In this New York Street Cart Chicken recipe, chicken thighs are briefly marinated, chopped in the pan, and cooked until crispy. Serve it with onions, peppers, pita bread, rice pilaf, and the best smoked paprika-garlic dipping sauce.
The marinade and chicken thighs add so much savoriness to the dish as the chicken cooks. The chicken is moist, crispy, and has a nice texture from being roughly chopped in the pan. The other thing that makes it so good is the use of cloves. It’s a pretty different spice than we typically use when cooking dinner, which makes it satisfying in its unexpectedness.
💡 Recipe Inspiration
This dish is my favorite new dinner recipe that we have made over the last year. We first had this dish almost exactly a year ago after we brought our youngest baby home from the hospital. One of our friends brought this meal over, along with freshly made pita bread, still warm from the oven. Not only was it such a relief and joy to have a friend bring over dinner, but it was one of the best things I had eaten in a long time. She passed along the recipe she uses from YouTuber Ethan Chlebowski.
I spent weeks, and lots of mayo, yogurt, and sour cream, trying to get the exact right balance of fat, acidity, and spice in the dipping sauce. I also adjusted the marinade for the chicken.
→ We even use the same technique to make these Cajun Chicken Wraps. This recipe is easy to double and make lots of leftovers, just like these Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas or these Cheesesteak Wraps.
🛒 Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make this New York Street Cart Chicken Recipe.
- Mayo: I use either Trader Joe's or Hellman's mayo.
- Salt, Ground Cloves, Cumin, Oregano, Black Pepper: Spices used for the marinade.
- Garlic: Minced.
- Lemon: Use a quarter of the lemon for the marinade and a quarter more for the dipping sauce.
- Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. The higher the quality of meat that you use, the better the dish will taste.
Dipping Sauce
- Mayo and Sour Cream: After lots of recipe testing, I use more mayo than sour cream, but both are important in the sauce.
- Lemon: Adds a little acidity to balance the creaminess of the mayo and sour cream.
- Black Pepper, Smoked Paprika, Oregano, Garlic Powder, Salt: Spices used for the dipping sauce.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make New York Street Cart Chicken
Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for how to make this New York Street Cart Chicken Recipe.
Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Make the Marinade: In a medium-large bowl combine the mayo, salt, ground cloves, cumin, oregano, black pepper, minced garlic, and lemon juice (be sure to keep out the lemon seeds).
Step 2. Add the Chicken: Toss the chicken in the marinade. Either let marinade, covered in the fridge overnight, or use immediately (set aside while you make the onions and peppers).
Step 3. Caramelize the Onions: Bring a large saute pan to medium heat. Add the olive oil and the onions and toss. Cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes. Remove the cover and stir occassionally until the onions have become caramelized but haven't totally lost their shape, about 5-10 more minutes.
Remove from the pan and set aside.
Step 4. Sauté the Peppers: Add more olive oil if needed and the sliced peppers. Cook stirring occassionlly for 5-7 minutes until slighty softened but still tender and crisp.
Remove from the pan and set aside.
Step 5. Cook the Chicken: Use a stainless steel pan and spatula to cook the chicken. If you only have a non-stick pan, chop the chicken before cooking it in the pan. Otherwise continue as indicated below.
Bring the pan to medium heat. Add the chicken, spreading it out to maximize the amount of surface area of the chicken touching the pan. Leave undisturbed for 5-7 minutes until the bottom becomes golden brown. Flip the chicken over and let cook undisturbed for another 5-7 minutes.
Use a stainless steel spatula to roughly chop the chicken in the pan. Continue to chop and stir as needed until the chicken becomes golden brown and crispy, another 5-10 minutes.
Tip: This chopping method in the pan gives the chicken the rough texture that allows it to be crispy as the fat from the chicken thighs renders in the pan.
Step 6. Make the Dipping Sauce: In a medium-small bowl combine the mayo, sour cream, lemon, black pepper, smoked paprika, oregano, garlic powder, and salt.
To Serve: Serve the chicken with the caramelized onions, bell peppers, and dipping sauce, in addition to rice pilaf and pita bread.
✏️ Additional Notes and Tips
- Chopping the Chicken: Be careful what utensil you are using to roughly chop the chicken in the pan.
- If you're using a stainless steel pan, a stainless steel stiff spatula works very well.
- If you’re using a nonstick pan, you'll want to avoid using a metal spatula so that it does not damage the nonstick coating. The best approach would be to cut up the chicken before cooking it when using a nonstick pan.
