Skinny Poulet Au Vinaigre

I like chicken again. For a long time I didn’t like chicken because I sucked at cooking it: it was dry, overdone, flavorless. The trick? Finding a few GOOD recipes that are tasty have made all the difference. A few sites that I’ve been happy with in regards to chicken recipes are: Real Simple, Eating Well and Gina’s Weight Watchers Recipes. Just because it tastes good doesn’t mean it has to be high in calories!

Gina’s Skinless Chicken Thighs with Shallots in Red Wine Vinegar (Poulet Au Vinaigre)

From Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 | Serving Size: 2 thighs with shallot sauce | Old Points: 5 pts | Points+: 6 pts  | Calories: 242.5

• 8 lean chicken thighs, skin removed
• salt and fresh pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup fat free chicken broth
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced (3/4 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 tbsp light sour cream
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine vinegar, honey, 3/4 cup chicken broth and tomato paste. Boil about 5 minutes, until it reduces down to about 3/4 cup. Remove from heat.

3. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat and add chicken. Cook on both sides, until brown, about 6-8 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside. Add the shallots and garlic to the skillet and cook on low until soft, about 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken, add the wine, remaining broth salt and pepper. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes until tender.

4. Remove the chicken, add sour cream and stir into the sauce (if sauce dries up, add more broth). Boil a few minutes then return chicken to skillet. Top with fresh parsley.

I was in charge of making salads and prepping all the ingredients. I wish I had paid more attention to what Michael was doing to cook the food but I was too busy prepping everything.

I skinned the chicken thighs and Michael cooked them in the skillet.

I decided I wanted to make this recipe for the salad dressing. I thought it would go nicely with the red wine vinegar sauce on the chicken. Unfortunately it was a big, disgusting fail. Thankfully I tested the dressing before adding it to our salads. I was annoyed to dump it all out. I hate wasting products!!

Instead I used the light raspberry walnut vinaigrette dressing for mine and just plain oil and balsamic for Michael’s salad.

After the chicken was cooked and browned, Michael took it out and then added the sour cream to the sauce, letting it boil and thicken into a sauce. Then he plated the chicken into our pasta bowls and poured the gravy over the top of the chicken.

The chicken was great! I liked this one a lot (Michael thought the instructions were goofy and could have been done better). The sauce was tangy and salty in a wonderful way. I wish there had been MORE sauce but I think part of the reason for that was that we halved the recipe so there wouldn’t be any leftovers. Next time I’d make a little more sauce!

I really enjoyed this chicken. If I had to rank the chicken recipes we’ve done lately, I’d say they are in this order:

1. Braised Chicken with Spring Vegetables

2. Poulet Au Vinaigre

3. Quick Coq au Vin

All this menu planning and recipe experimenting has been FUN. I’ve learned a lot of things in the last few months and I’m having a great time eating the food! Plus, I think all the clean eating I’ve been doing has helped with my weight loss.

QUESTION: How was your weekend? Did you make anything spectacular?