Cooking with Bone-In Meat Provides Health Benefits
Bone-in thighs add more flavor to this Tuscan chicken recipe and offer additional nutritional benefits. Bones provide vitamin A, minerals, and collagen. Check out Stephanie Kay’s Nutrition post on Why You Should Eat Bone-In Meat for more nutritional benefits. If eating meat off the bone is not your thing, remove it before serving, and the dietary benefits will remain in the delicious sauce.
Make Tuscan Chicken a Mediterranean One-Pot Meal
I adapted the original recipe from America’s Test Kitchen by adding kale to make a balanced and healthy one-pot dinner. It serves 4, which is very generous (2 thighs per person). This dish can easily serve eight people, accompanied by a salad, such as the Strawberry Arugula Salad. This Tuscan chicken bursts with delightful flavors, including lemon, rosemary, and the rich, robust taste of pancetta. The beans become tender, and the kale wilts in a delicious gravy. This recipe is sure to become an instant family favorite.
More Reasons to Love Tuscan Chicken
Tuscan chicken can be made in three convenient ways:
- Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Slow cooker
- Stovetop in a Dutch oven
Other benefits include:
- Hearty one-pot meal
- Loaded with fiber (9.7 grams per serving) and protein
- Mediterranean diet recipe from poultry, greens (kale), and beans. See this post for more kale recipes.
- It uses bone-in chicken thighs or breasts, which provide collagen, minerals, vitamins, and extra-rich gravy
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Cannellini Beans keep the recipe true to Italian cuisine, or Navy or Great Northern beans make great substitutes.
- Cannot find pancetta? No worries, bacon will do the trick. If you are concerned about processed meats, use extra olive oil and eliminate the ingredient.
- Fresh rosemary is a must, so you might have to make a trip to the store. Dried rosemary won’t give you the same flavor. Grow it in your garden to keep it readily available.
- Chicken: Use bone-in thighs, legs (drumsticks), or breasts that have been pasture-raised, hormone-free, and organic (if you can afford it). Boneless chicken is an option. However, you may need more oil to brown the meat, and the cooking time will be shorter. See recipe notes.
- Are you cutting fat? Remove the skin after searing the meat in step 3. However, I don’t advise removing the skin before browning because it provides excellent fond (caramelized bits left in the bottom of the pan) for the rich and flavorful gravy.
- Kale comes in various forms and is a healthy ingredient in Tuscan chicken: baby kale, curly kale, and pre-cut bagged kale. Suppose you’re not a fan of kale; substitute spinach.
Recipe Steps
Equipment Needed
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Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Kale
Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Kale features tender meat that falls off the bone in a rich gravy flavored with pancetta, white beans, and rosemary. This hearty one-pot meal can be cooked in a pressure cooker, slow cooker, or on the stovetop. This recipe is inspired by America’s Test Kitchen Multi-Cooker Perfection Cookbook. Every recipe in the cookbook allows cooking with a multi-cooker or slow cooker, making the book a great resource.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs with skins, trimmed of extra fat, or 4 bone-in chicken breasts*
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 ounces of pancetta or 2 bacon strips, chopped**
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 (15-oz) cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed, or use SCD prepped Navy beans***
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 rosemary sprigs, fresh
- 12–oz kale stemmed and coarsely chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the Kale. Rinse and dry the kale in a salad spinner, then break it into small pieces. Discard any large, thick stems or thinly slice them for use. Place the kale pieces in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Massage the salt and lemon juice into the leaves for 1 minute, tenderizing them. Let the kale sit in the lemon juice while preparing the dish. Gently knead the leaves between your hands a few times.
- Prepare the chicken and the cooking pot. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Add oil to the cooking vessel (such as a multi-cooker, slow cooker, or Dutch oven) and heat for a few minutes to bring it to a hot temperature. Set the temperature to the highest sauté or browning function for the multi-cooker and the slow cooker.****
- Cook Chicken. Place four seasoned thighs or two breasts, skin-side down, and cook for 5–7 minutes, until browned. Repeat this with the remaining chicken and transfer it to a plate. At this point, you can remove and discard the skin or keep it on the chicken. You can also remove it before eating.
