Today’s Chicken Marbella Orzo Skillet features juicy chicken thighs marinated in red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and oregano. The chicken is cooked snuggled up with olives, prunes, and capers cooked on a bed of tender orzo. This recipe borrows heavily from the original Chicken Marbella from the book The Silver Palate. The Silver Palate is a 1980s cookbook that broke records by selling 250,000 copies in its first year. The book is by Sheila Lukens and Julee Rosso. At the time of Lukens’s death in 2009, The Silver Palate remained in the top 10 best-selling cookbooks of all time – selling more than 2.5 million copies.
To say that the book was ubiquitous would be an understatement. It set the North American standard of home entertaining in the 1980s and into the 1990s. The most famous dish to come out of The Silver Palate franchise is Chicken Marbella. I didn’t grow up with Chicken Marbella, though when it was introduced to me it did seem vaguely familiar. As a child of the 90s perhaps it was on the wind when I was young and I learned about it through osmosis. But I was more explicitly introduced to the dish in my early thirties when I inquired what my best friend wanted for her birthday. And her response was Chicken Marbella.
Now, it’s not hard to see why she would love a dish like Chicken Marbella. It’s salty, sweet, tangy, and tart – literally something for everyone. But she had a special fondness for it because in her mind it was fancy company food. Her mother would make it for her adult friends, so it was forever coded as sophisticated and “grownup”. So I sought out the original recipe and made it for a very small birthday dinner (we were in the midst of COVID) and I fell head over heels in love with it. It is truly a classic for a very good reason.
Today’s Chicken Marbella Orzo Skillet stays very true to the original but with a side dish built in. Like the classic, this version kicks off with a marinade. And the marinade starts with an entire head of garlic. You’re supposed to mince the whole head of garlic. I didn’t want to risk carpal tunnel, so I smacked and peeled the cloves and popped them into a food processor. And since it is much easier to blitz things with a little liquid, I added the red wine vinegar to the mix and blitzed until smooth. I encourage you to do the same.
Once you have your garlic puree, pour it over some chicken thighs. I’ve made this recipe with as many as nine chicken thighs and as little as six with no adverse effects. Add olive oil, green olives, prunes, oregano, salt, capers, and bay leaves. Toss everything together, cover, and let marinate for 6 hours or overnight. I like to turn the chicken once halfway through. If you’re marinating overnight, that might be less than ideal. So turn the chicken in the morning and leave it for another hour.
When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 375°F. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet until shimmering. Place the chicken thighs skin side down and fry until golden on both sides. Transfer the thighs to a plate. Don’t worry about cooking them all the way through. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. We just want to get some good color on them.
To the skillet add your orzo. Toast your orzo until it is lightly golden and smells nutty. Add a cup of white wine, chicken stock, and the olives, prunes, capers, and remnants of the marinade. Use full-sodium chicken stock because you’re worth it. I’m kidding. It’s just easier to get the salt balance right when you can’t taste your cooking liquid due to raw and partially cooked chicken juices. “Partially cooked chicken juices” is hands down one of the grossest things I’ve ever written.
Moving right along, let’s talk sugar. The original Chicken Marbella called for what I would call an 80s amount of brown sugar. I’m only asking for 2 tablespoons of it, which feels very 2025 of me. Try to concentrate the sugar on the chicken, that’s how we’ll get that sticky, golden skin. The orzo doesn’t need the sugar anyway – it’s cooking with the prunes. Cover the skillet and transfer the whole kit and caboodle to the oven. Cook for 30 minutes or until the liquid is fully absorbed and the orzo is tender.
Leave the Chicken Marbella Orzo Skillet to cool for 10 minutes before garnishing with fresh parsley and digging in. And that’s it! See? It was pretty easy. If you’re looking for a light-lift but fancy-ish meal, this is the skillet for you.
Enjoy!
Chicken Marbella Orzo Skillet
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor
- 1 Large Cast Iron Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic cloves separated and peeled
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- 8-9 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp olive oil divided
- 150g (5.3oz) pitted prunes about ¾ cup
- 125g (4.5oz) green olives ** about ½ cup
- ¼ cup capers drained
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp salt
- 450g (16oz) dried orzo
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 ⅓ cups chicken stock ***
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- ½ cup fresh parsley leaves for sprinkling
Instructions
- Place the garlic cloves in a food processor. Add the vinegar and blitz until smooth.1 head garlic, ½ cup red wine vinegar
- Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl. Pour the garlic/vinegar mixture over the chicken. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil, the prunes, olives, capers, and bay leaves. Add 1 tablespoon of the salt, and the oregano. Toss to coat the chicken thoroughly and transfer to the fridge. Let marinate for 6 hours or overnight.8-9 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, ¼ cup + 2 tbsp olive oil, 150g (5.3oz) pitted prunes, 125g (4.5oz) green olives **, ¼ cup capers, 3 bay leaves, 2 tbsp dried oregano, 1 tbsp salt
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Heat the remaining oil in a large cast iron skillet until shimmering. Take the chicken thighs out of the marinade and place them skin side down in the skillet. Brown until golden, flip, and repeat on the other side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Add the orzo to the skillet and toss in the chicken fat until lightly golden. Pour in the wine and chicken stock and bring up to a gentle simmer.450g (16oz) dried orzo, 1 cup dry white wine, 2 ⅓ cups chicken stock ***
- Remove the bay leaves from the marinade and add everything else to the skillet. Nestle the chicken thighs into the pan. Sprinkle the thighs with the sugar and cover. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the orzo is tender and the chicken registers an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Let cool for 10 minutes, then garnished the dish with fresh parsley. Spoon on to plates or into bowls and serve immediately.½ cup fresh parsley leaves
