Let’s be honest, chicken is great at any time of year, but some specific chicken dishes are best suited to colder weather. Today, I am going to share with you my five favourite cold weather chicken meals. Some of these you’ve probably had, others you may never have heard of. But I assure you that any and all of these dishes will help get you through the long impending winter. These are my favourites, and I’d love to hear about yours too. Tell me about them in the comments at the end of this post or on Facebook. Alright, let’s get to it.
1. Coq Au Vin
The first cold weather chicken dish that we will look at is Coq au vin or chicken in wine. Coq au vin is a rustic French dish of chicken braised in wine with vegetables, herbs, and often bacon. Traditionally, the chicken used for Coq au vin would be a rooster. Roosters are often tougher and leaner than hens, hence the long cooking time and bacon’s addition to the dish. The long cooking time and low temperature are perfect for tenderizing tough cuts of meat or a tough rooster. The bacon adds additional fat to the dish that would be necessary when using a lean rooster. Now, unless you raise your own chickens or know someone who does, you will likely be using store-bought chicken. That’s not an issue. If anything, it may cut down the cooking time of the dish.
I could give you a coq au vin recipe, but why would I when I can share with you Julia Child’s in her own words? Check out the video below for her recipe. Heads up, the video isn’t the best quality, but the recipe is top-notch.
2. Roast Chicken
Is there anything better than a classic roasted chicken dinner? I don’t think that there is. When it comes to roast chicken, the simpler, the better. Once again, I defer to Julia Child and her writing in Mastering The Art Of French Cooking. Julia’s recipe is one that has only four ingredients. They are chicken, salt, butter, and olive oil. Julia drys her chicken’s skin, rubs it in and out with salt and olive oil, then roasts it, and bastes it with melted butter and olive oil. She starts her chicken at 425°f for 15 minutes, rotating the bird from left to right every five minutes. She then turns the oven temperature down to 350°f and roasts it for another hour or so until the bird is cooked through. About halfway through cooking, she bastes the bird with a mixture of olive oil and melted butter and continues to do so every ten to fifteen minutes until the chicken is cooked. If you want an amazing roast chicken on a cold winter day, this is how you do it.
3. Butter Chicken
We think of butter chicken as a classic Indian dish, and in a lot of ways, it is. But, it depends on how you define the word classic. Butter chicken is not a dish that has existed for hundreds of years or that was enjoyed by the maharajas of old. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t an interesting or delicious dish. Butter chicken was actually developed by three restauranteurs in Delhi in the 1950s to salvage tandoori chicken that was leftover at the end of the night. The restauranteurs realized that if they stored the left-over chicken in a rich tomato gravy, the chicken would remain tender for the next day. A happy side effect of this is that the chicken was even more delicious. And just like that, butter chicken was born.
I struggled for a long time to develop my own butter chicken recipe. There was something about it that I couldn’t wrap my head around. That was until I realized that butter chicken was two things, tandoori chicken and tomato gravy. After that, it came together very quickly. I hope that this helps you as well. You can find my recipe below.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/2 c full-fat yogurt
- 2 tbsp grated garlic
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp Salt
Sauce
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 med. minced onion
- 2 tbsp grated garlic
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 c tomato purée
- 1-2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 c cream
- 1 tbsp sugar if needed
- 1 tsp fenugreek leaves
- 5 mint leaves
- 8-10 cilantro leaves
Instructions
Marinade
- Mix the yogurt with the spices.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat.
- Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and let marinate in the fridge for two hours.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade, brush off excess, and place in roasting pan.
- Roast the chicken on 375°F for 24-35 minutes or until cooked through.
Sauce
- Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat.
- Add the butter and oil.
- Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger, until they soften.
- Add the cumin, garam masala, coriander, and chili powder and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the tomato purée and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the cream, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and sugar.
- Add in the roasted chicken.
- Garnish with mint leaves, cilantro leaves, fenugreek leaves.
- Serve with basmati rice.
4. Chicken Cacciatore
Like Coq au vin is a rustic French dish, Chicken Cacciatore is a rustic Italian dish. Cacciatore translates to “Hunters Chicken.” Essentially, Cacciatore is a dish that an Italian hunter would put together with whatever meat they had harvested. This could easily be a recipe for Rabbit Cacciatore or Quail Cacciatore. The dish comprises the main protein, olives, onions, peppers, wine, tomato sauce, and fresh herbs. It is a wonderful dish that is full of flavour and is classic Italian comfort food. Make this cold weather dish to warm your body and soul. You will be so happy that you did.
Ingredients
- 6 Bone-in, skin-on Chicken Thighs
- 1 med. Onion, Sliced
- 3 cloves Garlic, Sliced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, Sliced
- 1/2 cup White Wine
- 1/2 cup Chicken Stock
- 1 1/2 cups Canned Tomatoes, Diced
- 1/4 tsp Chilli Flakes
- 12 Green Olives
- 1 tbsp Dried Oregano
- 1 sprig Fresh Rosemary
- 2 sprigs Fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup Fresh Basil, Sliced
- 2 tsp Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 cups Cooked Rice
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Season the chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper.
- Add 1-2 tsp of Olive Oil to the pan.
- Place the chicken in the pan skin side down.
- Let the chicken cook for 6 minutes or until golden brown.
- Flip the chicken and sear for 1 more minute.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Drain excess oil from the pan and add in the onion.
- Cook the onion for 2 minutes then add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute before adding in the wine and the chilli flakes.
- Cook the wine for 1 minute, then add the chicken stock and cook for 1 more minute.
- Next up add in the tomatoes, oregano, season with salt and pepper and add the chicken back into the pan along with any accumulated drippings.
- Put a lid on the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add in the red bell peppers and olives then cook for 5 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Finish the chicken cacciatore with fresh basil.
5. Chicken Parmesan
Chicken coated in flavoured breadcrumbs, pan-fried in butter and olive oil, topped with marinara sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheese, then baked. What’s not to love about that? Chicken parmesan can be served with pasta, the classic accompaniment in North America, or potatoes and vegetables, which is more common in Italy. Whatever you choose to serve your chicken parm with, you’re going to enjoy it. Chicken parmesan also happens to make a delicious sandwich if you’re into that sort of thing.
Conclusion
If I’m honest, I’m thrilled that the weather has turned colder temperatures are coming. Cold weather means braises and stews and really hearty dishes, which I love. When the snow starts to fall and the windows are frosted over, it will likely be one of the dishes from this post that I turn to for comfort. Over the course of the winter, I will likely turn to all of these dishes, among many others, to get me through the long nights. What dishes will you turn to?
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