This is a true one-pot meal. The veggies, herbs, spices, and chicken all go into one Dutch oven. And that all goes together into the oven to cook together at the same time. This Dutch oven roasted chicken couldn’t be simpler.

A good roast chicken is all about getting juicy meat and crispy skin. The vegetables in the bottom of the pot cook in all of the juices to tender morsels of goodness. Paired together with some of the juice or a quick gravy and you have a whole meal with one pot.

Just look at that delicious browning above, but don’t notice that this chicken came with a broken drumstick on one side. Not my fault. That’s just how it was from the store. Note – this does not affect the flavor of the chicken in any way.

After enjoying this for dinner, you can save the chicken bones for homemade chicken stock. I made a huge batch of chicken stock the day after this meal. The flavor of the stock seems like it will be perfect to pair with some of the leftover chicken meat to make a simple chicken noodle soup.

Roasted Chicken in a Dutch Oven

The heat retention and distribution of a Dutch oven is great for roasting. It is the thick walls that help to cook everything evenly. They are suited for long, slower cooking. Which is exactly what we want for a roasted chicken. Though an hour and a half or so isn’t very long compared to some other meats, chicken is usually fairly quick-cooking.

Many recipes call for tying the legs together and sometimes tying the wings down as well. Though I do this when cooking turkey, I think it isn’t necessary for the chicken. It is not in the heat for long enough and the thick cast iron keeps things evenly heated inside.

For determining the proper doneness of the chicken, I highly recommend having an instant-read thermometer. It is useful for cooking any kind of meat and being certain that it is cooked to the correct temperature. You don’t want to have meat underdone and get sick – or have to throw it back on the heat. And you also don’t want to overcook meat because that makes it dry and tough. One thing I have learned from smoking meat is that you always cook to temperature and not time. Because things cook at different rates depending on hundreds of factors.

To serve it, I recommend carving the roast chicken up like a turkey. Then once you have vegetables and chicken plated, ladle some of the cooking liquid over the top of the chicken. You could also make a quick roux, add some of that cooking liquid, and turn it into a quick gravy to pour on top.

Mistakes Were Made

I made a few mistakes on my first attempt at this recipe. First off, I ended up putting the chicken in breast-side down without thinking about it. This didn’t ruin the chicken or anything. But, it makes it so that the skin isn’t crispy on that breast side. And because we load the herbs and spices on top of the chicken, there’s a little less chance for that flavor to really get down into the meat. So, make sure to put the chicken breast side up in the Dutch.

I also had too much paprika and too little salt in my original mix. Because I am a little partial to smoky flavors and always use smoked paprika. But when it was caking on top of the chicken I realized I had too heavy a hand. And the finished dish clearly needed more salt. So I went back to the recipe and made some adjustments

Rest assured that I am fully confident in the new spice ratios.

Dutch Oven Garlic Roasted Whole Chicken

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: DinnerDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

50

minutes

Golden-crisp skin and juicy, tender meat make this roasted chicken perfect for dinner paired with roasted veggies

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion

• 4 large carrots

• 3 large potatoes

• 15 garlic cloves, divided

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 4 to 6 pound whole chicken

• 2 lemons, divided

• 8 tablespoons butter, divided

• 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon salt, divided

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 6 sage leaves

• 3 small sprigs thyme

• 1 sprig rosemary

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C)
• Wash and chop the potatoes, onion, and carrots into about 1-inch pieces
• Peel all of the garlic cloves
• Cut one lemon in half, juice one half of it, and slice the other half into thin rounds
• Slice the second lemon into quarters
• Cut the butter into cubes
• Add the onion, carrots, potatoes, and 13 of the garlic cloves to the Dutch oven, drizzle them with the olive oil, and stir to coat
• Top with half the butter cubes
• Slice the remaining 2 garlic cloves thinly and set aside
• Place the chicken in the center of the Dutch oven on top of the vegetables
• Drizzle the lemon juice over the chicken
• Sprinkle the paprika, salt, and pepper on top of the chicken and the vegetables
• Place remaining butter cubes on top of the chicken
• Add the sliced garlic, rosemary, sage, thyme, and lemon slices on top of the chicken
• Place the lid on the Dutch oven, put it in the oven, and cook covered for 1 hour
• After an hour, uncover the pot, move the herbs and lemon slices from off the top of the chicken and cook until the thickest part of thigh reaches 165°F (75°C), another 30 to 45 min for a 5-pound chicken

The post One-Pot Dutch Oven Garlic Roasted Whole Chicken Meal appeared first on Do You Roux?.

