Weeknight Roast Chicken and Bread Salad
By Jessica RudolphPublished on October 31, 2025
Time
45 minutes
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Before You Begin
This dish is a streamlined, weeknight-friendly version of the roast chicken with bread salad from San Francisco’s Zuni Café.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle 8 trimmed chicken thighs with ¾ teaspoon table salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Place chicken skin side down in 12-inch nonstick skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until skin is light golden, 10 to 13 minutes.
- Transfer chicken skin side up to 1 half of rimmed baking sheet. Combine 5 cups ciabatta, cut into 1-inch pieces; ¼ cup water; and ¼ cup rendered fat from skillet (supplementing with oil as needed) in large bowl and toss to coat. Arrange bread evenly on empty half of sheet. Roast until tops of bread are toasted and chicken registers at least 175 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Combine ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, 3 thinly sliced scallions, and 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves in now-empty skillet and cook over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Whisk oil mixture into vinegar mixture. Stir in 3 tablespoons dried currants.
- Transfer chicken to serving platter. Add 5 cups baby arugula, bread, and any accumulated juices from sheet to bowl and toss to coat. Serve with chicken.
Time
45 minutesYield
Serves 4Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
This streamlined take on the iconic dish from San Francisco’s Zuni Café delivers moist bites of chicken and bread cubes saturated with chickeny juices—but on a weeknight time frame. We swapped in chicken thighs for a whole bird for faster cooking, and the dark meat stayed juicy without a need for pre-salting. We seared the thighs skin side down in a cold skillet, which meant that the chicken gradually heated up with the pan, giving the skin time to thoroughly render and crisp. We tossed cubes of ciabatta in the drippings and roasted the chicken and bread together on a baking sheet. The bread cubes toasted and browned alongside the chicken while absorbing its juices to create a mix of moistened, crispy-fried, and chewy pieces all packed with savory flavor. To finish the salad, we combined the chicken and bread cubes with salad greens and tossed it all with a robustly flavored vinaigrette.
Before You Begin
This dish is a streamlined, weeknight-friendly version of the roast chicken with bread salad from San Francisco’s Zuni Café.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle 8 trimmed chicken thighs with ¾ teaspoon table salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Place chicken skin side down in 12-inch nonstick skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until skin is light golden, 10 to 13 minutes.
- Transfer chicken skin side up to 1 half of rimmed baking sheet. Combine 5 cups ciabatta, cut into 1-inch pieces; ¼ cup water; and ¼ cup rendered fat from skillet (supplementing with oil as needed) in large bowl and toss to coat. Arrange bread evenly on empty half of sheet. Roast until tops of bread are toasted and chicken registers at least 175 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Combine ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, 3 thinly sliced scallions, and 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves in now-empty skillet and cook over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Whisk oil mixture into vinegar mixture. Stir in 3 tablespoons dried currants.
- Transfer chicken to serving platter. Add 5 cups baby arugula, bread, and any accumulated juices from sheet to bowl and toss to coat. Serve with chicken.
Gift This Recipe
Enjoyed this dish? Let others know by sharing it as a gift recipe.
Appears In
Keep Exploring
0 Comments