Rao’s Chicken Scarpariello (Shoemaker’s Chicken) Recipe (2024)

Really fantastic recipe! I suggest substituting black pepper for the red and green peppers; also instead of chicken, use sausage, and instead of sausage, use chicken. Finally, try cooking this while Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is at its apogee; really adds some je-ne-sais-quoi to the flavor.

Whaad-are-you-kiddin-me?!? As close as it comes to the best-of-all versions of this dish I have enjoyed at a long time family owned Italian restaurant in my Italian hubby's Brooklyn neighborhood. Just right. (Or "joosta" as my in-laws would say.) My revision here is that you really do not need 1 1/2 C of vegetable oil to brown the chicken. Requires much, much less. Use olive oil.

To make it even simpler I used a large "Le Creuset" type pot. Cooked everything in the pot according to the recipe. Instead of transferring to a roasting pan, I left it in the pot and used convection roast, which gave it a nice browning. After 15 minutes I flipped the chicken over. I think a touch of rosemary would be a nice addition. One of the best chicken scarpariello recipes I've made.

Did I miss something or did the recipe change? I'm seeing 2 tablespoons of olive oil, not 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil.

I made the following tweaks, not because I’m smarter than Jason Epstein, but because I’m much much lazier: I used boneless skinless chicken thighs; I didn’t boil the potatoes nor did I peel them, instead I sliced them thin; I didn’t transfer the mess to a roasting pan, but left it in a cast-iron Dutch oven; I cooked it covered for 30 minutes at 400F, and then I cooked it uncovered at 400F for 30 minutes. I don’t know from Raos, but this was still pretty good, and will make good leftovers.

No jalapeno. Use red pepper flakes.Artichoke hearts and peppadews from salad bar.Use baby potatoes.Do everything in La Creuset dutch oven.

I own the Rao's cookbook and looked at the recipe there. Absolutely NO jalapenos were listed in that original recipe! I should've listened to my instinct (not that I mind spicy food at all) but this was nearly inedible. If you're bold, perhaps use a 1/2 of a jalapeno to start.

INCREDIBLY GOOD. IF you like flavor. SOme of the commenters here say take out peppers, take out vinegar, take out wine . . . . One key: Add I T of butter to the olive oil and use a lot of salt and pepper on the chicken. It comes out of the skillet ready to eat as is, and if it is strongly flavored the rest of the dish is equally so.Otherwise, use the recipe as is --guests were scooping the sauce out of the pan with teaspoons before it went in the oven, and raving already. SO MUCH FLAVOR

I enjoyed this dish tremendously as it was written. I've never had the dish before, so I'll ask the purists to forgive me, but I also think this is a great base recipe that could go many different directions. We had leftovers, and the second night I nudged it in a Spanish direction; I added the juice from a whole orange, a couple of bay leaves and some green olives. Also excellent.

Fantastic recipe, a most satisfying meal. Thank you. Note, however, that indeed all you need is a couple tablespoons of olive oil -- though the recipe once called for an incredible 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil -- and hence there is no need to remove oil between chicken/sausage and vegetables. (The ingredients were updated, but the preparation awaits copy editing on this point.)

This is a fantastic dish! I followed the recipe pretty closely, except skipped boiling the potatoes and, instead, sliced them thinly and browned them with the peppers, onion and garlic. By chance, our power cut out just after I put the roasting pan into a 400 degree oven. When the power returned an hour later, everything was done to perfection!

Well, I think my husband died, went to heaven, and returned. And the only reason he returned was to take another bite of this dish. Perfect as is.

I used to eat chicken scarpariello at La Strada on West 46th Street back in the '60s-'80s. I believe the restaurant is closed now. I've made the dish a few times reconstructing it from memory. It called for chicken thighs and drumsticks cut through the bone into about 1 1/2 inch pieces, onion, rosemary, garlic, sliced waxy potatoes, chicken stock, white wine vinegar, and white wine to deglaze the pan. No peppers of any kind. Sweet sausage optional.

Great recipe. I used to order this every Wednesday night at the old Mateos of Westwood here in Los Angeles. That was thirty years ago and it was a favorite of Bobby Blake too. I made this exactly the way it was written and it's spot on.

per Notes made it all in Dutch oven 1 1/2 hours 325 . A cup? of artichoke hearts off the olive bar and about 5 cloves of roasted garlic. 1/2 cup Rw vinegar to finish a bottle. handful of fresh oregano and a big pinch of red pepper flakes. about five sliced, unpeeled, uncooked red potatoes,a small shallot to get rid of it.Served with warm rolls. Plates scraped clean. Delicious! The potatoes help keep the juice from being too watery.

