I was first introduced to Michael Symon when he had to cook a Passover meal in a strict, kosher kitchen on a TV show. He was hilarious, and I have been a big fan of his since then.

He has such a big personality and always seems genuine. I have been enjoying his recipes for many years now.

This recipe is adapted from his book, 5 in 5. He used boneless, skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe, but I chose to use bone-in, skin-on thighs instead. I just like them better, and didn’t want to pound the thighs too thinly, as he instructed to do in his recipe. I also used chicken broth instead of water. Basically, the ingredients are the identical, but because I used bone-in thighs, the cooking time had to be adjusted. You can get the original recipe here.

This recipe is wonderful. The rosemary, garlic and olives give it a deep, rich flavor which tastes like it has been cooking all day, whereas, in reality, it was prepared quickly. The tomatoes, orange zest and juice forms a  luscious combination and the red pepper flakes give it that delightful “kick”.

I will definitely make this recipe again, especially when I need to make dinner quickly. 

This recipe will serve 4 happy, dark meat chicken lovers.

Ingredients for Chicken Thighs in Tomato and Olive Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil
4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
1 (14-ounce can crushed San Marzano tomatoes with juices
1 cup kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 cup of chicken broth
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 orange
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Put a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil.

Season both sides of the chicken thighs with kosher salt and pepper.

Put the chicken thighs skin side down in the pan and cook until golden brown, about 7 minutes.

Turn the chicken over, add the garlic and rosemary and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan, scraping with a wooden spoon to get up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.

Add the tomatoes and juice, olives, orange zest and juice and the red pepper flakes.

Cover and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 20-30 minutes.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed.

Remove from the heat and serve.

It’s that simple!