Chicken Confit
The process of making chicken confit is long, but the time is mostly hands off and it is SO worth it. Confit means to slowly cook food in fat.
You can use whatever kind of fat you want for this. I chose to use a mixture of duck fat and canola oil, but you can use chicken fat, lard, or a 50:50 mix of canola oil and olive oil (olive oil is too strong tasting to use on its own). Cooking the chicken slowly submerged in fat results in tender, fall-off-the-bone meat. After cooked, the chicken skin is fried so it is crispy, crunchy.
This recipe only uses 4 chicken thighs, but of course, you can double, triple or quadruple the recipe to have a bunch of chicken on hand! If you completely submerge the chicken in the oil and store in the fridge, the chicken can last up to 3 weeks! The fat creates a barrier to any bacteria allowing it to last SO much longer without going rancid.
I love making chicken confit on the weekend so I have chicken to take to lunch the whole week. It is, also, a great dinner to serve to a bunch of guests. Make the chicken the day before and then all you have to do is pan fry it before serving. Pair it with a delicious sauce and buttery potatoes and your guests will think you spent all day in the kitchen!
Chicken Confit
Recipe details
- 4 servings
- Prep time: 12 Hours Cook time: 2.5 Hours Total time: 14 hr
Comments
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Is the chicken not very oily when done like this?
Nice. I'll try that. Thanks for the recipe!