It was very flavorful, wife thought delish. My customization is that I excluded the japs, only used sausage, no potatoes, and 1/4 red wine vinegar. Could have been more liquid but I assume lack of juice from chicken could have contributed. But solid meal anyway.

Needed to clean out fridge before a trip, and found this worked great as a base for misc vegetables. Had a few pounds of fresh broccoli left over in fridge, along with a large fennel head and about 40 peeled garlic cloves. Used a bottle of picked “gardenia” vegetables with all the vinegar. Added smoked hot paprika, lots of dried herbes de Provence and all the fresh thyme in the fridge. Splendid. The chicken fat and sausage fat with the vinegar, wine, garlic and herbs is great w/broccoli!

Made it w two packages of Bell & Evans 4 pack thighs that came out to around 3 lbs,, sweet sausage (no hot) and pepperoncini. All other ingredients as per recipe. Also after cooking in a Le Creuset Dutch oven, transferred to a cast iron lasagna pan for the oven. It was great! I get why you need to transfer to a roasting pan- you don’t want to drown the chicken and it would likely not fit in the Dutch oven.

Also used fresh sage instead of oregano. Serious Eats (Kenji L-Alt) version added sage which was good but also doubled the liquid which I won’t do again. No jalapeños.

We made this last night. Took twice as long for each step. Two of us prepping and cooking. No jalapeño. Used one hot and one sweet sausage, about 12 oz. Both sweet and hot cherry peppers. Used juice from cherry peppers instead of vinegar. Potatoes didn’t for in 5 qt sauces pan with the other ingredients so roasted in separate pan. Not sure it was worth it.

Amazing! I added capers and black olives for a Mediterranean flavor!

So good as is but made a few swaps - no jalapeño now, but rather a mix of peppadews, banana pepper and hot cherry peppers. Instead of just the red wine vinegar, brine from the hot cherry peppers and a splash of red wine vinegar to stretch it. I also do the Dutch oven trick which makes this a one-pot wonder. Depending on how many potatoes you use (my family loves them) be prepared to add a little more wine and stock -maybe 2/3? - but not too much or it’ll be soupy (like my last batch LOL).

I have eaten this dish many times the New York city and I also love making it, I don't use the vinegar I use lemon and if I have a lot of yummy gravy, I thicken it with a little butter and flour for just a few minutes over heat stirring and pour over the chicken. Everything else is as the recipe dictates.

Omitted the potatoes and used all sweet Italian sausage. Subbed Lebanese za’attar for the oregano. Used sliced hot cherry peppers instead of whole.

Lots of good tastes here. Good recipe. If you've got a large roasting pan, double it & freeze.

The sauce ratios here are spot-on. Even if you do a white-meat-off-the-bone, no sausage version, the stock/wine/vinegar ratios work fantastically. (I also use pepperoncini peppers and use the vinegar from those as the vinegar—still works.)

I made the following tweaks, not because I’m smarter than Jason Epstein, but because I’m much much lazier: I used boneless skinless chicken thighs; I didn’t boil the potatoes nor did I peel them, instead I sliced them thin; I didn’t transfer the mess to a roasting pan, but left it in a cast-iron Dutch oven; I cooked it covered for 30 minutes at 400F, and then I cooked it uncovered at 400F for 30 minutes. I don’t know from Raos, but this was still pretty good, and will make good leftovers.

Something seems amiss. Let's see, 3 lbs. chicken, 1 lb. Italian sausage, 2 large bell peppers, 1 large onion, 2-3 red potatoes, wine, broth, etc.., and yet only '6 servings'? Where is this being served, at a professional eating contest? Or maybe, a lumberjack convention?

2 lbs chicken thighs3 sausage4 garlic cloves, slicedPerfect amount of sauce

I’ve added several notes over the years. My advice:1. Make it the day before you eat this dish. It benefits from a night in the ‘frig.2.. On half of a Yukon gold per serving, diced, and sautéed in the chicken fat before the aliums, 3. I’m a big fan of pepardew peppers!4. Serve on rice. The gravy is excellent.5. Much to my surprise, I preferred this dish when made with chicken breast vs the thigh. I cannot recall another time when I’ve said that. Enjoy!