By Martha Rose Shulman
- Total Time
- 30 minutes, plus 30 to 60 minutes' marinating
- Rating
- 5(694)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Cooked figs go beautifully with meat, especially a griddled or pan-cooked chicken breast. I always seem to circle back to feta when I’m working with figs in a savory dish. I love the flavor of the earthy, salty cheese against the subtle, sweet fruit.
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 45- to 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper
- 2teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 2tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2ounces feta, crumbled (about ½ cup)
- 1¼teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- ½cup red wine
- 8fresh figs, cut in small dice
- 1tablespoon honey
- Rosemary sprigs for garnish (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
439 calories; 17 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugars; 39 grams protein; 754 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
One at a time, place each chicken breast between pieces of plastic wrap or parchment and lightly pound with a mallet until it is ½ to ¾ inch thick. Chicken breasts should be of uniform thickness.
Step
2
Place chicken breasts in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and toss with rosemary, garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
Step
3
Place oven on lowest setting, around 200 degrees. Cook the chicken: Heat a large cast-iron skillet or grill pan over high heat for 5 minutes. Add remaining olive oil to pan and reduce heat to medium-high. Turn over chicken breasts in marinade to coat them, then add them to the pan, rounded side down. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes on one side, until cooked halfway through.
Step
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Turn chicken breasts over and carefully arrange feta on top, dividing it equally among the 4 breasts. Sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon thyme leaves over feta on each breast. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, until breasts are cooked through. Feta will warm but will not melt. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep in warm oven while you cook the figs.
Step
5
Add wine to pan and scrape with a wooden spoon to deglaze the bottom. Boil wine until it has reduced by half, then add figs, honey and remaining thyme. Cook, stirring, until figs break down and begin to look jammy, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Step
6
Serve chicken breasts with fig compote on side and garnish with rosemary sprigs.
Ratings
5
out of 5
694
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Cooking Notes
Susan A
Can the chicken be made a few hours ahead and kept warm or reheated, then the sauce added at the time of serving?
patti
Loved this! I'm always looking for quick easy meals for dinner parties, this is going on the list. I wish fresh figs were available longer.
I served this on top of basmati rice cooked in chicken broth and added chopped baby spinach and butter to the rice after I took the rice off the stove to sit for 5min. Fantastic.
Thanks Martha
Marli
The recipe ask for 8 figs. Are they the Brown Turkey (very big) or Black Mission? Please help.
Jen in Astoria
This came out just AWESOME. The one thing that I would advise doing is using smaller chicken breasts; the ones from my 4-pack were HUGE and I had to do them in 2 batches.
Also, I needed more than half a cup of wine to deglaze. My figs were tiny also so I used 10 not 8.
Feta=spoiled for choice in Astoria but I used American-made feta which has a fine crumble and medium saltiness.
Yes to folks saying yes to pork with this. I could see it with pork chops (or lamb).
Make this for company.
EKT
Fantastic!! Made with dried figs and put some rosemary, thyme, and garlic in the compote. Grilled the chicken and put the feta on it after flipping it. Definitely a new favorite!
VSB
Good Evening: Very good dish, but before you add the wine in step 5, pour off any chicken fat first.
kathrin
Vacationing in Turkey right now in a rental called Fig House with a fig tree and a rosemary bush in the garden: this recipe fitted the setting perfectely ... We just added Turkish rice and very creamy feta. Great!
Hugh Stevens
I made this dish tonight, and it was a hit. Based on one of the earlier notes, I added a fresh peach to the fig compote. Both figs, which we get from our tree, and peaches are at their peak in North Carolina right now.
Michael
The garlic was intended as part of the marinade -- not to be cooked.
BTW mine came out fine -- I had a Valpolicella -- but I think I would have preferred chicken cutlets with lemon and butter, accompanied by risi e bisi or risotto, with uncooked figs, goat cheese and thyme as a salad/dessert.
Rowena
A delicious combination, and I served it with basmati rice and baby spinach as suggested in another note. We had a Ribera del Duero Tempranillo with it.
Keith Bartholomew
Fresh figs are in season the same time as peaches. Next time I make this, I'm going to blend in a peach or two into the fig compote.
I pan roasted the chicken 4 minutes on a side. They were good, but next time I'm going down to 3:30 a side.
