Photography Credit: Elise Bauer

One of the finest dishes ever to come out of The Silver Palate Cookbook, Chicken Marbella is chicken first marinated in oil, vinegar, capers, olives, prunes, and herbs, then baked with added brown sugar and white wine.

Prunes are the distinctive ingredient in this famous dish. They’re actually used often in classical French cooking, and the Silver Palate recipe borrows heavily from the French traditional lapin aux pruneaux.

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While prunes and capers might seem like an odd combination, when cooked together with chicken they create a delectable sweet and sour, savory flavor. Chicken Marbella is a great dish for entertaining, not only is it easy to put together without a lot of hands on cooking time, but it’s also a real crowd pleaser.

The original recipe calls for the chicken pieces to be marinated all night. We found that marinating for 2-3 hours worked fine.

From the recipe archive, first posted 2005.