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Chicken in a Pot
I was inspired to make this recipe by an episode of America’s Test Kitchen where they riffed on one of Julia Child’s recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I have that cookbook. It's one of the few I kept after I gutted my cookbook collection a few years ago so I went back to the source. In her version, everything but the kitchen sink was in that pot. It had a roast, a chicken and various other meats in the pot. I had to wonder how big that pot must have been! In my version, I decided to keep it simple.
The America's Test Kitchen version uses a whole chicken that's been cut up, but I prefer chicken thighs so I usually just grab a package or two of those. They also made their sausage and wrapped it in parchment paper, which is a great option if you can't find a good premade sausage. I decided to use a store-bought sausage that I know is paleo-friendly. I use my own broth and added extra vegetables because I like a lot of veggies in my stews.
I’ve done this recipe a myriad of ways. I’ve used both the Dutch oven and the Instant Pot. I’ve tied the fresh herbs with twine and forgotten to use the twine. I’ve used dried herbs in place of the fresh when I was out of the fresh herbs. The twine makes picking out the herb stems a little neater, but skip the twine if you don’t have it. It will be fine. This is meant to be a rustic, family-style meal. The only way you can screw this recipe up is to not use the best ingredients you can find. Seriously.
Ingredients
4-6 chicken pieces, like thighs, or 1 whole chicken cut up
1 pound paleo-friendly sausage links, about 4 links
4-6 cups chicken stock, homemade preferred
6 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1 sprig fresh rosemary or ½ teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound small red potatoes, about 1-2 inches in size each
6 carrots, peeled and cut into ½ to 1 inch pieces, about 2 cups
1 bulb fennel, trimmed and cut into thick slices
1 medium onion, quartered
2 tablespoons cooking fat, olive oil or coconut oil
Kitchen twine, optional
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F and adjust the racks to fit the Dutch oven, if necessary. Tie the fresh thyme and rosemary sprigs in a bundle with kitchen twine, if you have it. Set those aside until later.
Melt the cooking fat in a Dutch oven on the stove.
Pat the chicken pieces dry. Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides.
Place the chicken pieces skin side down in the melted cooking fat and cook until nicely browned, turning once, about 5-8 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Brown the sausage links next and remove those to a plate.
Add the potatoes in a single layer on the bottom of the pot. You may not use all the potatoes. You just want a single layer of the potatoes so they will provide a sort of rack for the chicken pieces. Allow them to brown in the remaining fat for about 3-5 minutes.
Add the onion, carrots, fennel, and garlic. Salt and pepper the vegetables, just a bit. Add enough broth to cover the vegetables about halfway, but do not cover them completely. Top the vegetables with the rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf.
Place the dark meat on top of the vegetables first. Nestle the sausage links around the dark meat on top of the vegetables. Place the chicken breast, if using, on top of the dark meat. This will allow the chicken breast to cook more slowly than the rest of the meat.
Cover the pot. Bring to a boil on top of the stove, then place in a preheated 350 F oven to cook for about 1 to 1 ½ hours. After an hour, check the temperature in the chicken. The pot should be done once the breast reaches an internal temperature of 160 F and the potatoes and carrots are knife tender.
Remove the meat to a cutting board and allow to rest, covered lightly, for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, with a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables to a serving platter. Cover lightly to keep them warm.
Once the chicken has rested, remove the skin. Remove the bone from the breast and set aside to make bone broth in the future. Cut the breast into slices. Cut the chicken legs and thighs at the joint, if connected. Slice the sausage into links. Arrange all the meat on the platter with the vegetables. Ladle a little broth over the whole platter to keep everything moist. Serve the remaining broth from the pot in a dish with a ladle.
For leftovers, I remove all the chicken from the bones and save those for broth. Then I dish up my lunches with a little meat, sausage, veg and broth.
If using the Instant Pot, brown the chicken in the pot. Remove the chicken to a plate or dish. Add the potatoes in a single layer on the bottom. Add the vegetables, the broth, garlic and seasonings. Top with the chicken and the sausage. Place the top on the pot and using the manual setting, set the timer for 35 minutes. Check that the potatoes are knife tender. The meat should be fall off the bone tender.
Now that’s yumtastic!
