Poule au Pot
Chicken in "one" pot full of the flavors of vegetables that enrich the taste of the chicken, and you will have a delicious, easy meal, and bouillon/broth/stock leftover to use for other dishes.
❤️About Chicken In A Pot Recipe
It is very much a peasant dish, with the chicken and vegetables cooked together in a big pot.
This Poule au pot recipe is an easy chicken version of Pot au feu made famous by Henri IV of France, who, seeing that many of his subjects were so poor and could not afford meat quite as often as they should, declared that it was his ambition that all his people should have a chicken in the pot on a Sunday.
If possible for your poule au pot recipe, try to buy a chicken with the giblets (liver, heart, gizzard, and neck) for this recipe, as they will add more flavor to the finished dish.
Or, gently sauté them in a little butter in a frying pan and enjoy them with a little salt and pepper to tie you through to your meal.
This wonderful recipe is served with sauce ivoire or ivory sauce in English, which is made with béchamel sauce and some of the broth from the recipe.
✨ More Tasty One-Pot Meals
- Beef Bourguignon in the slow cooker.
- Roasting any bird (chicken, turkey) or roast (lamb, venison) in the oven surrounded by vegetables is so simple, it fills the house with an amazing smell and tastes sublime. And leftovers are guaranteed if you throw in extra vegetables at the start.
❓ Chicken In A Pot FAQ
It is necessary when making chicken in a pot or any bone stock or broth because it improves the flavour of the broth and helps make it clear. The foam consists of denatured proteins, trapped fats, and impurities from the meat and bones, and will not help your finished product.
Yes, this chicken in a pot recipe is perfect for making in a crockpot, slow cooking for as long as you need.
This recipe for chicken in a pot will take about 3 hours.
French chicken in a pot"-often referred to as Poule au Pot or French pot roast chicken-is a classic comfort dish where a whole chicken is slow-braised in a Dutch oven with aromatics, wine, and broth.
📖 Recipe
Prep Like a Pro
Before you start cooking, chop, measure, and prep every ingredient, and gather your tools.
This simple habit reduces stress, prevents overcooking, and instantly improves your meals. Mise en Place - "Everything in its place."
Chicken In A Pot
Equipment
- crock pot or
- Large soup pot or
- Dutch oven
Ingredients
- 5½ lb chicken
- 3 small onions
- 4 cloves
- 3½ cup carrots
- 4 cup leeks
- 2 cup button mushrooms
- 1 stick celery
- 2 cup heart of cabbage
- 10½ cup water
- 10 peppercorns
- Sprig of parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup white wine optional
Instructions
- Peel three small onions and stick each with a clove.
- Place them inside the chicken and truss firmly with string.
- Peel and cut the carrots and leeks, tie into small bunches.
- Cut the celery into 3inch pieces and tie into bunches.
- Divide the cabbage into about eight sections but leave a little of the core to hold the leaves together.
- Place the chicken, the giblets, salt and water into a large heavy bottomed casserole pan and bring the contents slowly to a boil. The water should reach half way up the breast of the chicken not completely covering it.
- Remove the foam as the liquid reaches the boiling point. Continue to do this until it is cleared of foam.
- Add the prepared vegetables, but not the cabbage at this stage.
- Add the herbs, the peppercorns and the remaining cloves and nutmeg.
- As the liquid reaches boiling point, lower the heat and cover with a lid.
- Either simmer slowly for three hours over a low heat or place in a moderate oven.
- The cabbage is added about twenty minutes before the end of the cooking time. Add the white wine at this time as well.
- Drain the chicken and remove the skin.
- Carve the bird and arrange on a large warm serving plate.
- Drain the vegetables and arrange around the chicken meat in small groups.
- Cover with cooking foil and keep hot, while you make sauce ivoire.
- This sauce is made by using two parts chicken stock (from the pot above) to one part béchamel sauce, with all or some of the white wine, depending on how thick you want your sauce. Add more or less béchamel sauce to thicken or thin the sauce.
- Before adding the cabbage to the pot, use a ladle and remove enough of the stock for your sauce.
- Allow it to cool and remove any excess fat from the surface with a metal spoon or kitchen paper drawn over the surface.
- Following my recipe for béchamel sauce, make it then, mix with the chicken bouillon to make your sauce ivoire.
- Place in a sauce boat and serve with your chicken in a pot recipe.
Notes
- You can keep the rest of the chicken bouillon to make a soup. It will freeze well until you need it.
- The nutritional totals are for the entire pot divided by 6.
- Skimming off the foam will improve the taste and the look of the broth.
- Dorie Greenspan, a well-known French cook, in her chicken in a pot recipe, adds prunes, apricots, or dried apples to her pot! Let me know if you try it. When I do I will let you know here. 🫠
Loved it, tweaked it, or not your "cup of tea"... I’d really love to hear how it went for you.