
★★★★★
yay, so glad you and your family enjoyed it!!
Was hoping my husband would like this since the combo of prunes and olives seemed a little weird to him. SUCCESS and will make it again but will omit the salt at the beginning since it came out a little salty and I am one who has to ingest salts to keep my blood sodium levels high enough.
★★★★★
Do you use red wine or white wine in the dish? It looks like both are listed (along with red wine vinegar, of course)
I use white wine!
Made this tonight for dinner, and it’s soooo good! Marinated for 7 hours, used dried parsley, drizzled with maple syrup instead of coconut sugar, added a splash of white wine vinegar instead of the wine, and took the chicken off the bone and added back to the pan to cook an extra 15 minutes. The chicken was amazingly flavorful! Definitely will make again.
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed!!
I just LOOOOOVE this recipe and dish. We make it often in our household. Really easy. Super delicious. And nutrient dense. I follow the recipe verbatim, no changes. Thanks Michelle for this one!!!!
★★★★★
Thank you so much!!