Is it legal to call this a pot roast if it is cooked in the slow cooker? Should it have a different name since it isn’t in a pot? Is a Crockpot a pot? Pot is in the name, after all. Whatever its called, this Crockpot pot roast recipe will make a full meal while you are at work or otherwise occupied.

It will take some prep work ahead of time to get everything set, but it is worth it for the end result. And it can be ready for whenever your family wants to sit down for dinner. This is one of those dinners that I keep going back to get more, even when I know I am full. It is too tasty!

Though there are a lot of roast options out there, I recommend going with a good marbled chuck roast. This will get you that fall-apart tender roast. Bottom round, top round, and brisket roasts can also be used. Your results may vary with those other cuts.

Either way, make sure you opt for a quality piece of meat as it will be reflected in your final results.

For the vegetables, I go with the typical carrots, potatoes, and onion. These are sturdier vegetables that take on the flavors of the beef. The carrots and onions help add a touch of sweetness. The potatoes just soak up that broth and become a smooth, salty treat.

But you can choose to replace any of the vegetables with ones that you think would work well. Make sure they can stand up to the long cook time without turning to mush. It isn’t pleasant for anyone. They need to have a little bit of a bite to them still when they’re done cooking.

Prepping the Crockpot Pot Roast

The biggest effort in prepping this meal is washing and chopping all of the vegetables. If you are planning on getting this meal in the slow cooker before leaving your house for the day, then you may want to tackle the vegetables the night before. Just wash, slice, and store them in the fridge. The next morning they’re ready to go with no effort.

To prepare everything in the morning, salt and pepper the roast and give it a good sear. This helps add some flavor and color for the final roast. Just look how good the roast looks with just a quick sear. Then just toss everything into the Crockpot and you’re good to go. Set it and forget it for many hours.

My recommendation for this Crockpot pot roast recipe is to try and build a sort of bed of one layer of vegetables, then place the roast on top off that layer and fill in around it with the remaining vegetables. I then pour in the liquids, add the seasonings, and top the roast itself with the halved garlic. See image below for reference:

Once it is done cooking, you can make a gravy. I love gravy. My wife does not. Her loss.

It is a velvety-smooth sauce that gives you a full punch of the roast flavor because we use some of the liquid that distilled in the bottom of the Crockpot to make the gravy. It starts out with a quick roux, to which we add the drippings and some beef broth. What’s not to love?

Equipment

While we were still living in Texas, we had a smaller pantry. So I guess not everything was bigger in Texas (though most things were…). And we ended up keeping our Crockpot on the floor of the pantry under the lowest shelf.

I do not remember exactly how, and nobody is naming any names or pointing any fingers, but the lid of the Crockpot broke. Shattered, to be exact. Just the top handle, the metal ring and a pile of glass were left. We kept it for a while, thinking we would just buy a new lid. But we never got around to that.

Eventually, I saw a sale, did a little (or a lot) of research, and decided to upgrade. With the advent of the InstantPot, Crockpot had to step up their game. So I ended up getting this rather large multi-cooker Crockpot when it was on sale. It is a 10-quart beast that is round instead of its usual oval shape.

And I love it. It has so many functions. I was able to sear the roast right in the multi-cooker. One less thing to clean. It is a very large one, though I do think they offer a few other sizes as well.

You can also opt to use slow cooker liners to make for easy clean-up. My wife’s family endearingly calls them Crockpot condoms. So take that as you will.

But when everything is done cooking and you’ve eaten every last morsel, you can just pull that bag out, toss it, and put the slow cooker away. They are made to be safe for heat and food.

So, go find yourself a chuck roast and make this Crockpot pot roast recipe today.

Beef Pot Roast

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: DinnerDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Slow Cook Time

9

hours 

Total time

9

hours 

45

minutes

A perfect meat and potatoes meal that is hands-off while the slow cooker does all the heavy lifting

Ingredients

• Roast

• 3 to 4 pound beef chuck roast

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 large onion

• 5 large carrots

• 5 large potatoes

• 4 cloves garlic, halved

• 2 and 1/2 cups beef broth

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• Gravy

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 4 tablespoons flour

• 1/2 cup drippings from the roast in the slow cooker

• 1 to 2 cups beef broth

Directions

• Cook the Roast
• Slice the carrots, potatoes, and onion into 1 to 2-inch pieces
• Evenly coat the roast with salt and pepper
• Sear both sides of the roast until browned for 3 to 4 minutes in the olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat or in your slow cooker if it has that function
• Add the roast and the sliced carrots, potatoes and onion to the slow cooker
• Add remaining ingredients to the slow cooker
• Cook on low 8 to 10 hours (recommended), or on high for 4 to 5 hours until roast and vegetables are tender
• Either make the gravy following the instructions below, or serve
• Make the Gravy
• About 10 minutes before you are ready to eat, melt the butter in a pan on medium heat
• Scoop out the 1/2 cup of the liquid from the bottom of the slow cooker with the roast
• Add the 1/2 cup drippings and the flour to the pan and stir for 3 to 5 minutes until flour has fully incorporated
• Whisk in 1 to 2 cups broth to reach the desired gravy consistency, then salt and pepper to taste
• Serve the roast, topped with gravy

Notes

• For super-easy cleanup, use a slow cooker liner – once the meal is done you can grab the bag and throw it out.

