Pan-Seared Chicken With Mujdei Green Beans
Updated July 16, 2025
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2¼pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Salt and black pepper
- ¾cup whole peeled garlic cloves (see Tip)
- ¼cup plus 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more if needed
- 1tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus wedges for serving
- 12ounces green beans, trimmed
- 1avocado, pitted and chopped
- ½cup fresh parsley leaves with tender stems
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
1014 calories; 84 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 47 grams monounsaturated fat; 13 grams polyunsaturated fat; 21 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 47 grams protein; 1079 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
Pat the chicken dry and season both sides with salt.
- Step 2
Make the mujdei: Use a garlic press to crush the garlic into a large bowl or use a zester to grate the garlic into the bowl. (Alternatively, crush the garlic in a mortar using a pestle.) Sprinkle with salt, add 1 tablespoon oil and whisk (or mix with the pestle). Add 2 tablespoons cold water and whisk. Drizzle in a ¼ cup oil in a thin stream while whisking until the sauce looks thick and creamy, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the lemon juice, a pinch of black pepper and more salt to taste. (If using a mortar, transfer the sauce to a large bowl.)
- Step 3
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high, adding more as needed to cover the bottom. Add the green beans and season with salt. Stir-fry until they are just cooked and blistered with slightly charred spots on the surface, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Step 4
Turn the heat down to medium-high and heat 2 tablespoons oil in the skillet. Place the chicken pieces skin-side down and cook until deep golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip the chicken, and cook until the juices run clear, another 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to serving plates.
- Step 5
Toss the cooled green beans, avocado and ¼ cup parsley in the bowl containing the mujdei. Taste and season with more salt and pepper. Transfer to the plates with the chicken and drizzle anything left in the bowl all over the vegetables. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
- You can buy whole garlic cloves that have already been peeled in the produce section of most supermarkets. If you'd like to peel the garlic on your own, you'll need 2 to 3 heads for ¾ cup cloves.
Private Notes
Comments
Borderline inedible - surely 2 tablespoons of salt is a mistake. Teaspoons?
What does store-bought garlic mean here? Does it mean buy garlic that is already peeled?
@Noah Where does it say 2 tablespoons of salt?
I gave this recipe 5 stars, but I think its reviews are suffering from the American palate’s fear of garlic and the deceiving difficulty of making the mujdei. Here are some of my tips: 1. Don’t fear the garlic! Use the full 3/4 cups. Yes, it’s a lot. But without this quantity, the mujdei won’t emulsify and it won’t take on the thick, opaque, creamy texture that makes it shine. If you’re set on using less garlic, reduce the other mujdei ingredients proportionally. 2. Crush the garlic cloves and soak them in lemon juice for 10-20 minutes to mute the garlic’s bite. Cover the cloves in the juice of 2-3 lemons. The garlic will also neutralize the lemon juice’s bite and you can use it to top your plate in place of lemon wedges. 3. Achieving the creamy oil/garlic emulsion of the mujdei is difficult. You can cheat by using a high powered blender like a Vitamix, which also lets you skip grating/pressing the garlic. Follow the recipe’s instructions and ingredient orders for the mujdei, but blend at high speed instead of whisking. 4. The green bean salad may seem overdressed, but if you want a big punch of flavor, it’s actually great like this. 5. For the chicken, I prefer covering the thighs in my favorite dry rub and making them in the air fryer, which lets you make the beans and chicken at the same time. If you go this route, allow the beans to cool for about 10 min before dressing them. I hope these tips help and I’d love to know how they work for you!
This is too much garlic and I didn't do as much as they recommended because I was skeptical to begin with. Maybe a clove crushed and keep everything else the same. Honestly not ac great recipe overall
The Romanian word 'mujdei' came in the 18-th century from the French expression 'mousse d'ail' (garlic foam), which is not used or known in France for quite a while. Also in Romania almost nobody knows the origin of the word, believing it's an old Romanian word...