Randy
Please don't. The chicken will be dry and tough and you will miss the freshness and succulence that make this such a great dish. Both the chicken and the sauce need to be prepared just before serving. The preparation only takes 45 minutes including the 30 minute marinating. If your time is short do something else and save this recipe for another time.
Michael
Kathy, you could, but leave out the honey, there's enough sugar in the jam -- probably won't be as fresh tasting though.
Paige, I doubt it, but it's so quick, why?
Allison, rehydrated figs and fresh figs are two different things -- you won't get the jammyness or freshness.
Now, I'm going to try it, using chicken cutlets instead of pounded breast, goat cheese instead of feta, and no honey. Still debating between Valpolicella and Fleurie.
Mike O'
Fresh garlic has a tendency to burn, so the next time I'd use garlic powder in the marinade. That castiron pan is very hot when pre-heated on high for 5 minutes.
I used a white Bordeaux instead of a red wine because that's what I had open, and whatbinintended to drink. It worked just fine, and paired well with the dish IMHO.
Other than the burned garlic, this is a nice, easy, and tasty recipe. Cook on....
Jon
I used the black mission. They were the ones available and it seems like the larger ones would have been way too much. This dish was delicious.
Scott
My wife says this dish is a “plate licker”. I made the recipe with two beasts vs four, but with all other ingredients per recipe. Next time I may pulse the fig sauce in a processor (my figs were dry) but otherwise it’s great. Served it with sauté of spinach, 50-50 brown and wild rice, and a piece of left-over skin-on baked sweet potato. Flavors and colors were a hit.
Crazy cat lady
This gets 5 stars for flavor and 1 for instructions. When I added the oil to the cast iron pan, it caught on fire. Not a good idea. Next time, I'll finish the chicken, transfer it to the sheet pan, then add the well-crumbled feta and the thyme and put the chicken in a warm oven. Also cool the pan slightly before adding the wine and figs, or the wine evaporates almost immediately. Both white wine and dried figs work, BTW. Great flavors. Hubbie loved it. With alterations, a keeper.
Danise
My local market did not have figs, so I substituted the figs and honey with fig jam. It was delicious!
Alan
Instead of red wine, consider something sweeter like port or sherry.
dar-ling
Did not like. Flavors ok but don’t make again.
KL
My family loved this. Ended up just flipping chicken and covering it instead of sticking it in the oven. Subbed white wine for red bc that's what was open. Used prunes instead of figs bc that's what I had. Also, paired with sweet potatoes and tahini butter (also NYT cooking) and stewed cabbage. So good and super easy.
Jennifer.
I thought this was very good. My husband didn't care for it, but he doesn't go for mixtures of flavors and textures like I do. I used thin-sliced chicken breasts, so no pounding needed. I also used dried figs and reconstituted them before cooking. I can't say I'll make it again if I'll be the only one eating it, but I just had leftovers for lunch and enjoyed it very much.
Carolyn
Having no fresh figs, I used a jar of fig preserves that I had made and canned. Delicious! (I did not add the honey.) Definitely promotes chicken to company worthy!!I would love to know if anyone has tried dried figs, if you plumped them first and if so, in what...and were you happy?
marta
Delicious. Tom loved it.
Mel
I cheated by adding a fig compote to the deglazed pan in lieu of fresh figs and honey. I heard it was very good as my hungry teenage boys gobbled it all up.
Cheryl Morrison
Excellent, easy, and fast.
delicious!
Despite having less than ideal ingredients (too-thick chicken breasts, not-so-crumbly feta and dried figs rehydrated), this ended up delicious and I know we’ll make it again. Factor in the extra 30-60 minutes for marinating the chicken first, and time to hydrate the figs if you are making this off-season.
Maria Abrahamsen
Excellent. Added the chopped thyme to the marinade by mistake, but turned out fine.
Jim B
I’ve had a bumper crop of figs and decided to try this recipe. TOO sweet and the amount of thyme was overpowering. My suggestion is to skip the honey and halve the thyme. Otherwise, there’s potential here. I LOVE fish with poultry.
CJ48
Dry thyme is substituted for fresh 1:3--in this recipe it would be about 1/2 teaspoon dry thyme. Perhaps that would make a difference in the taste.
Mary Ann
Delish! I followed others and added a ripe peach to the figs. Also, prune juice (the end of a bottle I wanted to use up) substituted extremely well for the red wine - very rich flavor and spoke of autumn!
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