Chicken in an almond sauce with a sweet date salsa

  • Portion size: Serves 4
  • Hands-on time 1 hour, simmering time 1 hour, plus marinating
  • Difficulty: easy
Recipe by: Jamie Thickett

Chicken braised in almond milk and served with a sweet salsa makes for an Italian dish that is rich in flavour, but not too heavy. Enjoy alongside a bitter leaf salad and a glass of soft white – perfect for a summer dinner party.

Looking for something else? We have lots of chicken thigh recipes for you to peruse.

adslot-recipe-1
lock
Join Extradelicious to unlock Cook Mode

Ingredients

For the marinade

  • 8 British free-range, bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
  • 100ml olive oil
  • 2 tsp ground mixed spice
  • 2 tsp plain flour

For the date salsa

  • 100g medjool dates
  • 30ml olive oil
  • 2 tsp red wine vinegar

For the almond sauce

  • 100ml light olive oil, plus a glug for browning
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 leek, trimmed and finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Pinch saffron strands
  • 400ml almond milk
  • 20g flaked almonds, lightly toasted in a dry pan, to serve
  • Handful fresh coriander, chopped, to serve
adslot-recipe-3
lock
Join Extradelicious to unlock Cook Mode

Method

  1. Put the chicken thighs in a large baking tray. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade and pour over the chicken. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or for at least 2 hours.
  2. For the date salsa, remove the stones from the dates and roughly chop, then put into a small mixing bowl and mix with the olive oil and vinegar. Set aside.
  3. For the almond sauce, heat the 100ml oil in a large heavy-based saucepan or flameproof casserole over a medium heat and gently cook the onion, leek, carrot, garlic and bay leaves for 6-8 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the saffron and the almond milk, then cook until the volume is reduced by half (15-20 minutes). Set aside.
  4. Recipe continues after advertising adslot-recipe-4
  5. Heat a glug of oil in a large frying pan (or 2 smaller pans) and brown the marinated chicken all over for 10-12 minutes. Add the chicken to the pan of almond sauce and simmer over a low heat for 1 hour until the chicken is cooked through.
  6. Carefully transfer the chicken thighs to a plate and keep warm, then put the sauce back over a medium heat and reduce until thickened (7-10 minutes). Return the chicken to the sauce and coat well. Serve on a warmed platter, garnished with the date salsa, toasted flaked almonds and chopped fresh coriander, alongside a bitter leaf salad.

Nutrition

  • 750kcals Calories
  • 55.2g (9g saturated) Fat
  • 35.7g Protein
  • 25.6g (21.5g sugars) Carbs
  • 4.3g Fibre
  • 0.5g Salt

Quick wins & tips

Make sure you use unsweetened almond milk to avoid adding sugar.

Make Ahead

Marinate the chicken up to 48 hours in advance and keep covered in the fridge.

adslot-recipe-5

Rate and review

Rate

Leave a comment, question or tip

adslot-recipe-6
2

Recipes left this week.


Go unlimited for £4.99 /month, plus enjoy:

  • Access to 9000+ recipes
  • Distraction-free browsing
  • Cook Mode & more
×