The post Crockpot Pot Roast Recipe for Weeknights appeared first on Do You Roux?.

In sickness and in health, chicken noodle soup is there for you. It’s a soup that is also a warm, comforting hug.

Piping hot broth brimming with hearty vegetables, tender chicken, and plump noodles make this soup come to life. Kids, adults, grandparents, and teens all love the simple goodness of a great chicken noodle soup.

You can even make a huge vat of this and store it for eating later. And it is indispensable to have this soup on hand in the freezer for when anyone isn’t feeling well. I love storing mine in these quart-sized deli containers either in the fridge or freezer. Then just defrost if needed and reheat on the stovetop and it is as if you made it fresh. It can store for 3 to 5 days in the fridge and 2 to 3 months in the freezer.

Ingredients for Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken – This recipe is great for using leftover chicken or just pulling the meat off of a rotisserie chicken. If you are using leftovers, make sure that whatever flavor used on the chicken will work with the soup. I’m not sure if chicken smothered in bbq sauce would work with all these other flavors.

Noodles – Thick, wider egg noodles work great for this soup. They soak up that flavorful broth and give a great consistency for everything. Looking for the noodles at the store, you may need to look towards the very top or bottom of the shelves to find the egg noodles. For this batch, I used noodles I bought from the store, but if you are feeling ambitious you can make your own from scratch.

Chicken Stock or Broth – I highly recommend making your own chicken stock for chicken noodle soup. The depth of flavor in a homemade stock is so much better and is awesome for soup. Think about it, the chicken stock is the base for this whole thing. The noodles will cook inside the stock and soak up whatever flavor it has. And you will be sipping it with every spoonful. So make sure it is as good as possible.

Herbs – The fresh parsley and thyme add some bright notes to the soup. The bay leaves lend flavor to the chicken stock as it slowly simmers. You can try experimenting, adding different herbs for a little bit of a new vibe. Rosemary, sage, or dill would be some great additions.

Vegetables – Celery and carrots are classic for chicken noodle soup. So that is all I have tried. For me, it just doesn’t feel right doing anything else. But you can feel free to test out some other vegetables. Let me know how it goes if you try something different.

Simply Chicken Noodle Soup

Course: SoupsDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

9

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

45

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

5

minutes

Homemade chicken noodle soup for when you’re sick, or it is cold, or whenever you need comfort.

Ingredients

• 3 large celery stalks

• 4 large carrots

• 1 large onion

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme

• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 9 cups chicken stock

• 2 bay leaves

• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 cups wide egg noodles

Directions

• Slice the celery and carrots to about 1/8″ thick, chop the onion, and mince the garlic, thyme, and parsley
• Add the olive oil, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, thyme, and parsley to a large stockpot and sauté on medium-high heat for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently until carrots and celery have softened
• Pour the chicken stock into the pot, place the lid on top, and bring it to a boil
• Once it has begun to boil, turn heat to medium-low, add bay leaves, chicken, lemon juice, and noodles, and cook about 20 mins until noodles are cooked through, stirring occasionally
• Serve immediately, top with fresh parsley if desired

The post Simply Chicken Noodle Soup appeared first on Do You Roux?.

For me, a good chicken pot pie is the quintessential comfort food. A perfectly golden-brown crust blankets a medley of vegetables, chicken, and sauce to bind it all together. Mmmm mmmm mmmm. It’s an impeccable balance between the flaky crust and velvety guts.

My family has always referred to the filling of a chicken pot pie as the guts. Enough that it took me a minute to remember that it is typically called pie filling. So when I mention the guts here, I am not trying to be gross or off-putting. It just doesn’t feel right to call it by any other name. No matter what Shakespeare said. Though pie guts by any other name would still taste delightful.

