One-Pan Spring Chicken & Vegetables
This dish is a delight. Not only does it celebrate springtime vegetables, but it is cooked in only one pan and tastes amazing!
You may have noticed that many of my recipes are made in one bowl, or one pan, or use a small amount of ingredients or take only a small amount of time. Or all of the above. This is not a coincidence.
You see, I knew that giving up sugar would mean cooking more from scratch. But I am a busy mum-of-two and don’t have the time to spend the entire day in the kitchen slaving over every meal. So I resolved to find or create family time and budget friendly recipes that would leave less washing up, more time and more money! And you know what? Most days, that is exactly what we eat. Meals and treats that have been prepared in little time on a budget, and sometimes even in only one or two dishes. It’s true, some days the dishwasher is on more than once and the kitchen looks like a bomb-site. But for the most part, I love that our meal plans are made up of easy-to-make, cheap, seasonal healthy meals.
And this recipe is a perfect springtime example.
It is cheap, cheerful, seasonal, healthy and completely delicious. Just don’t skip the bacon and chicken stock. It makes this meal. The chicken stock adds a tonne of flavour, and the bacon practically disintegrates into a gorgeous, smoky caramelised taste that could not be made with anything else!
This is a set-and-forget kind of meal, so plonk it in a pan, cover, and sit yourself back in a comfy chair with a book while you wait for a delicious meal to cook itself for you. And then relish the fact that there is only one pan to wash up. I know I do!
A delicious and incredibly easy dish that is a set-and-forget meal made in only one pan. A perfect seasonal, cheap and healthy weeknight meal for busy families.
- chicken portions, 2 per person (I use a combination of thighs, drumsticks and wings)
- 1 heaped tbsp flour (any kind, I used gluten free, but plain, nut or any other flour will work too)
- 2 tsp each dried rosemary, thyme and fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp coconut oil or butter
- 4 rashers of free-range smoked bacon, sliced into strips (or one small pack bacon lardons)
- 500 ml (2 cups) sugar free chicken stock (ideally homemade!)
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 1 large baking potato, diced into small (2cm) cubes
- 3-4 large handfuls of spring vegetables (I used frozen broad beans, frozen peas and frozen sweetcorn, but you could add chopped asparagus or cherry tomatoes easily!)
- 2 tbsp cream cheese, optional
- chopped wild garlic or parsley, to serve
- Dijon mustard, to serve
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Dust the chicken pieces in the flour and herbs, then fry in the coconut oil until browned all over. Add the bacon and cook until crispy. Pour in the stock, carrots and potato and cover, then cook for about 30 mins until the stock is almost completely absorbed and the chicken is cooked through.
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Stir through the vegetables and cream cheese if using, cover and cook for another 5 mins, then serve with the herbs and Dijon mustard. Particularly delicious with crusty bread and a side salad.
