Tocanita is a rustic heartwarming Romanian dish that’s sure to win you over with its clean herby flavors and rich sweetness 🫶. Like many of my recipes, this chicken stew with potatoes is not only easy, but a meal that’s both comforting and packed with flavor 😋.
I lost count of how many times I eat and I made tocanita. I tend to keep true to my mum’s version of it, although let me tell you, there are so many variations on this theme. If you are wondering what this tocanita tastes like: think Irish stew but with chicken 🍗 🐔 and much lighter.
What you’ll love about this recipe
It comes together fairly quick, though I do recommend you make it at weekends or if you are not in a rush to put dinner on the table fast. And of course, as always, I do insist on a good quality free range corn fed chicken if you can afford it. Mum uses her beautiful care-free chickens 🐔 🐔 that are hand-reared and have a wonderful life on the farm. These chickens tend to be tougher, so once she gets the chicken pieces nice and golden, in the pressure cooker they go to soften before marrying those sweet onion flavors.
- Simplicity at Its Best: Tocanita is the epitome of rustic simplicity. With just a handful of fresh and wholesome ingredients, you’ll create a dish that tastes like a warm hug.
- Versatile and Adaptable: This tocanita recipe doesn’t call for spices, it relies on the onions for the sweetness and the abundance of herbs. But feel free to experiment with additional vegetables or spices to suit your taste buds.
- Comfort in Every Bite: The combination of succulent chicken, melt-in-mouth potatoes, and a tender sweet vegetables creates a comforting and hearty stew.
- Light and fresh: Even though it’s such a cozy dish, you can make this any time, because it’s full of freshness.
- Perfect for beginners: It’s such a friendly recipe, perfect for both beginners and seasoned home-cooks. Once you made it once, you will always remember how to make it.
- Less waste: you can make tocanita with boneless chicken, but it’s so much more sustainable to use the whole bird! Not to mention you can use the carcass to make a yummy broth or stock!
Watch how to make tocanita
Ingredients you’ll need
- Chicken – chicken on the bone makes this tocanita stew! This recipe calls for a medium size. I use corn fed free range, it’s so much more flavorful and satisfying. Ask your butcher to portion it for you, if you can’t be bothered to do it at home.
- Onion – you will need a fairly humongous one, it makes this stew so sweet!
- Garlic – you don’t want this stew to be garlicky, so only two cloves work.
- Carrot – I grate mine, but small diced or chunks work too.
- Pepper – if you can find sweet pepper, it will give this stew a different dimension, sweeter and cooks faster. But bell pepper works well too.
- Potatoes – I parboil mine (cook for 8 minutes once water comes to a boil) , because they tend to cook unevenly in the stew.
- Chopped tomatoes – use a good quality brand if you can, otherwise it may be slightly watery.
- Tomato puree – this adds another layer of savory goodness.
- Dill and parsley – herbs are such a big part of Romanian cooking, go to town with an abundance of freshly chopped herbs here!
- Salt and black pepper – I have added the measurements in the recipe card for you, but really, I encourage you to taste once before you add the tomatoes and again after.
How to make tocanita (step-by-step)
Time needed: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Tocanita is a rustic heartwarming Romanian dish is packed with clean herby flavors and rich sweetness, so comforting yet fresh!
- Prep the chicken
Use a plastic chopping board to portion up the chicken into pieces: wings, breast, drumsticks and thighs. Make sure you divide the chicken breast in roughly 4 pieces. You should end up with 10 pieces of chicken. Set aside the rest of the carcass and put in your freezer to make stock or a soup later.
- Fry the Chicken (25-30 minutes):
In a large pot, heat olive oil and fry the chicken until golden brown, turning every 10 minutes for that perfect, crispy skin. Then set aside on a plate.
- Prep the veggies
Peel and chop the onion. Wash and deseed the pepper, then slice and chop in rough pieces. Top and tail, peel and grate the carrot. Peel the garlic and set aside.
- Parboil the Potatoes (8 minutes):
While the chicken sizzles, parboil the cubed potatoes separately to ensure a tender yet firm texture.
- Saute the onions and veggies (20 minutes)
In the same pot where the chickeny bits have caught the pan, add a little more olive oil and sauté finely chopped onions on medium heat until translucent. To prevent burning, add a little warm or hot water to deglaze the pan. Add garlic for an aromatic kick.
Add the grated carrot and chopped sweet pepper to the sautéed mix. Let them meld together until softened. Add water as you need to avoid the pan catching and burning.
- Combine and Simmer (15 minutes):
Reunite the golden-brown chicken with the vegetable medley. Toss in the parboiled potatoes. Some of the potatoes may fall apart, but that’s okay, it will make the sauce nice and thick. Add a little more water to help everything cook to perfection. Let the flavors mingle as you simmer for another 15 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes
Add the tomato paste and stir through then the chopped tomatoes and simmer for around 10 minutes until the sauce has cooked and thickened.
- Final flourish
Sprinkle finely chopped dill and parsley into the pot, giving your Tocanita a fresh, herbaceous kick.
- Serve with love and enjoy:
Plate up your tocanita alongside creamy polenta or a healthy chunk of crusty bread, letting the rich flavors speak for themselves. Yum!
Pro Tips
- As a food scientist, I feel responsible to remind you: DO NOT WASH CHICKEN and be careful when you handle raw chicken. Use a plastic chopping board and take great care to wash your utensils thoroughly with hot water and washing up liquid and wash your hands before handling anything else.
- Chicken carcass makes an amazing stock or broth 🤩, so save it in your freezer for when you need it.
- Add water gradually mainly to keep the pan from burning when sauteeing the veggies. Eye ball it to avoid making it to watery. This much depends on how floury your potatoes may be and what type of stove you cook on.
