Chicken Scarpariello, also known as Shoemaker’s Chicken, is an Italian classic made with chicken, sweet sausage, crispy roasted potatoes, mushrooms, and artichokes in a lemony white wine sauce.
You’ll find countless variations of my Chicken Scarpariello recipe online, some with added vinegar and others using bell pepper or cherry peppers in their chicken scarpariello recipe.
As I always say, there are as many ways to make a dish as there are Italian grandmothers.
Although it has its roots in Italy, its popularity grew as a Classic Italian-American dish created by Italians who helped build this country. After a long day at work, Pollo Scarpariello (chicken scarpariello) was a fast and easy dinner to prepare and would have often been served over pasta.
Pasta or rice is a delicious way to soak up that delightful scarpariello sauce.
Chicken Scarpariello is bursting with flavor and cooks in under 30 minutes, making it the perfect dish for a busy weeknight dinner.
Two of my other favorite chicken and pasta dishes are Chicken Pepperoni and Tuscan Chicken with Sausage.
Ingredients
Gather the ingredients needed to make our Chicken Scarpariello recipe. Culinary professionals call this the Mise en Place, which means “Everything in its Place.”
Setting up your ingredients not only helps speed up the cooking process but also helps ensure you have all of the ingredients on hand to make the recipe.
If you’re not a fan of one of the ingredients, you can leave it out. You can always add or take out ingredients to make this dish your very own. Spinach would go nicely in this dish, and roasted red peppers would add a little color.
Remember, recipes are guidelines, have fun in your kitchen being creative!
Individual Ingredients
- boneless chicken breasts
- all-purpose flour
- olive oil
- sweet Italian sausage
- potatoes
- mushrooms
- chicken stock
- onion powder
- sea salt and black pepper
- lemon juice
- fresh rosemary
- white wine (optional)
- unsalted butter
- Italian parsley
How to Make Chicken Scarpariello
The first step is preparing the potatoes. Once prepared, place them into a 375-degree preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Time this so that you’re ready to add the potatoes to the dish when they’ve finished cooking.
- Dredge the chicken breasts in flour seasoned with sea salt and black pepper. Add the floured chicken to a large skillet (or Dutch oven) and cook for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat. *This step will season the chicken and help make the sauce.
- Add the sliced sausage to the pan and brown the sausage while the chicken continues to cook, stirring occasionally.
- Turn over the chicken and sausage and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute for 3-4 minutes as the chicken and sausage continue cooking.
- Add the chicken broth and seasonings to the pan. Stir the pan, scraping the bottom to release the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2-3 minutes.
*If you want to add wine, add it before the chicken stock. - Add the roasted potatoes, artichokes, and lemon juice to the pan and simmer for 2 minutes.
- To help thicken the sauce, coat the butter with flour (push the flour into the butter) and add it to the pan. Chefs refer to the butter-flour mixture as a beurre manie.
To ensure proper cooking, use an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken. The thermometer should register 165 degrees or more.
You can make our recipe with other parts, such as skin-on chicken thighs.
My version of Chicken Scarpariello will surely please your friends and family, and I promise you won’t hear your family say “chicken again” when you serve this dish.
For an even heartier version of this dish, serve the chicken scarpariello over linguine. It’s the perfect Sunday dinner!
Recipe FAQs
Scarpariello literally translates to shoemaker-style.
Some chefs attribute Chicken Scarpariello to Sicily and Calabria. They prepare it by sautéing chicken in olive oil and adding white wine, lemon, rosemary, and potatoes to complete the dish.
Potatoes are the traditional choice for this dish. They’re roasted (or air-fried) separately, and the crispy potato soaks up some of the lemony sauce, making them even more delicious.
You can use pasta as an alternative to potatoes; it goes well with this dish.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love!
Chicken Scarpariello
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken breasts or boneless thighs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour for dredging chicken and for beurre manie.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ pound sweet Italian sausage sliced on a diagonal (do not remove casing)
- 2 medium potatoes skin on – cut into medium cubes
- 6 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 4 ounces artichoke hearts sliced
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon granulated onion
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 lemon juice from lemon
- 2 stalks fresh rosemary
- 1 ounce white wine optional
- 1 – 2 tablespoon unsalted butter for beurre manie
- 1 tablespoon Italian Parsley chopped for garnish
- 1 lemon cut into circles for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place cut potatoes in baking dish and add one tablespoon of olive oil and a good sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper. Mix well and place in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes to roast. (they should get good color)
- Allow a large saute pan to get hot then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan.
- Dredge the chicken in flour seasoned with sea salt and black pepper. Add the floured chicken to a large saute pan and allow the chicken to cook for 3-4 minutes
- Add the sliced sausage to the pan and brown the sausage while you continue to cook the chicken.
- Turn over chicken and sausage and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute for an additional 3-4 minutes as the chicken and sausage continue cooking.
- Add the chicken broth and seasonings to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes.*If you want to add wine, add it before the chicken stock.
- Add the roasted potatoes, artichokes, and lemon juice to the pan and continue to simmer for 2 minutes.
- Coat the butter with flour (push the flour into the butter) and add to the pan, to help thicken the sauce. The butter-flour mixture is known as a beurre manie.
- Garnish with rosemary, lemon slices, and chopped parsley. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Mary Q says
When is the wine added?
Chef Dennis Littley says
Add it before you add the chicken stock.
Charlie Ward says
How much white wine?
Chef Dennis Littley says
an ounce is enough
Barbara says
Questions:
Do you cut-up the chicken thighs?
Should I take off the sausage casing?
Is the 1/2 cup flour for dredging the chicken?
Also, could you describe in detail about the butter into the flour?
Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley says
you can leave the things whole or cut them up. sausage casing remains and flour is for dredging and beurre manie.
take softened butter and press it into flour to get the butter coated well with the flour. that will thicken the sauce
Amy Roskelley says
YES! We’re a chicken thighs family all the way!
Amy says
This looks like such a great dish!
Sue says
OMG combining a little sausage with the chicken really elevates the flavor! Definitely not the same old chicken!!
Emily Flint says
I always check your site for delicious chicken recipes and this one did not disappoint!