Craveable Chicken Dishes (2024)

At New York City's Dos Toros, brothers Leo and Oliver Kremer offer amazing San Francisco-style tacos, like these zesty, grilled-chicken tacos, as well as burritos, and quesadillas — all simple, fresh, and sustainable.

Recipe: Grilled-Chicken Tacos

At Emeril's in New Orleans, chef David Slater glazes chicken breasts with maple syrup, sherry vinegar, and orange juice infused with anise and other spices. Then he serves them with a confited chicken leg, caramelized root vegetables, braised kale, and crisp Benton's bacon. At home glaze the chicken breasts with a sweet-tangy blend of syrup and vinegar and skip the confited leg and root vegetables.

Recipe: Maple-Glazed Chicken Breasts with Mustard Jus

Tahini is made with sesame seeds, which are rich in essential minerals. Blended with nonfat Greek yogurt, it becomes a luscious sauce for these cardamom-spiced grilled chicken breasts. Serve with whole wheat pitas and green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.

Recipe: Middle Eastern–Inspired Chicken with Tahini Sauce

Skinless chicken legs have only slightly more fat than breasts and are much tastier, especially when marinated in spicy yogurt, as they are here. Chaat masala — a spice blend with a tang from green mango powder — makes this northern-Indian dish extra-delicious.

Recipe: Grilled Tandoori-Style Chicken Drumsticks

The chicken in this saffron-and-ginger-scented chorba (the North African name for soup) is an excellent source of protein, while the walnuts are packed with antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, superheroes for the heart.

Recipe: Chicken Chorba with Walnuts

Counterbalance the sweetness of this chicken, which has been marinated overnight, then grilled, brushed with butter, and rolled in crispy cornflakes, with a hoppy, citrusy India pale ale, suggests founder and President of Dogfish Head Sam Calagione. Sommelier, author, and wine educator Marnie Old preferred the silky fruit of Pinot Noir with the buttery meat, specifically a not-too-oaky 2006 Mary Elke Pinot Noir.

Recipe: Buttermilk Chicken with Crispy Cornflakes

Casa Oaxaca in Mexico is famous for its complex mole sauces, often made with more than 20 ingredients. Since moles are so time-consuming to make, most Mexican cooks rely on the prepared pastes sold at the outdoor markets, and chef Alejandro Ruíz Olmedo is no exception. He roasts chicken breasts until the skin is crisp and serves the mole alongside.

Recipe: Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Mole Negro

At the new Rivera in Los Angeles, John Sedlar fuses French technique with Latin American flavors in dishes like this pan-roasted chicken. He flavors the bird with a range of citrus, including Cara Cara oranges, blood oranges, and pomelos. The dish is just as delicious with a simple mix of navel oranges and limes.

Recipe: Pan-Roasted Chicken with Citrus Sauce

Food & Wine's Test Kitchen supervisor Marcia Kiesel browns chicken breasts in butter on the stove before roasting them in the oven; the butter enriches both the chicken and browned pan juices, which become a base for the flavorful sauce. As a delicious accompaniment, she mashes minty green peas and mixes them in with whole ones.

Recipe: Chicken Breasts with Potatoes and Mashed Peas

For her sublime version of everyday chicken and rice, Kiesel coats chicken legs in chili powder and cooks rice with sofrito, a Spanish mixture of chopped onion, garlic, and bell pepper. She bakes everything together in a skillet so that the delectable chicken juices flavor the rice, then broils the dish at the last minute to turn the chicken skin enticingly brown.

Recipe: Chicken Sofrito

This satisfying riff on smothered pork chops calls for skinless chicken drumsticks, which have only slightly more fat than breasts, as well as more zinc and iron and tons more flavor.

Recipe: Chicken Smothered in Gravy

All'Arrabbiata means "in an angry style" in Italian. At the new Marzano in Oakland, California, chef Robert Holt braises his chicken with five kinds of peppers in a wood-fired oven. To keep it simple, spice the chicken with poblano and chile flakes, then braise it. For extra kick, toss in some hot pickled cherry peppers.

Recipe: Braised Chicken all'Arrabbiata

Austin's The Mighty Cone food trailer has become famous for its Hot-and-Crunchy Cones: fried chicken coated in an ingenious mix of cornflakes, slivered almonds, and sesame seeds, then wrapped in a tortilla with a mango-jalapeño slaw and a spicy ancho "paint." For an easier version, keep the crunch but omit the chile "paint," instead upping the amount of jalapeños in the slaw.

Recipe: Hot-and-Crunchy Chicken Cone

Chef Way: At Boston's Tupelo, chef Rembs Layman prepares rich gumbo with house-made stock and a jerk seasoning blend from Christina's Spice & Specialty Foods.
Easy Way: Use store-bought rotisserie chicken, canned chicken broth, and supermarket jerk or Cajun seasoning.

Recipe: Chicken-and-Okra Gumbo

Recipe: Pan-Roasted Chicken with Citrus Sauce