A dried fig riff of the iconic Chicken Marbella dish. That's bone-in chicken, briny olives and capers, sweet dried figs swapped in for the traditional sweet prunes (re: dried plums).
Toss it together the night before, bake it the next day, done. Sweet, salty, tangy, garlicky, all at once.
Dried figs really shine in chicken dishes. They melt in the oven and thicken the marinade, adding a mild, honeyed sweetness.
What is Chicken Marbella
Chicken Marbella is an iconic American-Jewish dish – prunes, olives, capers, garlic, vinegar and wine. Named after a resort town off the Mediterranean coast, Marbella, and inspired by the cuisines of Southern Spain and the tagines of Morocco, the dish itself was developed in Manhattan's Upper West Side in the late 1970s by the food store Silver Palate.
As soon as the recipe was published in the Silver Palate Cookbook it became wildly popular, especially at Jewish Holidays, Shabbat, Passover, the High Holidays across the US. It's served every year at my family High Holidays that are just around the corner in mid Sept. Traditionally it's made with prunes and this version swaps them for dried figs.
My Chicken Marbella Ingredient Thoughts
Chicken: Bone-in, skin-on thighs, always. The original uses whole chickens, and any cut works, just adjust cooking times accordingly. Dark meat takes longer to cook than white meat, so if you're using both take the light meat out while the dark keeps cooking. Either way, the chicken is done when it's cooked through – technically 165°F on an instant thermometer, which I don't personally use.
Dried Figs: The star of this chicken show. They break down as they bake, becoming our sauce. Any dried fig variety and color works. Traditionally made with prunes, we're swapping in the milder, sweeter, more honey-like fig, same jammy melt.
Olives: buttery, briny and bright green olives with a meaty flesh, and a mild flavor, such as Castelvetrano or Cerignola olives, pair best but any type at all can be used.
Buy unpitted olives, they taste better than the pitted kind every time, making the extra time to pit worth it.
Capers: briny capers for doing their salty, tangy thang and cutting through the sweetness.
Garlic: the original recipe calls for an entire head of garlic, peeled. Which means a lot of time spent peeling garlic. This version quickens the prep by simply cutting an entire head in half and roasting it with the chicken. A couple minced cloves are added as well for an extra garlicky flavor. It's possible to just stick with the whole head or the minced cloves.
Wine: Turns our marinade into a braising liquid, adding acidity and depth. The dish is traditionally made with white wine but red can work as well.
Sherry & Red Wine Vinegar: balancing the sweet and salty, the classic Chicken Marbella is traditionally made with only red wine vinegar. We're scaling back the amount of brown sugar and introducing additional sweetness with the sherry vinegar. The vinegar mellows as it cooks and you can experiment with different vinegars alone or in combination.
Brown Sugar: it's for caramelization more than sweetening – it helps get that golden brown chicken skin during baking, especially necessary since we're not searing it on the stove first.
Make Ahead
The marinating is the make-ahead – toss the chicken with the marinade the night before and let it sit in the fridge. By the time you're ready to bake, the flavor's already there. Just place the chicken in a baking dish, season generously, sprinkle with brown sugar, pour in the wine, and bake.
The result is tender, juicy chicken nestled between sweet dried figs, meaty green olives, briny capers in an aromatic sweet and tangy pan sauce. The flavors are bright and bold.
This scales up easily for a crowd – a perfect recipe for entertaining that's prepped ahead of time — and scales back just as easily for a Tuesday.
More Chicken with Fruit Recipes
Same one-pan chicken situation, different fruit each season – cherry and peaches in summer, pomegranate and grape in fall, cranberry for the holidays. Once you've made one, you'll know how to make them all.
If ya tried it, I'd love to hear – leave a comment below and tag me on IG, @danielagerson, so I can see too!
There's a whole lot more seasonal recipes and colorful produce guides waiting for ya on the site.
Let's make waves in the kitchen.
Chicken Marbella with Dried Figs
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken thighs
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups dried figs
- 3/4 cup green olives pitted
- 1/4 cup capers with a bit of juice
- 1/2 cup wine red or white
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 head garlic split in half (a couple minced cloves, optional)
- 2 bay leaves
- Fresh herbs for serving such as parsley or cilantro (optional)
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Whisk together the olive oil and vinegars in a medium bowl and add the figs, olives, capers, bay leaves, minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper.
- Place the chicken in a resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Seal, pushing out as much air as possible, and squish everything around so the thighs are evenly coated. Refrigerate overnight.
- When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 375°F. Arrange the chicken thighs skin side up in a single layer in a roasting pan. Nestle in the garlic head, cut side up. Pour the marinade over everything. Sprinkle the chicken with brown sugar and another 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then pour the wine around the chicken.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, basting every 15 minutes with the pan juices, until the chicken hits 165°F and the skin's nicely browned.
- Simmer the pan juices on the stove to reduce by half (optional but worth it, otherwise just serve straight out of the oven). Top with fresh herbs and enjoy.
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