Nothing is as satisfying as a chicken dish with potatoes, and this one deserves a place in your dinner rotation. The chicken falls to the ground. There are lots of chunky fork-tender potatoes and briny kalamata olives. And it’s all wrapped up in a wonderful Greek, cinnamon spiced tomato sauce.
This meal exemplifies what I love about Greek food: simple home cooking with great flavor.
Chicken and potatoes smothered in Cinnamon Tomato Sauce
It is common in Greece to cook meat or chicken in tomato sauce. But not just any old tomato sauce. Greek style tomato sauce is unique, aromatic, and wonderful, flavored with cinnamon in addition to onion, garlic, and oregano.
The resulting beef or chicken stew is a Greek stew known as Kokkinisto (meaning “red”) or Kapama (meaning “covered”). These rustic dishes are usually served over pasta or rice.
In this version of Greek Chicken Stew, I used boneless chicken thighs and added potatoes, for an easy, family-friendly, one-pot meal. This recipe requires only 20 minutes of hands-on preparation. You will spend 10 minutes chopping and 10 minutes or so grilling the chicken and onions. After that, you can relax while the dinner is away, filling your room with the best aroma.
Why I Love This Recipe:
- One-Pot Wonder: Everything cooks in the same pot, making it air-cleaning.
- Cinnamon-spiced tomato sauce it’s so good you’ll want to mash potatoes in it, dip bread in it, eat it with a soup spoon!
- Family Benefits: Boneless chicken and potato wedges are irresistible, even for picky eaters. This dish is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
- Health – no butter or flour or unhealthy fats. It’s just pure constructive.
- Ideal for special diets: Naturally gluten free and dairy free.
How To Make Them
This delicious chicken can be on your table in less than an hour. Here’s a quick overview of how to cook first what you need:
- Chicken: boneless and skinless chicken thighs
- Aromatics: onion and garlic
- Wine: Dry white wine or vermouth
- Potatoes: Russets
- Tomatoes: good quality canned tomatoes and tomato paste
- Flavors: Ground cinnamon, cinnamon stick, fresh or dry oregano, salt and pepper
- Olives: It is located in Kalamata
- Fresh parsley: Optional garnish
Step-By-Step Recipe Overview with Photos
Prepare all your things and get ready. This recipe goes quickly once you start cooking: Peel the potatoes and cut them into wedges; chicken season; chop the onion and garlic, open the tomatoes.
Brown the Chicken: Fry the boneless chicken thighs for a minute or two on each side, until golden, then transfer to a plate.
Prepare Fry Aromatics: In the same pot, cook the chopped onion and garlic until soft, and deglaze the pan with white wine to get all the delicious flavor.
Simmer: Return the chicken to the pot. Add potatoes, pureed (or hand-crushed) plum tomato, tomato paste, ground cinnamon, cinnamon stick, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
Finish Cooking: Add the olives and continue cooking low and low for another 25 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender and the chicken is fall-apart.
Enjoy!
Giving Advice
This is a delicious meal straight from the pot! Place in shallow bowls, top with fresh parsley, and enjoy.
As for sides, chicken with potatoes can always use a crisp, green salad as a companion. Here are a few of my favorite salads to pair this stew with:
You may also want to serve some warm crusty bread on the side, to soak up the sauce. Ours no-knead Dutch oven olive bread that would be enough!
Want to Do This Next?
Like most oils, it will be more interesting the next day after the lights have had more time to interact.
If you are interested in other recipes like this, we have a large collection of comfort stews from around the world. Here are a few tempting recipe ideas to get you started:
If you try this Greek Chicken Stew Recipe, I hope you will come back to leave a star and comment. I want to know what you think!
Recipe
Greek Chicken Stew with Potatoes Recipe
Explanation
This Greek Chicken Stew with Potatoes is a satisfying one-pot dish that the whole family will love. Tender boneless chicken thighs and potato wedges cooked in a Greek-style tomato sauce with olives, cinnamon and spices. It’s easy enough for a weeknight but hearty and delicious enough for a special meal.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 ½ pound skinless chicken thighs (about 10 thighs)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large red onion, chopped
- 4 large garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup dry dry wine
- 1 ½ pound of the russet potatoesdrained and cut into wedges (3 medium potatoes)
- 1 28–ounce can plum tomatoes and juice, pulsed in a food processor or crushed by hand.
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
- 18–20 pitted kalamata olive
- 3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley, optional for garnish
Instructions
- Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy covered pot or Dutch oven. Remove the chicken in batches (it browns better if it is not full) for two minutes a side and transfer to a plate.
- Add the remaining two tablespoons of oil to the pan and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for a minute or so, until fragrant. Return the heat to medium and pour in the wine (be careful because it will sputter) and deglaze the pot, stirring and removing any pieces stained with a wooden spoon.
- Add the chicken to the pot along with the potatoes, pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, cinnamon, cinnamon stick, oregano, 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper. Bring the fish to the boil and quickly reduce the heat to low and gently simmer the stew, covered, for 20 minutes. Add the olives and cook, covered, for another 20-25 minutes, until the potatoes are soft.
- Serve the soup hot, in shallow bowls, with chopped parsley sprinkled on top.
- Preparation Time: Twenty minutes
- Cooking Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Stew
- Method: simmer
- Cuisine: Greek
This article was first published on July 18, 2020. It has been reviewed and updated with new high-quality photos, some useful information has been added to the written article, including a section that gives a brief description of the recipe with useful how-to shots. The cooking title has been changed to better represent the dish. The original title was “Greek Chicken and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce.” It’s such a delicious recipe!
