This 50 Clove Garlic Chicken is a French classic that’s gone full throttle because 40 cloves just didn’t cut it. Slow-cooked with herbs, vermouth, and whole garlic (yep, unpeeled!), the chicken comes out meltingly tender, swimming in a sauce that’s begging to be mopped up with crusty bread. Comfort food with a garlicky punch
Ingredients
40ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
2kg (4.4lb) chicken, cut into 10 pieces
sea salt and pepper, to season
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 brown onions, sliced
½ bunch thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
3 sprigs flat leaf parsley
1 tsp dried Herbs de Provence
freshly grated nutmeg
50 cloves garlic, unpeeled (about 4 heads)
125ml/5oz (½ cup) Vermouth
crusty bread, to serve
Method
Step 1: Prep and cook chicken
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan force (340°F).
Season chicken pieces well with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large oven proof saucepan over medium-high heat.
Cook the chicken pieces for 6-8 minutes, in batches, until well browned all over, then set aside.
Step 2: Cook the base
Add the onion and celery to the pan and cook for 3 minutes, until softened.
Stir in thyme, bay, parsley, dried herbs and grate over nutmeg.
Sprinkle over half of the garlic cloves, then return the chicken to the pan and any resting juices.
Add remaining garlic then pour in the vermouth. Cover with a lid and place in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Step 3: Finish and serve
Serve chicken pieces with fresh crusty bread and squeeze the garlic from its skin to serve similar to butter with the bread, chicken and sauce.
20 Comments
White people when they explore Chicken recipe from ASIA
I hate garlic
I have no idea why I find the unpeeled garlic triggering 😂
Table inception
The chicken looks wonderful, but I hate garlic because, even in small quantities, it covers all the other flavours. With this amount you'd be faster eating the cloves directly.
Jamie Oliver makes one like this with tinned beans (any that you like, I used chick peas and butter beans) and loads of basil (as a vegetabl stalks and all, not just a few chopped leaves sprinkled).
The garlic, you just squeeze it out of the paper husk and it's a smooth paste, use it on the crusty bread instead of butter!
Om-nom-nom!
Just googled it, it's called his "Tender and crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes" and if you mix and match the two you'll create your own 10 minute prep, slow cooked, chicken to die for, easiest dinner party sig. dish ever!
It means you can mingle & STILL blow people's socks off!
My papa does like a dish that is made entirely of garlic & spices!
Vampires within a 500 radius are not safe 😭
No you’re the big chicken 🙁
OMG you going for a world record? wonder how many been into a single dish served at a restaurant, anyone knows? ;D
Still not enough garlic
Needs more garlic
🤤 I love garlic
I know this is French dish but I think you’re trying to summon all the Filipinos with this dish. 😂 Damn that’s a lot of garlic and I use truckload of garlic in my adobo! Can’t wait to try this when I’m back home in Oz. ❤
Korean may love it
cooked this today, didnt have thyme, used rosemary and fresh basil, also spice mix named chicken I brought from Greece 2 years ago, didn't put nutmeg also didn'' feel like using bay leaves this time. Used white wine instead of vermouth since vermouth was available only in 0.7 l bottles and I found that purchase unnecessary. cooked in clay pot, result was nice tender chicken with excellent sauce and garlic taste was pretty mild.
Did you just big gorilla that chicken?!
I haven't made this in more than a decade, but will make it tonight. Thanks, Andy!
garlic skins on though??? I can’t imagine that’s fun to chew on unless you got goat teeth 😂
Who you calling a chicken? 😂