Tag: chicken

Chicken and Gravy Over Rice

Sometimes you just want comfort food. I think I do at least a couple times a week. This recipe is definitely a comfort food.

I’ve been thinking about this dish for about a week and finally got around to making it. I knew I wanted chicken. I knew I wanted gravy. And, I knew I would serve it over either potatoes, pasta or rice. Rice won out.

I, personally, love jasmine rice and eat it almost exclusively as far as rice goes. But, it is starchy and it will be sticky if you don’t take the time to rinse it. For me, that isn’t a big deal – as I don’t mind sticky rice – but, just be aware in case you make jasmine rice for the first time. In case anyone wants to know, this is how I cook my rice. I use 1 cup of rice to 1 1/3 cup of water. After rinsing my rice, I add it to the water, along with some salt – cover and bring it to a boil. Once a boil is achieved, I turn it down to the lowest simmer possible (or, if I have time to wait, I sometimes just turn it off – but, if you do – keep the pot covered!). Your rice is done when all water has been absorbed.

For the gravy, I diced up 2 chicken breasts and seasoned with salt, pepper and umami seasoning. Since the chicken breasts are lean, I used a little bit of avocado oil spray in the pan. I cooked the chicken until it had a nice sear on it.

To the chicken, I added chicken stock, a can of cream of chicken soup and one packet of brown gravy mix.

I stirred the mixture until everything was well mixed and let it cook for a bit. Toward the end, I added in some heavy cream.

I wanted the gravy a little thicker, so I added a slurry to the pan at the very end.

Then served it over rice! It is an easy comfort food that I’m certain I will cook again.

Chicken and Gravy Over Rice

2 chicken breasts, diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (save 1/2 cup for slurry)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 tbsp umami seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Avocado oil spray (or oil of choice)

Rice, cooked as directed

  • Dice chicken
  • Add chicken to a hot pan that has a little avocado oil in it – add in umami seasoning
  • Saute chicken until it is seared
  • Add in 2 cups of chicken stock, cream of chicken soup and gravy mix – stir until well mixed
  • Let the chicken and gravy cook for about 10 – 15 minutes
  • Add in heavy cream and mix through
  • If your gravy isn’t thick enough, use the reserved chicken stock to make a slurry and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the gravy thickens
  • Serve the chicken and gravy over rice
by Michelle

Instant Pot Whole Chicken

This was after putting it in the oven, under the broiler for a few minutes.

Ever since I got my instant pot, I’ve wondered if I could cook a whole chicken – yes, yes, I can!

It isn’t a recipe, really, you can season your chicken however you want to – but, I used a couple bay leaves, butter, salt, pepper and garlic powder on mine. My chicken was 6 pounds, give or take. I added 1.5 cups of water in the bottom of the instant pot insert, then placed the trivet in – finally adding the chicken and the seasonings.

I set the pot to ‘poultry’, high pressure and 1 hour. When it was done, I allowed it to do natural release.

The chicken was just pulling away from the bone!

I also ended up with a little over 5 cups of broth from the cooking process. This came in handy for me, since I was making chicken and dumplins from this!

To crisp up the skin, I put it in my oven, on broil for just a few minutes. I was actually just going to pull the chicken off and make dumplins, so that was totally unnecessary, but certainly a step worth taking to make your chicken ‘prettier’. You should probably also tie up the legs, as it gets VERY tender in the instant pot.

I can honestly say, I’ve never had a store bought rotisserie chicken that tasted any better. Looked better, yeah, my chicken isn’t winning any beauty contests – but I think it would hold it’s own in a taste contest!

by Michelle

Chicken Skillet with Asparagus and Mushrooms

I do, truly, love a one pot (or skillet) meal! I love the easy cleanup and I love having one dish that covers all the bases – protein, veggies and starch (if starch is your thing – it’s, clearly, mine!). This recipe checks all the boxes. And, to top it off – it couldn’t be easier!

The prep started by cutting up my chicken to bite size pieces. I actually used chicken tenders, so cutting it to approximately 1 inch pieces was super easy. I seasoned the raw chicken with the umami seasoning and let it hang out, while I prepped the vegetables.

For vegetables, I used onion, asparagus and mushrooms – I chose those vegetables because that is what I had in the refrigerator. Certainly, you could use carrots and celery for a chicken version that would be similar to the pork chop skillet, as another option. The flavors would definitely work!

Once I had everything prepped – I started cooking. I started with browning the chicken in olive oil. I didn’t want to cook the chicken through, but I did want to get some color on the chicken. After browning the chicken, I removed it from the pan.

I had enough oil left in the pan, but if you don’t – just add a little more at this time. Then add in the onions and garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes. Then add in the other vegetables, along with your salt and pepper and saute for 8-10 minutes (or until the asparagus starts to get a little soft and you get some good color on your veggies).

Once the vegetables have sauteed for a bit, you’ll want to add in your rice. Add it into the pan, prior to putting in your liquids – allowing the rice to get coated with the oil that is in the pan (it makes for such a flavorful rice, if you let it soak up the oil and the seasonings, prior to bringing it to a boil!) and stir through.

Once your rice is fully mixed in, you’re ready to add in your liquids – chicken stock, milk and cream of mushroom soup. Once added, mix well.

Then add the chicken back into the skillet – and bring it up to a boil.

Once a boil is achieved, you want to reduce the heat, cover the pan – and let it cook for about 20 minutes (or until the rice is done – for the jasmine rice I use, that is about 20 minutes).

Top with some shaved or grated romano cheese, if you like!

