Braised Chicken & Sausages with Tomatoes
Submitted by burley bear
Italian sausages and chicken braised in red wine and crushed tomatoes with peppers, garlic, and fresh herbs. A big-batch one-pot dinner built for feeding a crowd or stocking the freezer.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
40 minREADY
55 minThis is Sunday supper, Italian-American style.
Hot Italian sausages and chicken breast quarters get browned in batches, then braised together in red wine and crushed tomatoes with peppers, onions, garlic, and a handful of fresh herbs.
The whole thing simmers for just 25 minutes, which means you’ve got a rich, deeply flavored stew on the table in under an hour.
Here’s the bonus: this recipe is designed for batch cooking. Make the full pot, serve a third for dinner tonight, and freeze the rest in two containers for easy weeknight meals down the road.
Toss some olives in at the end if you want that briny, Mediterranean edge.
Pro Tips
- Brown the meat in batches. Crowding the Dutch oven steams instead of sears, and you’ll miss out on all that caramelized flavor.
- Deglaze with wine and scrape up every brown bit. That fond on the bottom of the pan is concentrated flavor gold.
- Hot or sweet sausage is your call. Hot adds a kick that plays well against the sweet peppers. Sweet keeps it mellow for kids and milder palates.
- Let the stew cool completely before freezing. It reheats beautifully in the microwave or on the stovetop and tastes even better the second time around.
Ingredients
Directions
In 8-quart Dutch oven over medium heat, brown sausages.
Drain and cool sausages, reserving pan drippings.
Slice into 1- inch diagonal pieces; place in a large bowl.
Drain all but 1 tablespoon of drippings from pan.
To drippings, add onion; cook over medium heat 5 minutes.
Increase heat slightly. Add red pepper: cook for 5 minutes.
Add garlic; cook 1 minute. Remove to bowl with sausage.
Warm oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken in batches so pan is not crowded.
Cook 5 minutes per batch, or until browned on all sides.
Add to bowl with sausage.
Add wine to pan, stirring to scrape up brown bits.
Add tomatoes, parsley, basil, oregano, salt and black pepper.
Cover; bring to a boil. Stir in chicken and sausage mixture.
Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked.
Add olives (if desired) during the last few minutes.
Dinner Plan: Remove ⅔ of stew to 2 separate microwave-proof containers; cool, then freeze for later use.
Serve remaining stew.
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