Chile-Butter Chicken With Vinegared Potatoes

Some dishes work best with distilled vinegar. You wouldn't make classic deli-style macaroni salad with cider vinegar, rice wine vinegar, or lemon juice — distilled white vinegar is the flavor that's expected there. Using a different acid wouldn't necessarily be bad, but you'd have a different dish. Part of the fun of following a new recipe is discovering new flavors and expanding your options, so maybe don't write off an ingredient you wouldn't have picked.

This is wonderful! Easy and delicious. I used a small package of chicken legs and a bag of red fingerlings from Trader Joe’s. Used regular smoked paprika instead of hot which was just fine. The vinegar on the potatoes is genius, why did I never think of that before? The smell alone will make you feel that perhaps all will be well after all...

I'm confused by the use of distilled white vinegar here. Distilled white vinegar doesn't taste very good; in my book, it's a cleaning supply rather than a food. Even if you're seeking a neutral acidity here, wouldn't white wine vinegar or rice vinegar or lemon juice (the last not neutral but tasty) be a more pleasant, less harsh choice? What's the rationale for the DWV?

This was very tasty but the timing is a bit off. I had a whole 3.2 lb chicken. The potatoes were very done after 30 minutes so I moved the chicken to another pan to finish cooking and took the potatoes out. If I make it again, I would either use chicken parts or spatchcock the chicken.

Dear Su, In my experience, the use of DWV enhances the taste of chicken and herbs and spices significantly, whereas the white wine vinegar (WWV) tends to dampen the flavor. I make a chicken dish browning chicken pieces in olive oil together with garlic and fresh rosmarino, then kill it (and saute it) in DWV. With WWV it looses the crisp flavor Why don't you try the recipe either way and you will notice the difference. Happy cooking dan

In that same vein, I’m confused by Step 3. A 1/4 cup of DWV tossed into the sheet pan with the potatoes seems like a lot of excess vinegar. It would make more sense to toss the potatoes beforehand in a bowl and then transfer to the sheet pan.

...and one more thing. Since I had about half the chicken called for, but all of the potatoes, I halved the butter/oil/spice mixture, but kept the vinegar the same. It worked fine and would do again because the potatoes are so good.

I thought this was good, not great, certainly easy enough for a weeknight dinner. I used thighs, bone-in/skin-on, and the whole thing came together in less than 45 minutes. I agree with others that between the butter/oil mixture, the vinegar and the chicken drippings, the potatoes in the end had too much liquid and were a little oily. I took the chicken off to rest and let the potatoes cook a little longer under the broiler to crisp them up a bit.

Wonderful one-pot dinner. However, 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes? Really? I have a heavy hand using red pepper with many dishes as is, but with that amount of red pepper plus hot paprika will necessitate using a fire extinguisher! Just saying . . .

Cut the butter in half as others suggested and it was plenty, and used half red pepper flakes half aleppo pepper. Tossed the potatoes in vinegar in a bowl first to coat before putting in a pan. Used the same bowl to coat the chicken, and drizzled the rest of the butter over the potatoes. Last 15 min put chicken in a separate pan and flipped the potatoes to get a better crunch on the potatoes. Very flavorful! Will make again with these adjustments.

In the end, I did not taste a vinegar effect at all, just an almost unidentifiable tang that went well with the other flavors which are more pronounced. I bet any white neutral tasting vinegar would work. I use DWV for pickling all the time since it doesn't add any other flavors.

This was okay-tasting, easy and quick. Obviously, with all that butter, the added oil, and the grease produced from cooking the chicken, the potatoes especially end up being quite oily in the end.

If I use red pepper flakes, my wife and her discerning palate, will always call foul on the harshness. On the other hand, she loves Aleppo pepper which I used instead -a bit more generously than 2 t - and we both found that the flavors came alive. I share others' opinion that 425 may be hot for this combined dish; after 15 minutes, I dropped the temp to 350. Everything finished at the same time, although it did take a bit longer an hour.

Perfect. So simple, but such a flavorful twist on roast chicken and potatoes. Spicy but balanced. Reduce chile flakes / increase garlic to taste. The vinegared potatoes were excellent, could even take more vinegar. I transferred potatoes to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain while the chicken rested/was carved which helped reduce the grease level. I also spatchcocked the chicken to reduce cook-time slightly and more evenly cook the white/dark meat. So easy & impressive dinner for guests!

Family loved this, second time making it I tweaked as follows: combined butter and spices lime zest and rubbed under and over chicken skin. Melted leftover butter, added oil then tossed sliced potatoes (in a bowl) with melted butter mixture. Spread potatoes onto pan topped with chicken and baked accordingly (adjust time if very large or small chicken). Very good. Used DWV (distilled white vinegar) as per recipe.