Chicken Skillet with Asparagus and Mushrooms

1 1/2 – 2 pounds chicken breased, cubed to about 1 inch pieces
6-8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
15-20 spears of asparagus, cut to bit size pieces
1 onion, diced
2 cups of rice (I use Jasmine)
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp Umami seasoning
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Romano cheese (optional)

  • In large skillet, add 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • Add chicken, which has been seasoned with Umami seasoning, to hot oil and brown
  • Remove chicken from skillet
  • Add onions and garlic, saute for 5 minutes
  • Add in the asparagus and mushrooms (as well as salt and pepper) and saute vegetables for 8-10 minutes
  • Add rice in and stir – allow the rice to soak up some of the oil from the sauteed vegetables
  • Add in the chicken stock, cream of mushroom soup and milk and bring to a boil
  • Return chicken to skillet
  • Reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes (or until rice is done)
by Michelle

Easy Chicken and Rice Casserole

I was looking for something easy to make tonight – and I knew I wanted to use chicken. So, I decided to make an easy chicken and rice casserole – that I could just throw together, put in the oven and forget about it (for the most part). Is it just me or should a casserole be comfort food? Maybe it is because I love casseroles, but I tend to associate them with comfort food. After a night of not sleeping well, and feeling poorly as a result of that, comfort food sounded just like what I needed.

Comfort food, at least in my house, tends to be creamy! And, what could make a casserole more creamy than Campbell’s ‘cream of whatever’ soup? For this recipe, I decided to use a cream of chicken and a cream of celery. To that, I added some celery, carrots and onion – to go with the rice and chicken.

As far as seasonings, I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and umami seasoning.

For the chicken, I used my instant pot to cook it (in 1 cup of stock, which I also added to the casserole). I cooked 2 very large chicken breasts, from frozen in 20 minutes – and used my hand mixer to shred it. I’ve blogged about this before – and, I still stand by the fact that I’ll never do shredded chicken any other way!

I chose to make the casserole in my large dutch oven. Once all the vegetables were chopped and the chicken was shredded, I just dumped everything into the dutch oven.

And stirred… Yes, it is really that simple! Dump the ingredients and stir!

I then put the lid on, and put the dutch oven in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, I removed it from the oven, uncovered, topped with bread crumbs. You don’t want to add the bread crumbs until some of the liquid from the casserole have been absorbed – otherwise, it will just get mushy, instead of adding a little crispiness to the top of the casserole.

And back into the oven it went, uncovered – for another 20 minutes.

There are vegetables in the casserole, but if you want – you can serve alongside another vegetable or side. I had some field peas with mine.

Easy Chicken and Rice Casserole

2 – 3 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (along with stock from cooking the chicken breasts)
2 1/2 cups rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery (or mushroom) soup
2 1/2 ‘cans’ (using soup can to measure) chicken stock
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp paprika
2 tsp Umami seasoning
2/3 cup panko bread crumbs

  • In a large dutch oven, mix all ingredients (yes, it is really that easy – dump it all in!)
  • Cover dutch oven and cook for 45 minutes, at 400 degrees
  • Uncover – top with Panko bread crumbs – and bake for another 20 minutes, uncovered
by Michelle

Chicken Taco Soup

We are in the south, so the reality is that it doesn’t really get cold – especially not in October – but, today was definitely a dreary, rainy day with milder temperatures than we’ve been experiencing – the perfect day for chicken taco soup!

The ingredients couldn’t be more simple. In addition to chicken and garnishing touches, this recipe consists of some tomatoes, onion, beans, corn and spices.

I started by cooking the chicken. I had approximately 2 pounds of chicken tenders that I cooked in the instant pot. As I have said before, I discovered that the easiest way to do shredded chicken (and I’ve even done pork this way) is to cook it in some stock in the instant pot and shred it with a hand held mixer. You can find more about that, on this post.

While the chicken was cooking, I rough chopped one onion.

In a dutch oven, I added oil and brought up the heat. I then added the onion and sauteed until soft. I added in all the seasonings (except salt) to the onions and stirred it around in the pan to let the seasonings kind of ‘toast’.

Next, I added the chicken into the dutch oven and mixed the onions (and seasonings) in with the chicken. As I used my instant pot to cook the chicken, there was stock still in the pot – I added it all into the dutch oven. The stock helped to pull up any stuck on bits on the bottom of the pan – be sure to stir everything well, to pick up that extra flavor.

After the chicken has been added – it’s time to add in the other items. Dump all the cans into the pot (no need to drain). Add in your salt and bring the pot up to a boil.

Once a boil is achieved, lower the heat to simmer, cover and let simmer for at least 30 minutes (longer is fine too!).

Serve with garnishments of your choice! A perfect meal for a cold(ish) and dreary day!

Chicken Taco Soup

2 lbs chicken breast, shredded
1 onion, rough chopped
1 large can crushed tomatoes
2 cans tomatoes and chilis
1 can light red kidney beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 packet taco seasoning
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
2/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Garnish:
Sliced avocado
Sour cream
Grated cheese
Chopped cilantro
Pickled Jalapenos
Tortilla chips

  • Cook chicken and shred
  • In large pot or dutch oven, add olive oil and onions – saute onions until tender
  • Add in cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning and stir well (allowing seasonings to ‘toast’)
  • Add in shredded chicken (I cooked my chicken in the instant pot, with approx 1 cup of chicken stock – I added it all into the dutch oven, including the stock) and stir
  • Add in the cans of vegetables and mix through
  • Add in salt
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook for at least 30 minutes (longer is fine)
  • Top with garnishments of choice

by Michelle