Chicken Confit With Pickled Tomatoes
4.9
(8)
Confit is one of those old-fashioned food preservation things that we still do because it’s delicious. After meat is salted and braised in its own fat, it can safely sit, submerged in that fat, for weeks without spoiling. Until the zombie apocalypse, we have refrigeration, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also have confit. This confited chicken is spiced with ras el hanout, a North African spice mix (I like the one from New York Shuk). My favorite way to serve this confit is to crisp it up and pile it on top of herby, confit fat–dressed rice noodles. I garnish with bright pickled tomatoes, slightly sweetened with earthy molasses and floral vanilla to cut through it all.
Ingredients
For preparing chicken:
For pickled tomatoes:
For cooking chicken:
For herby rice noodle salad:
Preparation
Step 1
Put the chicken, salt, ras el hanout, garlic, and thyme in a ziplock freezer bag. Seal the bag and shake vigorously. Put the bag in a plastic container to prevent leakage, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.
Step 2
To pickle the tomatoes, combine the vinegar, water, molasses, salt, and vanilla in a nonreactive container with a tight-fitting lid. Cover and shake to completely dissolve the salt. Add the tomatoes, onion, and thyme and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 2 weeks.
Step 3
Heat the oven to 225°F. Remove the bag with the chicken from the refrigerator. Pour the contents into a colander in the sink and rinse. Transfer the chicken, garlic, and thyme sprigs to an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with fairly high sides, or a Dutch oven, so that the chicken sits in one layer. Spread the sliced onion on top and pour in the oils, until the chicken is completely covered. Bake for 6 hours, or until the onion has caramelized and the chicken is super tender and delicious and falling off of the bone. Carefully pull the dish out of the oven to cool for an hour, then remove the chicken and strain the fat into a clean lidded jar (it’ll keep in the fridge for months). Shred the cooked chicken and set aside on a large plate.
Step 4
To make the noodle salad, in a bowl, toss the rice noodles with the herbs, 1⁄2 cup of the reserved confit fat, and the salt.
Step 5
Heat 2 teaspoons of the confit fat in a large nonstick pan over high heat until it just starts to smoke. Add the shredded chicken confit and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned, crispy, and insanely fragrant. Divide the noodle salad among eight bowls and top with the sautéed confit and some pickled tomatoes, and serve.
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Reviews (8)
Back to TopI first made this last year with two turkey legs, and it changed my life: Confit is a revelation, and so is the leftover oil! This time out I used a large tray of chicken thighs from Aldi and it was even better. I let the chicken sit in the spices for about 36+ hours, baked as indicated — and then let the cooked chicken sit in the fat for another two days (as per another reviewer here). I also kept as many onion pieces as I could salvage and added to the shredded chicken … O.M.G. One of these days I’ll make the rest of this recipe (!), but so far I’ve been content to just store the rich meat in some of the leftover oil and then serve with various carb-rich sides, a tossed salad, and a good red wine. It just doesn’t get any better — or easier — than this.
Embo
RVA
4/9/2022
This review is for the confit chicken only. I’m a huge fan of the Jansal Valley brand of Ras al Hanout and was excited to find this recipe. I also had a big jar of fresh leaf lard from a local butcher. The thighs they had were oddly huge so I used 5 of them - 3.5 lbs total. I will look for that size again since the usable meat to (bone and stuff you don’t eat) was pretty high. I used the full about of salt and after about 20 hours in the fridge I rinsed them really well to make sure they wouldn’t be too salty. There wasn’t quite enough lard to cover so I added some TJ Kalamata olive oil and some vegetable oil. 225 convection and they were falling apart after 5 hours. I let them cool a little then scooped them out and let them drain over an instant pot grate I let in a large bowl. I just took off the meat and wow, is it tasty. Not greasy but really rich. Going to sear some and put it over an arugula salad. The recipe says to strain and keep the oil but there’s water liquid in it as well so I’ll try to separate after chilling. I am definitely making this again. Maybe next time with the Jansal Vadouvan Curry which is our go-to for making Nadiya Hussain’s loaf pan shawarma.
gregpnw
Portland Oregon
1/25/2021
This recipe is absolutely delicious and will make your whole house smell amazing. I have made this 3x and 6 hours in an uncovered dutch oven at 225 seems to be perfect. The only modification I made was to back off the salt in the herb mixture by about a tablespoon (1/4 C of salt is a LOT). I found that backing off the salt a smidge made it perfect. I should note that I have only made the chicken and not the pickled tomatoes or the vermicelli. I usually put the chicken on salad.
jlsoltys
Virginia
12/14/2020
It is utterly delicious. Imaginative and harmonious.
neongreenon
Arizona
11/30/2020
This took three days to make, because I did the pickles the day before I got ahold of some leg quarters and ras el hanout. Absolutely, totally worth it. Husband loved it, 3 year old loved it, I loved it, and I’m going to be using the leftover oil to make everything else for months.
eappalacios
Las Vegas, NV
5/13/2020
Question, could you do the confit in a sous vide apparatus instead of the oven to reduce over heating the meat?
siddunn4052
Lake Charles LA. (Siddunn@aol.com)
10/25/2019
Made as directed. Fabulous meat but a tad salty and I love salt. Next time will back off the salt. And probably skip tomatoes. Maybe 24 hours on pickled tomatoes was not enough …they tasted just like tomatoes. And it was not clear in the instructions but when shredding I saved all meat, including skin, and only removed bones.
DZ
11/4/2023
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