- Add pancetta, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon of pepper to the fat in the cooker. Cook until the pancetta is crisp and browned, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in beans, water, and rosemary sprigs.
- Nestle browned chicken, skin side up, into the pan, and any accumulated juices on the plate.
- • 6A) Pressure Cooker: Lock the lid and close the pressure release valve. Select the high-pressure cook function and set the time for 9 minutes. It will take a few minutes to reach the correct temperature, and then the 9-minute countdown will begin. When the timer goes off, turn off the multi-cooker, turn the knob to the quick-release position, and release the steam. Carefully remove the lid, allowing moisture to escape away from you.
- • 6B) Standard Slow Cooker and Slow Cook with Multi-Cooker: Place lid on the cooker, select low heat, and cook until chicken is tender for 2- 3 hours. Carefully remove the lid, allowing steam to escape away from you. Note: If using an Instant Pot or slow cooker, select the high slow cook function and increase cooking time to 4 to 5 hours.
- • 6C) Stovetop: In a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stockpot, bring ingredients to a boil on medium heat and reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165°F.
- Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and remove the skin, if desired. Add the chopped kale and lemon juice to the pot and cook for 3 minutes, until the kale is wilted. Stir to incorporate any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add more water if needed. Discard the rosemary sprigs, but retain the leaves (needles).
- Serve. Spoon the bean mixture around the chicken on the serving platter and top with chopped parsley.
Notes
*The recipe calls for eight chicken thighs, but I also use four bone-in chicken breasts. They are all delicious, but I prefer thighs.
**For Mediterranean and Detox Diets, eliminate the processed meat and additional olive oil when browning the chicken.
*** SCD followers, see the recipe for Navy beans. In step 7, add the legally prepared cooked beans to the pot along with the kale.
****If your slow cooker does not have a browning function, follow steps 2-4 in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, cast-iron skillet, or Dutch oven, and then transfer the ingredients to the slow cooker for the remaining steps.
Do you have picky eaters who refuse to eat meat with bones? Step 3 removes the meat from the bone after it has cooled slightly.
If using boneless thighs or breasts, reduce the cooking time as follows: 8 Minutes in the pressure cooker, 1.5–2 hours in the slow cooker, or 15 minutes in the Dutch oven, or until the meat reaches a temperature of 165°F.
Try these other delicious kale recipes.
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13 responses to “Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Kale”
Karen, P.S. forgot to give you the 5 star rating
Sorry–
Karen, I made this dish and it was absolutely delicious!
The only thing I did different was, I used dry white wine instead of water
and I added a few more stems of rosemary.
Definitely a keeper.
Thanks
Teri
Teri, wine is a great addition! Thanks for sharing that tip!
This recipe sounds delish – will try it this week. Chicken thighs are so flavorful – will try it using these. Thanks for posting!
Lynn, let me know what you think after making it. It is definitely a keeper at this house.
Loved this recipe and my cat did too! I used great Northern beans and light red kidney beans to substitute for the cannellini. Mom’s standard, old school Crockpot cooked the dish perfectly after 3 hours on high. It tastes even better the next day. My finicky cat Mandy woke up from a deep sleep to come sniff my lunch plate. She gobbled up tender, juicy pieces of thighs immediately after having walked away 30 minutes earlier from canned clams.
It is wonderful to learn the recipe is a success for the whole family. I love that you made substitutes for beans on hand.
This looks yummy and would love to try it, but don’t have a pressure cooker. Can you give the directions for using a slow cooker?
Hi Monica, thanks for checking out this recipe. I added the directions for a standard slow cooker. Let me know what you think.
Easy and delicious
Glad you liked it and found it easy to make.
Nice, hearty dinner! I used skinless chicken thighs, so I don’t know if that affected the flavor or not. I did need a little more oil for browning them. I think next time I’ll use 4-6 thighs — 8 seems like a lot in proportion to the beans. I definitely have enough for a several meals.
Glad it was a hit. Looove the idea adding more beans to the current proportions. My son-in-law said the same thing. I added your suggestion to the recipe.