Chicken pot pie is one of my favorites. For years, any time I came to visit my parents I would beg my mom to make it. While still delicious every time mom makes it, I can now have it whenever I want. It’s a dangerous skill to have…

How it Started

Learning to make pot pie began as a hungry young teen when I would sneak into the kitchen because I simply couldn’t wait for the food to bake. That was too long and I needed food. So if I was there when the guts were done but before being covered by dough, I could pilfer some creamy filling. Eventually, this led to me being in the kitchen earlier and earlier in the cooking process.

My mom got smart and had me earn my keep – chopping carrots, peeling potatoes, or shredding chicken. I was in the mix and seeing the whole process from start to finish. And because I love chicken pot pie so much, it ended up being one of the very first recipes that I really learned how to make.

However, I never really focused on making the crust. My dutiful sous chef and wife, Brooke, made crusts for me while I focused on putting the pie guts together. A great opportunity to spend time together in the kitchen. I did try my hand at making crusts eventually as well. And now have a post on how to make the ultimate pie crust.

I tend to make too much food. This holds true when I am making the pie guts for chicken pot pie. But my wife and I soon realized we could use this to our advantage and freeze the extra filling. If you make a double-batch then you can freeze the unbaked mixed together pie guts for up to 6 months. Then when the hankering for pot pie strikes, just take the filling into the fridge for 24-48 hours before you are ready to make the pie.

Customize Your Pot Pie

This recipe is especially good for days when you have leftover chicken, or if you just grab a rotisserie chicken from Costco to use. You can also switch it up to a turkey pot pie by simply swapping turkey for the chicken (great for leftovers of your beautifully cooked Thanksgiving turkey). A lot of the recipe is fairly adaptable to whatever you are in the mood for or have on hand. I’ve used sweet potatoes in place of the potatoes and thrown in asparagus, green beans, or corn depending on how I felt.

It is also fun to decorate your pie. For this pie I rolled out some extra dough and used a snowflake cookie cutter to punch out some decorations and place them on top before baking. Plus, I was able to cover up a couple of spots on the top crust that had ripped a little and didn’t look very pretty. Win, win.

You can also cook the chicken in a variety of ways to use in this recipe. My mom would frequently boil the chicken breast. For making the pie in this post, I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, ground sage, dried thyme, and garlic powder. Then I seared the outside on the stovetop for a few minutes and placed it in the oven at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes until it was done cooking. It helped to use an oven-safe pan when searing the chicken so that I could just put it straight from stovetop to oven.

One of my favorite aspects of making chicken pot pie from scratch is how you can make it your own based on what is available or what you enjoy most. Let me know in the comments your favorite ingredient to throw into the chicken pot pie mix.

From Scratch Chicken Pot Pie

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: EntreesDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

40

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

20

minutes

A selection of hearty vegetables, chicken, and sauce baked into a buttery, flaky crust. Comfort food to the max.

Ingredients

• Pie Guts

• 3 large potatoes

• 2 large carrots

• 1 celery rib

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 large shallot (or about half a cup chopped red onion)

• 4 tablespoons butter

• 6 tablespoons flour

• 3/4 cup chicken stock

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken (2 large boneless, skinless breasts)

• Crust

• Follow this pie crust recipe or use any other crust you prefer

Directions

• Crust
• Make ahead or buy a premade crust to use with this recipe – note that my pie crust recipe needs an hour in the fridge after coming together
• Pie Ingredients
• Peel and cube potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces
• Slice carrots into 1/4″ thick rounds
• Thinly slice celery
• Mince the garlic and shallots
• Bring 4 quarts salted water to a boil
• Put potatoes and carrots into the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes until fork tender
• Once potatoes and carrots are ready, turn off the heat and toss in the celery and frozen peas then let sit for 2 minutes
• Drain the vegetables using a colander in the sink
• Roux and Sauce – Can be made while waiting for water to boil for the vegetables
• Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat
• Add the garlic and shallots and let them simmer in the butter for 3 to 5 minutes
• Whisk in the flour to make a roux and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly – note that it will be a relatively thick mixture once the flour is incorporated
• Whisk the broth, cream, salt, and pepper into the roux until it is all incorporated, and turn off the heat
• Assembly and Baking
• Take the pie dough out of the fridge to sit for a few minutes at room temperature
• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C)
• Mix the vegetables, chicken, and the sauce together to make the guts
• Roll out the bottom crust on a floured surface to about 11″ in diameter and place it in a 9″ pie dish
• Fill the pie dish with your filling
• Roll out the top crust on a floured surface to about 10″ in diameter and cover your pie
• Add any decorations, edging, etc. to the pie and cut off any extra overhanging dough
• Bake your pie in the oven for around 40 minutes until golden brown
• Let it cool, cut into slices, and enjoy

The post From Scratch Chicken Pot Pie appeared first on Do You Roux?.