This is a marvelously flavorful dish. The vanilla adds to the depth and breadth of the flavor, but doesn’t dominate & isn’t sweet. You’ll find a printer-friendly version at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

½ cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

½ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ cup finely chopped shallots

¼ cup packed  brown sugar

½ tsp orange zest

¼ cup fresh orange juice

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

¾ tsp salt, divided

8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (~2#)

½ tsp freshly-ground black pepper

1.) Preheat oven to 450° F.

2.) Combine 1^st 6 ingredients in a small saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, stir seeds into broth mixture, reserving the bean for another use. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, & simmer until reduced to ½ cup (~ 20 minutes). Stir in ¼ tsp salt. You’ll want to watch the sauce more closely than I did, or use a bigger pot – mine boiled over, as you can see from the last picture.

3.) Arrange chicken in a single layer in the bottom of a lightly oiled roasting pan. Sprinkle chicken evenly with remaining ½ tsp salt and pepper. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes.

4.) Brush half of the bbalsamic mixture over chicken; bake 5 minutes. Brush remaining broth mixture over chicken; bake 15 minutes or until a thermometer registers 175°. Garnish with orange rind.