This authentic recipe has been named after the famous Mount Vesuvius Volcano in Campania, Italy. Some also believe that this dish is named thus because it was first served in a restaurant in the Vesuvio district of Chicago. The chicken Vesuvio recipe is one of the most sought-after dishes in Chicago’s Italian-American restaurants.
You can prepare this dish in many different ways and use some of your creativity as well. However, we will tell you the most common way to make the Italian Chicken Vesuvio and the ingredients you need for the same.
Though this dish originates in the southern part of Italy, it is believed to have been first served in a beautiful restaurant named Little Italy in Chicago. There are many variations to this dish, as the Vesuvio can also be prepared using pork chops, steaks, or only potatoes.
Some variants you can try – Italian Chicken Vesuvio Recipe
- After the chicken and potatoes are cooked for 25 minutes, remove the skillet from the oven and place it on a stovetop. Melt some butter and add frozen green peas to the dish. Cook on a low flame until the butter turns silky, making your whole dish tasty. Switch off the flame and serve immediately.
- If you want to make this dish healthier, you can skip frying the potatoes. Instead, you can bake them. Apply some olive oil to the skillet and place the cut potatoes in them. Keep sautéing them until they turn golden. If your skillet cannot hold all the potatoes at once, you can sauté them in batches to ensure even cooking. Once the potato wedges turn golden brown, you can place the seasoned chicken, garlic, oregano, wine sauce, and other ingredients on top of them and cook everything for about 30 minutes.
- When using white wine, always use dry wines like Sauvignon Blanc for best results. To make the Italian Chicken Vesuvio recipe juicier and tastier, you can add chicken broth and white wine.
- Instead of olive oil, you can use any other high-heat oils of your choice. However, grapeseed and coconut oils are good choices.
- If you don’t get thighs or wings, you can still make the dish very well with boneless and skinless chicken breasts alone.
- If you want to make this dish a non-alcoholic one, you can skip the white wine completely and replace it with a combination of low-sodium chicken broth and lemon juice. However, remember to use only a little lemon juice, as it can make the entire dish sour.
- When you are frying potatoes and garlic, you can add about ½ chopped onion to the pan.
- Also, If you’d like, you can add some peas to this recipe.
Super-soft and succulent Italian Chicken Vesuvio
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Homemade Italian Chicken Vesuvio Recipe
Ok, let’s make this restaurant-style but homemade Italian Chicken Vesuvio!
Ingredients
- Chicken – about 2 to 3 pounds (you can use only thighs and legs, or you can use the breasts as well)
- ideally, it would be great if you have 2 pieces each of breasts, thighs, legs and wings
- Salt – about 2 teaspoons
- Pepper – 1 teaspoon (always use freshly ground black pepper for this recipe)
- Olive Oil – about 1/3 cup (for the skillet)
- Canola oil – 2 cups (for frying the potatoes)
- Russet Potatoes – 3 (peeled and cut into wedges
- keep them thick)
- Garlic – 2 cloves (use freshly crushed garlic cloves for additional flavors)
- Dried oregano – 1 or 2 tablespoons
- White wine – ½ cup
- Parsley leaves (freshly chopped) – 2 tablespoons
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to over 400 degrees F.
- Clean the chicken pieces thoroughly in cold water. Pat dry them until there is no moisture left in the meat pieces.
- Marinate the dried chicken pieces in salt and pepper.
- In a heavy skillet or big-sized Dutch oven, heat the olive oil (1/3 cup) on medium heat. Place the seasoned chicken pieces carefully in the hot oil, and cook them until they turn golden brown on both sides. If you are using breasts, please keep them on the skillet first before placing the thighs and other parts of the chicken.
- When the chicken has turned a nice brown shade on all sides, remove the pieces from the skillet. Let some oil remain on the skillet while you pour off the rest of the oil into a container.
- Place the roasted chicken pieces back in the skillet, and transfer them to the oven. Let the skillet remain uncovered as you cook the meat for about 25 minutes. Do remember to turn the chicken pieces over once or twice during these 25 minutes to avoid them getting charred on any of the sides.
- While the chicken is getting cooked, you can start heating the canola oil in a deep frying pan.
- Once the temperature of the oil reaches 350 degrees F., drop the potato wedges slowly into the oil to fry them. We recommend you drop only 4 pieces at a time to avoid overcrowding in the pan. This will also help the potatoes to get fried evenly.
- Once the potatoes turn golden, remove them from the oil and place them on a tissue to absorb the oil completely.
- You have already set the timer for the chicken for 25 minutes. At the 20th minute (when five minutes are still left for the chicken to be done), remove the skillet from the oven. Add the fried potatoes, garlic, oregano, and wine to the chicken in the skillet. Put the skillet back in the oven and cook for 5 minutes. Switch off after 5 minutes once the chicken’s internal temperature has reached 165 degrees F.
- After 5 minutes, remove the skillet from the oven and transfer it to a stovetop.
- Add chopped parsley leaves to the contents and turn the chicken slightly with a spoon.
- Transfer the contents to a platter, and pour the remaining juices in the skillet on top of the chicken to make them look soft and succulent.
- Your Italian Chicken Vesuvio is now ready!
