Chicken is one of the world’s most ubiquitous ingredients, used in a wide variety of dishes across the globe. Here are our favorite preparations, from a quick Chinese stir fry with chanterelles to a fragrant Iranian stew.
ENGLAND Made for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation lunch, in 1953, this curry powder- and mango chutney-laced chicken salad has been wildly popular in Britain ever since. See the recipe for Coronation Chicken Salad »
Csirkepaprikas
TRANSYLVANIA This rustic, rib-sticking chicken stew is full of warming paprika, cumin, and chiles. Pair it with something starchy, like buttered potatoes or Romanian polenta with sour cream. See the recipe for Csirkepaprikas »
Djej Besla
MOROCCO Onions stew until soft and sweet in this satisfying one-pot chicken dish flavored with saffron, turmeric, lemon, and olives. See the recipe for Djej Besla »
Tininon Mannok Yan Hineska’ Agaga
GUAM Marinated with the traditional Guam-style sauce finadene, a blend of cane vinegar, soy sauce, and aromatics, this succulent grilled chicken is served with annatto-tinged red rice at the food cart PDX 671 in Portland, Oregon. See the recipe for Tininon Mannok Yan Hineska’ Agaga »
H’riss
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES This deeply satisfying dish of spiced meat and creamy wheat berries is most often made with lamb, but it’s particularly delicious when made with chicken. See the recipe for H’riss »
SENEGAL For this delicious, sumptuous peanut and chicken stew, you can make your own peanut butter or use a natural version, minus the stablizers and sugar found in many commercial brands, to get the right silky texture and pure peanut flavor. See the recipe for Mafe Ginaar »
Mole Verde Zacatecano
MEXICO Lighter and simpler than the nut-enriched moles of Puebla and Oaxaca, this Zacatecan version is made with fresh tomatillos, cilantro, jalapeños, and garlic. See the recipe for Mole Verde Zacatecano »
PUERTO RICO This chicken and root soup, laden with starchy vegetables, makes for a truly hearty meal. See the recipe for Sancocho »
Full of fiery chiles and warm spices, the all-purpose seasoning for this dish can be used as a rub on pork, goat, fish, and vegetables, as well as chicken.
Fiambre, which means “served cold,” is only eaten in Guatemala on All Saint’s Day.
Rendang Ayam
This flavorful chicken curry is a braise in reverse: The chicken is cooked in coconut milk flavored with spices and begins to brown when most of the liquid cooks away, creating a beautifully caramelized exterior. See the recipe for Rendang Ayam »
PHILIPPINES The preparation for this chicken dish is endlessly adaptable, and nearly every Philippine cook prepares adobo in a slightly different way. Though some add soy sauce to deepen the color of the dish, we followed Lucia Mallari’s method, which omits that ingredient. See the recipe for Chicken Adobo »
Ma You Ji
TAIWAN Mild and faintly sweet, Chinese rice wine is the standard cooking liquid and sauce for this sesame oil chicken dish. See the recipe for Ma You Ji »
This traditional stewed chicken dish owes its bright, spicy kick to a marinade with fiery Scotch bonnet peppers.
GREECE Thessaloniki chef Aglaia Patronaki showed us how to make this delicious, herb-strewn, skillet-braised chicken dish. See the recipe for Kotopoulo me Dendrolivano »
PERU The brightly colored and intensely fruity Andean pepper known as aji amarillo gives this traditional stew a bold but nuanced character, enhanced by the addition of pisco, a Peruvian grape brandy similar to white rum, and by allowing the chicken to marinate overnight before it’s cooked.
Jiyou Jun Chao Ji
CHINA The chicken in this stir-fry is coated in a mixture of egg white and cornstarch before cooking–a technique called velveting (see Smooth Move)–to preserve its succulence. See the recipe for Jiyou Jun Chao Ji »
ITALY Galliano, an Italian liqueur flavored with 30 herbs and spices, including anise and vanilla, gives the sauce for these stuffed chicken breasts a complex sweetness.
Redolent of ginger and garam masala, this lively main course can be prepared a day in advance, which makes it a terrific dish for a party.
Corn or flour tortillas that are deep-fried until they puff are a specialty of San Antonio’s Tex-Mex cuisine.
Cobb Salad
SOUTHWEST, U.S. Los Angeles’s Brown Derby closed its doors long ago, but this classic salad, invented in 1937 by the restaurant’s owner, Robert H. Cobb, lives on. See the recipe for Cobb Salad »**
MIDWEST, U.S. This garlicky chicken dish is a specialty of Chicago’s Italian-American restaurants. See the recipe for Chicken Vesuvio »**
Fried Chicken
SOUTHEAST, U.S. Simply seasoned and fried, with a thin, crisp coating and tender, juicy meat, the fried chicken at Martha Lou’s Kitchen is some of the best we’ve ever tasted. See the recipe for Fried Chicken »**
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Raclette, Herbs, and Prosciutto
