One-Pot Chicken with Beans & Vegetables

An easy weeknight supper recipe, served straight from the pot on the table. A healthy stew, packed with cooked beans and root vegetables. Lighter than many stews so a great choice during a winter-to-spring "transition".

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

COMPLIMENTS!

• "The chicken with white beans was delicious." ~ Joan
• "... making [it] again tomorrow." ~ Karen

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Life-Changing Vinaigrette

A decade ago, my food life was forever changed – for the better – by one simple recipe.

St. Louis food writer Ann Lemons wrote a piece for the local paper’s Sunday magazine. She roughed out the concept for making a simple vinaigrette, a rub of garlic, a dollop of mustard, a scratch of good salt, a splash of vinegar and a glug of olive oil. Sound familiar? It’s My Favorite Salad Dressing. I make it nearly every day, some times twice a day, right in the salad bowl. It’s that simple.

Ever since, I never buy salad dressing. It’s too expensive, too filled with calories, too packed with chemical-sounding ingredients. I’ve even challenged others to Never Buy Salad Dressing Again!

So – um – why does this easy chicken recipe call for a commercial salad dressing, the ubiquitous Italian dressing?

Well – um, you see – stuff happens. My dad left a bottle in my fridge and ever the thrifty cook, I wanted it to use it up. Ha. I’ve been ruined. Thanks to this recipe, I foresee keeping a bottle on hand. For. Ever. For. Always.

This chicken is so good – the perfect dinner recipe for a harried cook pulled in 360 directions by kids, work and other responsibilities. The beans and vegetables simmer in an almost lemony sauce, even as the chicken absorbs moisture from below. There’s no getting enough!

RESOURCES One things leads to another and now there are several recipes that call for Italian dressing, see Italian Dressing.

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ONE POT MEAL: ONE-POT CHICKEN with BEANS & VEGETABLES

Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Time to table: 90 minutes (oven) to 6 hours (slow cooker)
Serves 8 (but easily halved)

• 2-1/2 pounds bone-in chicken (thighs, legs and breasts, 8 pieces total, skin removed)
• Salt & pepper to taste

• 2 15-ounce cans white beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 carrots, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 ribs celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 turnip, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• Other vegetables, optional (in the photo, I add asparagus spears)

SAUCE
• 2/3 cup low-fat Italian dressing (use 1 cup for the slow cooker, non-fat and full-fat dressings work fine too)
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary (don’t skip), crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper (don't skip)

If cooking in the oven (see TIPS), heat oven to 350F/180C.

Arrange the chicken pieces in the bottom of a large braising pan or slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper.

In a bowl, stir together the beans, carrots, celery and turnip, then spread across the chicken pieces.

Stir together the sauce ingredients and pour over the bean-vegetable-chicken mixture.

OVEN (preferred) Cover and bake for 1 hour. Serve tableside.

SLOW COOKER (almost as good) Cover and cook on Low for about 5 hours. For best texture, add the turnips for only the last two hours.

LEFTOVERS What's left over re-heats beautifully!

ALANNA’s TIPS For this recipe, I recommend using bone-in chicken which remains moist and tender during cooking. Boneless chicken pieces, especially boneless breasts, dry out and get tough. When I started making One-Pot Chicken, I always browned the chicken pieces first. Then, after making Rainbow Chicken, another chicken 'n' vegetables one-pot supper, I wondered if here, too, we might skip the first step of cooking the chicken. We can! And with no impact on how very (very!) delicious the chicken turns out. Yay! Plus there's a saving in calories too, since we don't need oil to cook the chicken. If you do brown the chicken before assembling everything, switch the order, the beans and vegetables first, then nestle in the chicken pieces, then top with the sauce. To my taste, the preferred cooking method is in the oven. The chicken stays moist and the vegetables cook just enough. The softer texture of white beans is important to this dish. Substituting the more mealy kidney beans, say, is not recommended. (Who'd think?)

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving (Freestyle assumes chicken breast): 227 Calories; 5g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 95mg Cholesterol; 656mg Sodium; 15g Carb; 5g Fiber; 4g Sugar; 327g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 4 & PointsPlus 5 & SmartPoints 5 & Freestyle 1

Adapted from a Taste of Home seasonal cookbook

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A Menu

One-Pot Chicken with Beans & Vegetables
(recipe above)
Oven-Baked Brown Rice

Light 'n' Easy Chocolate Pudding

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More Easy Chicken Recipes

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more Quick Suppers with Chicken ~
~ more chicken recipes ~

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ turnip recipes ~
~ carrot recipes ~
~ recipes using canned and dried beans ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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