Chicken Marbella Recipe
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Salty and sweet ingredients combine in the fabulously famous Chicken Marbella to create an oh so satisfying dish that is quite perfect for any dinner party.
Chicken Marbella is a Spanish-inspired roasted chicken dish that is a favorite from the The Silver Palate Cookbook. This chicken dish is elevated to another place altogether with what may seem to be an unusual combination of prunes, olive, capers and brown sugar. But, take it from me, the result is anything but unusual.
Briny, tangy capers and olives play nicely with the bit of sweetness from prunes and brown sugar. Salty and sweet always work so nicely together, don’t you think? In addition to the capers, olives, prunes and brown sugar, in goes olive oil, red wine vinegar, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, rosemary (in this version) and white wine to round out the list of ingredients to make this one of the most wonderful (and easy) chicken dishes.
Preparation is easy. Really. Begin by marinating chicken pieces in a combination of olive oil, white wine vinegar, prunes, olives, capers, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper for about six hours. Next, arrange the chicken in a single layer in a baking dish. Pour the marinade over the top, then sprinkle the chicken pieces with a bit of brown sugar. Finish by baking it in a 350-degree F oven until the chicken is done. It takes about 50-60 minutes. Once done, serve the chicken along with the prunes and olives. Garnish with fresh parsley for a nice touch of green and dig in!
I think you’ll be most pleased with this delightful satisfying chicken dish. Chicken Marbella is a perfect main entree for any special occasion. It pairs nicely with roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables, or a big green salad. Enjoy!
More easy chicken dinner recipes you will enjoy:
- Honey Mustard Baked Chicken Thighs Recipe
- Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Cream Sauce Recipe
- Balsamic Basil Peach Chicken Recipe
- Chicken and Rice Recipe
- Chicken Marsala Recipe
- Buttermilk Chicken Recipe
Chicken Marbella Recipe
Chicken Marbella
A delicious dish of chicken roasted with capers, olives, and prunes that makes a perfect entree for any special occasion yet easy enough for any night of the week.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup pitted prunes
- 1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
- 1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
- 6 bay leaves
- 10 cloves of garlic, grated (about 2 tablespoons)
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried crushed rosemary*
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4-4 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken pieces, skin on, trimmed
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a large bowl, thoroughly combine olive oil, red wine vinegar, prunes, olives, capers and juice, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and gently toss to coat. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 6 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F.
- In a large braising or baking pan, arrange chicken in a single layer, skin up. Pour marinade, (along with the prunes, olive and capers) and wine over chicken; sprinkle chicken pieces evenly with brown sugar.
- Bake uncovered at 350-degrees F. Cook until chicken is done, about 50-60 minutes, baste a couple of times with pan juices during cooking.
- Serve chicken along with prunes, olives and capers with a drizzling of pan juices; topped with chopped fresh parsley.** Serve any remaining juices on the side.
Notes
*The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of dried oregano. For no other reason than I only had 2 tablespoon of oregano, I adjusted the recipe to 2 tablespoons of dried oregano, and added 1 tablespoon of rosemary, an herb traditionally used in Spanish cuisine.
**If crisper chicken is desired, place chicken pieces on a baking sheet and place under the broiler to crisp, about 2-5 minutes.
Oh my gracious, Amy, this looks absolutely delicious! A little sweet, a little savory and a lot scrumptious!!! xo
Thank you, Robyn! It really is scrumptious!
What would be good to serve with it?
Amy.
Do you have any more recipes from Spain?
My husband traveled their for work and he loved the food. But I haven’t had much luck finding recipes.
Thank you for asking, but I’m sorry, no I don’t. By the way, this recipe did not originate in Spain. It was inspired by Spain and created by Sheila Lukins of The Silver Palate.
In the directions it says to add white wine vinegar but in the ingredients it states red wine vinegar and dry white wine. Do I add both in step 1?
Thank you for pointing that out to me, Holly. It was a typo on my part. It has been fixed to read correctly, which is to add the “red wine vinegar.” The white wine is added later in the recipe.
would this work in the crockpot? # of hours?
Although I’ve never made this in a slow cooker, it should work if you first prep stovetop then transfer to a slow cooker. I do not know how many hours.
Do you think you could freeze this?
I’ve never frozen this or other roasted chicken dishes. If you do want to try freezing this, I do not recommend freezing chicken on the bone. If you’d like to freeze, better results would be achieved by removing the meat from the bone before freezing.
What do you serve on the side?
A green salad or roasted vegetables would be nice.
My son was married Easter weekend, and we had a big group staying at our house! I prepared the meat, put it in the marinade in big zip locks in the freezer, standing up bags for leaking. It was easy on the day of, and the taste was awesome!
I make the chicken and marinade, and stir in the freezer in a ziplock freezer bag. It works great. Then defrost and cook. It’s a great way to make the prep a bit quicker!
well thank you for this recipe! Love capers and olives and my little jar of capers in my refrigerator is just sitting there unopened in way too long, so time for me to defrost some chicken, thank you!
It was just wonderfully. I put it over white rice. Ate it all and Jake (my dog, licked it clean!). Thanks for the tip for freezing the cooked chicken. Remove the bone. Thanks again fir a great dinner!
It sounds like you don’t cook the prunes and olives, but add them after the chicken is cooked. But they’d been marinated with raw chicken, so that can’t be right, either. Do you cook them?
Hello, Jaycee! The prunes and olives are cooked along with the chicken. I can see how I did not make that clear in the recipe. I will edit the recipe to make that more clear. Thank you for pointing that out.
This is an amazing dish! About to cook it for the 10th time. We had it for a gathering of 30+ and it was a huge hit! Just stopping by to say thank you😊