- Potatoes dicing- to guide you through the size of the potato cubes for this dish, halve on the length, quarter, then halve again on the width: you end up with 8 cubes.
- Aromatics– I like to add the garlic a little later, it preserves as much as the flavor as possible. See the recipe for step-by-step instructions.
- Check the largest piece of chicken, normally a thigh to make sure it’s cooked through.
Preparation time
It takes around 10 minutes to prepare the veggies and portion the chicken.
I am being generous here, because I know myself (not always super organised 😉).
frying time
The chicken pieces take 25-30 minutes to brown. During this time you can parboil the potato cubes.
saute time
The veggies take 20 minutes to sauté to a soft consistency without being mushy. Then another 25 minutes when everything else is mixed.
Total time
I would allow an hour and a half from start to finish, although it may be slightly less depending on your pan and stove.
Nutritional benefits
Of course the abundance of vegetables and herbs makes this dish such a wholesome nourishing option. They all add to the magic 30 plants a week! Feed those friendly gut bacteria happy!
Servings
This recipe yields 4 portions, enough for a small family.
What to serve with tocanita
- Polenta – traditionally tocanita is served with polenta, which in Romania is served rather ferm, but I like mine creamy. If you are looking for a recipe, I love this polenta recipe, it’s very much how I make mine. If you want more ideas to pair polenta with, I have this wicked wagyu meatballs recipe which you can make fast and with any mince you have handy.
- Bread – if want to try your hand at baking this no-knead sourdough, you can then serve a big chunk with tocanita.
- Pickles – I mean, you can always throw a simple green salad next to it, but it’s such a rustic meal, it deserves the company of pickles. And mine are naturally fermented, your gut will say a big THANK YOU! They are so easy to make and full of goodness and tangy flavors: try my pink sauerkraut for a beginner’s easy fermentation recipe.
variations and substitutions
- Use boneless chicken thighs or diced chicken breast, just adjust the cooking accordingly.
- Swap chicken for lamb, pork or beef for a different twist.
- Experiment with different vegetables like mushrooms or zucchini.
- Add a dash of smoked paprika for a smoky flavor.
- Spice It Up: Add a pinch of red pepper flakes or a diced chili for an extra kick.
- VEGAN: No meat? For a vegan option, skip the chicken and up the tatties 🥔🥔 (potatoes that is !) It would then be “tocanita de cartofi” (potato stew)!
There you have it, my lovelies! Here is hoping you will venture on another delicious journey into the heart of Romanian cuisine. Don’t forget to subscribe and share your creations with me. Happy stewing!
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tocanita FAQ
Absolutely! Freeze in portions for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
Absolutely! Boneless chicken works just as well, just adjust for a quicker chicken frying time without sacrificing any flavor.
Of course! Feel free to use fresh tomatoes when they’re in season. You want them ripe and fleshy rather than watery.
Because the potatoes aren’t really submerged in liquid, they tend to cook unevenly. But if you cut them in smaller cubes, this will work. I have tried it when short of time and it saves another pot washing up.
Yes, you can! Although the flavors are very much enhanced by the fried chicken. You have two options: brown the chicken, sauté the vegetables, and then transfer everything to your slow cooker. Or toss everything in and add the herbs at the end. Either way cook on low for 6 hours or until the chicken is cooked through.
Tocanita
Equipment
- 1 large frying pan
- 1 small saucepan (to parboil potatoes)
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized (3-4 lbs) chicken corn-fed free-range
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 1 medium carrot finely grated
- 1 large sweet pepper or 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped
- 3 medium-sized potatoes cubed and parboiled
- 1 can chopped tomatoes 400 g
- 2 heaped tbsp tomato puree or paste
- 250 ml water
- 20 g each dill and parsley to garnish Finely chopped
- Salt and black pepper to taste ( as a guide 1½ tsp each)
Instructions
Prep the chicken
- Use a plastic chopping board to portion up the chicken into pieces: wings, breast, drumsticks and thighs. Make sure you divide the chicken breast in roughly 4 pieces. You should end up with 10 pieces of chicken. Set aside the rest of the carcass and put in your freezer to make stock or a soup later.
Fry the Chicken (25-30 minutes):
- In a large pan, heat olive oil and fry the chicken until golden brown, turning every 10 minutes for that perfect, crispy skin. Then set aside on a plate.
Prep the veggies
- Peel and chop the onion. Wash and remove the seeds from the pepper, then slice and chop in rough pieces. Top and tail, peel and grate the carrot. Peel the garlic and set aside.
Parboil the Potatoes (8 minutes):
- While the chicken sizzles, parboil the cubed potatoes separately to ensure a tender yet firm texture.
Saute the onions and veggies (20 minutes)
- In the same pot where the chicken pieces were fried, add a little more olive oil and sauté finely chopped onions on medium heat until translucent. To prevent burning, add a little warm or hot water to deglaze the pan. Add minced garlic.
- Add the grated carrot and chopped sweet pepper to the sautéed mix. Let them meld together until softened. Add water as you need to avoid the pan catching and burning.
Combine and Simmer (15 minutes):
- Add the golden-brown chicken back to the pan with the sauteed vegetables. Toss in the parboiled potatoes. Some of the potatoes may fall apart, but that's okay, it will make the sauce nice and thick. Add a little more water to help everything stew and cook well. Allow to simmer for another 15 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and stir through then the chopped tomatoes and simmer for around 10 minutes until the sauce has cooked and thickened.
- Check a thicker chicken piece to make sure it has cooked through. You may cook for a further 5 minutes if you need to.
Garnish
- Take the pan off the heat. Sprinkle finely chopped dill and parsley into the pan, and stir through at the end.
Serve and enjoy
- Plate up your tocanita alongside creamy polenta or a healthy chunk of crusty bread, adding more herbs if you want. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
