Chicken, Secret Recipe Club, Side Dishes

Secret Recipe Club: Honey-Balsamic Chicken Thighs with Cranberry Wild Rice

Heather

It’s that time again for The Secret Recipe Club! This is my fourth month participating and I’m having so much fun. Not only do I get to be sneaky and try out another blogger’s recipe but I’m getting a ton of inspiration from the other SRC members!

This month I was assigned the blog, Not Rachael Ray. After looking through Rachael’s blog, I settled on making cranberry wild rice. I usually sit to basics when I make sides, but this was very intriguing and different. I swapped out the walnuts for pecans and used a mix of long grain and wild rice. As I was planning my menu for the week, I had a pack of frozen chicken thighs and didn’t know what to do with them…so off to see if Rachael had a recipe. Of course- honey-balsamic chicken thighs. I doubled the sauce mixture as I had 8 chicken thighs – gotta love leftovers for quick lunches!

So needless to say, this month is a SRC special treat – 2 recipes!

Honey-Balsamic Chicken Thighs
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced
Peheat the oven to 375 degrees. With the skin sides up, place the chicken in a small roasing pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bake the thighs until the skin is crispy and the juices run clean, approximately 40-45 minutes.

While the chicken is roasting, combine the oil, honey, vinegar and garlic in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and stir occasionally until the sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Allow to stand 5 minutes to cool slighly before basting each thigh with glaze.

Cranberry Wild Rice

1 box long grain & wild rice mix
water/butter/salt according to rice package
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Prepare rice as directed on package except add in dried cranberries with the rice. I bought a box of Near East long grain & wild rice mix. It called to cook the rice for 25-30 minutes.

As the rice is cooking, toast the pecans in a dry frying pan over medium high heat. Be careful and watch them closely as nuts tend to burn quickly. Once cooked, remove them from the pan.
Serve a scoop of rice with the chicken thighs and garnish with the toasted pecans.

Want to be part of the SRC? Join up here!

17 thoughts on “Secret Recipe Club: Honey-Balsamic Chicken Thighs with Cranberry Wild Rice”

  6. Honey and balsamic make an absolutely irresistible combination. Great recipe selection.

    I'm new to the SRC this month. I hope you'll stop by and pay me a visit.

    🙂
    ButterYum

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