- Doubling the Recipe: I always double this recipe (cooking the chicken in batches), and even then, we end up with some but not a ton of leftovers. It's definitely good enough to double - you'll want leftovers - and I have on one occasion made 4x of the recipe.
- Pita Bread: We often make Stovetop Pita Bread with this dish, which in terms of preparation, definitely takes more time than just cooking the chicken. But you could always use store-bought, or better yet, buy naan from the store and warm it up before serving (store-bought pita bread can be dry and brittle, and naan tends to be better). Or serve with these Pull Apart Dinner Rolls.
- Dipping Sauce: When making the dipping sauce, I found that using just mayo wasn't quite right, it needed a bit more acidity and sourness from the sour cream. I've also tried this with varying amounts of plain Greek yogurt, and I didn't love that either. The combination that I like the most is the ½ cup of mayo with a large spoonful of sour cream with the other add-ins.
- Doubling the Recipe: If you are doubling the recipe, be sure to cook the chicken in batches if needed. It will need space in the pan to get crispy.
- Adapted From: This recipe is adapted from Ethan Chlebowski's Street Cart Chicken and Yellow Rice.
💖 For More Chicken Dinner Recipes, You May Love
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New York Street Cart Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken and Marinade
- 2 tablespoon mayo
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ lemon, squeezed
- 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Peppers, Onions, and Sides
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 bell peppers, sliced
- prepared rice pilaf for serving
- homemade pita bread or store bought naan for serving
Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup mayo
- 1 large spoonful sour cream
- ¼ lemon, squeezed
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- pinch salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the mayo, salt, cloves, cumin, oregano, black pepper, garlic, lemon juice. Add the chicken thighs and toss to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes or overnight.
- Bring a large sauté pan to medium heat. Add a couple tablespoons olive oil and add the onions. Cover for 5-10 minutes. Uncover and stir occasionally until they start to caramelize. Remove the onions and add the bell peppers. Sauté for 5-7 minutes until tender. Remove from the pan.
- Add the chicken and any extra marinade. Let sit and do not stir, or flip until the chicken starts to cook through and the bottom starts to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Then flip each chicken thigh over and allow to brown for another 5-7 minutes.
- Using a stiff spatula (I use a metal spatula, or rather a metal cheese slicer, in a stainless steel pan, but any other spatula that is firm and thin at the end will work) apply pressure to roughly cut up the chicken in the pan. It is this rough chop in the pan that gives the chicken great texture. Toss the chicken and let cook a few more minutes to allow the chicken to get a little crispier, another 5-10 minutes.
- Separately, prepare a box of rice pilaf according to the directions on the box. We only use half the spice packet provided as I think the flavors are bit overwhelming. We tried this once without any of the spices, but it turned out a bit bland. So now we just do half or less of the spice packet.
- Dipping Sauce: combine the mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, black pepper, smoked paprika, oregano, garlic powder, and salt in a small bowl.
- Serve the chicken with peppers, onions, rice pilaf, pita bread or naan, and dipping sauce.
Notes
-
- Chopping the Chicken: Be careful what utensil you are using to roughly chop the chicken in the pan.
-
- If you're using a stainless steel pan, a stainless steel stiff spatula works very well.
-
- If you’re using a nonstick pan, you'll want to avoid using a metal spatula so that it does not damage the nonstick coating. The best approach would be to cut up the chicken before cooking it when using a nonstick pan.
- Doubling the Recipe: I always double this recipe (cooking the chicken in batches), and even then, we end up with some but not a ton of leftovers. It's definitely good enough to double - you'll want leftovers - and I have on one occasion made 4x of the recipe.
- If you are doubling the recipe, be sure to cook the chicken in batches if needed. It will need space in the pan to get crispy.
-
- Chopping the Chicken: Be careful what utensil you are using to roughly chop the chicken in the pan.
-
- Pita Bread: We often make Stovetop Pita Bread with this dish, which in terms of preparation, definitely takes more time than just cooking the chicken. But you could always use store-bought, or better yet, buy naan from the store and warm it up before serving (store-bought pita bread can be dry and brittle, and naan tends to be better). Or serve with these Pull Apart Dinner Rolls.
-
- Dipping Sauce: When making the dipping sauce, I found that using just mayo wasn't quite right, it needed a bit more acidity and sourness from the sour cream. I've also tried this with varying amounts of plain Greek yogurt, and I didn't love that either. The combination that I like the most is the ½ cup of mayo with a large spoonful of sour cream with the other add-ins.
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