Poulet Basquaise
Chicken braised with peppers, tomato, and Espelette.
Ingredients
- 8 Chicken thighs
- 2 Bell pepper
- 1 Green bell pepper
- 1 Onion
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 400 g Canned tomatoes
- 120 ml White wine
- 1 tsp Piment d'Espelette
- 3 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp Salt
Method
- Pat the chicken thighs dry and season all over with the salt.
- Core and slice the red and green peppers into 1 cm strips. Halve and slice the onion.
- Smash the garlic cloves with the flat of a knife, peel, and roughly chop.
- Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high. Brown the chicken skin-side down until deeply coloured, about 6 minutes, then flip and brown 4 minutes more. Set aside on a plate.
- In the same pan, soften the peppers, onion, and garlic until slumped, about 5 minutes. Pour in the wine to deglaze, scraping up the browned bits from the base, then add the tomatoes and Espelette and simmer 3 minutes.
- Nestle the chicken back into the sauce skin-up. Cover and braise on the lowest heat until the chicken is tender, about 25 minutes.
- Spoon the chicken and pepper sauce onto plates. Serve with rice.
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About Poulet Basquaise
Poulet basquaise is a rustic braise from the Basque Country of southwestern France, where chicken is cooked down with sweet peppers, onions, tomato, and the region's signature dried red chili, piment d'Espelette. It's a dish shaped by the local piperade — the Basque stew of peppers and tomatoes — with chicken folded into it, and it reflects a cuisine that treats the pepper as central rather than incidental. Espelette gives a fruity, mild warmth that colors the sauce a deep red without the aggressive heat of hotter chilies.
The character of the dish comes from browning the chicken skin deeply first, then softening the peppers and onions until they slump before the wine deglazes the flavorful browned bits from the pan base. As it braises, the vegetables collapse into a sweet, tangy, faintly smoky sauce that clings to the chicken. It eats as hearty comfort food, mild in heat but full of flavor, and is traditionally served with rice or crusty bread and often a scattering of Bayonne ham. Getting real color on both the chicken and the peppers before the liquid goes in is what gives this version its depth, keeping it from tasting like chicken merely stewed in tomato.
Poulet Basquaise: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Poulet Basquaise?
A serving has about 725 calories — 42.7g protein, 17.6g carbs, 51g fat, 4.8g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 42.7g of protein, roughly 24% of its calories.
Is Poulet Basquaise gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Poulet Basquaise has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
How long does Poulet Basquaise take to make?
About 60 minutes start to finish, but only around 28 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Poulet Basquaise make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.