How to cook chicken breast in Dutch oven

Tender Dutch oven chicken breast with vegetables and potatoes, a simple one-pot dish ready to be served in one hour.

This Dutch oven chicken breast with potatoes is one of our favorite fall meals. It is quick, cheap, comforting and everybody just loves it! What is not to like? The chicken is juicy, the potatoes are tender and the little sauce surrounding everything is just amazing!

Try roughly mashing the potatoes on your plate with a fork, so that they get mixed with that sauce and parts of the veggies. Soooo good! And it always reminds me of my childhood.

I love my Dutch oven. I have several pots in different shapes and sizes and I use them a lot. Like really a lot! Try the turkey breast for instance, the Yassa chicken or the pork spinach stew. Or any other stew recipe found on the blog, they can all be cooked in this kind of pot.

Or you can try the cast-iron chicken breast or thighs. Or cook a Whole Chicken in the Dutch Oven.

What is a Dutch oven?

A thick, heavy cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. They can be pre-seasoned cast iron pots or they can be enameled. They are also known under the name of casserole dish or cocotte.

They come in different shapes, sizes, and colors, for instance, oval-shaped ones that are perfect for roasts. Or round ones which are great for making soup or for baking bread. The shallow wide ones are the best ones to use when making stews or goulash. (All Amazon affiliate links).

Can you make this dish in another pot?

Of course, while the Dutch oven is the perfect choice for this kind of stew, any thick-bottomed wide pan will be fine.

What do you need?

Chicken breast:

• Medium-sized breast pieces. The ones I buy usually weigh between 160 – 200 g/ 5.6-7 oz. In this case, about 20-25 minutes of cooking time should be enough.
• If the pieces are larger allow more cooking time.
• If the pieces are smaller, cook the vegetables and potatoes a little longer before placing the meat on top. 5 to 10 minutes extra cooking time for the potatoes should be fine.
• To check if the meat is cooked through (no pink allowed when it comes to poultry), pierce it with a toothpick into the thickest part, the juices should run clear.
• Or check the internal temperature with a meat thermomter, it should be of 75 degrees Celsius/ 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Vegetables: potatoes, pepper, carrots, onion, and garlic. And some herbs, like dried/fresh rosemary and fresh parsley.

How to make?

• Prepare all the vegetables. Set the onions apart from all the rest because you will have to cook them first.
• Mix the spices and rub the meat with the mixture.
• Cook the chicken in the Dutch oven until nicely golden, about 2 minutes per side. Remove. (1)
• Add a little extra oil and the onions to the pot. Cook for about 2 minutes. (2)
• Add the remaining veggies, rosemary, and one splash of stock. Stir well making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot as well. (3)
• Cook gently for 5 minutes, the potatoes and carrots need a head start. As mentioned above, if your chicken pieces are smaller than mine, cook the vegetables for about 10 minutes before adding the meat on top. (4)
• Add the remaining stock and nestle the breasts on top of the veggies. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are really tender and the chicken is cooked through. (5)
• Remove the breasts from the pot and let the sauce cook gently, uncovered, for about 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly and is rather glossy.
• Serve sprinkled with parsley. (6)

What to serve with it?

I love serving Dutch oven chicken breast (or any kind of stew) with pickled vegetables like cucumbers, green tomatoes or zucchini. But any other pickles you like are great!

Otherwise, make a green salad, tomato onion salad or serve with steamed or roasted vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts or cauliflower.

Can you reheat the leftovers?

Definitely. Do it on medium-low heat, stirring carefully a few times in between until the chicken is hot again.

To make things simpler, chop the leftover meat and mix it with the potatoes and veggies. This way the reheating will go faster.

More Dutch oven recipes

Balsamic Beef

Beef Apple Stew

Oven-Slowed Cooked Turkey Leg

Rabbit Stew

Red Wine Beef Stew

• ▢ 750 g/ 1.7 lb potatoes
• ▢ 1 large red bell pepper about 250 g/ 8.8 oz
• ▢ 4 medium carrots about 250 g/ 8.8 oz
• ▢ 3 garlic cloves
• ▢ 1 medium onion
• ▢ 2 tablespoons flour
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon ground paprika
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 4 chicken breasts about 180 g/ 6.3 oz
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ about 250 ml/ 8.5 fl.oz/ 1 cup chicken stock
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• ▢ 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

• Peel and cube the potatoes, about 3 cm/1.2 inches. Clean and cube the red pepper and the carrots. Finely chop the garlic. Set everything aside. Finely chop the onion and set aside separately from the previous vegetables.

• Mix the flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Rub the chicken breasts with this mixture.

• Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large (wide and shallow) Dutch oven or another large thick-bottomed pot. Place the chicken in the pot and cook 2 minutes on each side until golden. Remove from the pot.

• Add the second tablespoon oil to the pan. Cook the onions for about 2 minutes, stirring often. Add the rest of the prepared vegetables and 1 splash of the stock. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes.

• Add the remaining stock and the rosemary. Stir well. Nestle the chicken on top of the vegetables, cover and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through. The internal temperature of the meat should be of 75 degrees Celsius/ 165 degrees Fahrenheit (no pink allowed). Remove the chicken from the pot.

• Turn the heat to medium high and bubble the sauce for about 5 minutes or until it thickens slightly. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley.

Serving: 1/4 of the dish | Calories: 508kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 45g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 104mg | Sodium: 619mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g