One Pot Cooking – Chicken and Sausage with White Beans

So. It’s not often that my ENTIRE family flips our over a recipe. But when I made this one pot chicken and sausage with white beans dish a couple of Saturdays ago, that’s exactly what happened. I heard moaning from two people, and the boys wanted to know if they could have the leftovers in their lunch {sadly, the leftovers didn’t make it to Monday so they missed out}.

To be totally honest, this recipe was a little intimidating at first. It seemed very time consuming and I thought there must have been a typo because the recipe called for 8 cups of chicken broth. I didn’t think it would cook down, but it did. And seriously, this chicken and sausage with white beans dish is the real deal. You HAVE to try it.

And then you’ll have to add it to your monthly meal rotation. 😉

Ingredients adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

1 pound (2 1/4 cups) dried navy beans

6 ounces thick-sliced bacon
5 Andouille sausages
5 chicken thighs {I used boneless}
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 large onions, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped peeled
3 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced

8 cups reduced-sodium chicken stock
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried parsley

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions

Start by soaking your dried beans overnight.  Place them in a bowl and cover completely with water.  Once your beans have been soaked, drain and rinse them thoroughly.

Cook bacon in large Dutch oven over medium heat until nice and crispy. Set the bacon aside on a plate. Add the sausages to the Dutch oven and cook until browned, turning occasionally. Add the sausage to the plate with the bacon. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and add to the Dutch oven. Cook the chicken thighs for 8 minutes over medium heat until well-browned on both sides. Place the chicken on the plate with the bacon and sausage and refrigerate until needed.

Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the ridiculously delicious drippings from the Dutch oven.

Next, saute the onions, carrots, and celery in the Dutch oven until golden.  Add the garlic to the vegetables and saute for 1 minute. Slowly stir in the 8 cups of chicken broth, tomato paste, drained beans, thyme and parsley. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 45 minutes or until beans are nearly tender, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the cooked sausage into 2-inch pieces and stir the sausage and bacon into bean mixture in your Dutch oven. Place the chicken on top of the mixture exposing the skin. Pop it in the oven, uncovered and bake for 1 hour.

Combine bread crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl and sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of bean mixture and bake for another 20-25 minutes until crumbs are golden.

Snap a picture, gather the family around and gawk and the most amazing dinner on the planet. 😉 I’m telling you, this recipe is WORTH YOUR TIME. Your belly with thank you. And if you’re lucky, there will be leftovers the next day. Pin it for Later

~Mavis