My Chicken Porridge Recipe

I’ve been incredibly MIA since going to Europe… we got engaged in Santorini (!!!), returned, moved a couple days later, got settled in a new city, began planning our 80 person wedding in Washington state, got married (!!!), and here I am now… less than a month out from being a married woman and ready to get back to it!

A recipe I’ve concocted that gets rave reviews from my husband each time I make it is this hearty Chicken Porridge Recipe. The best part? It is made in a crockpot so all you have to do is throw in the ingredients and come back 4 hours later with a deliciously thick porridge.

Am I sure I can technically call this “porridge”? Well no. Wikipedia defines porridge like this, “Porridge is a food commonly eaten as a breakfast cereal dish, made by boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants—typically grain—in water or milk.” The couscous is what causes the thickening… which is technically small balls of toasted semolina flour, and this isn’t a breakfast dish but it reminds me of an Asian breakfast dish which is a similar consistency and also has chicken in it… so I don’t know. Also there’s no water, only chicken broth… Call it what you want, soup or porridge, I call it mighty good!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs chicken breast, cut in half length-wise
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 tsp dried minced onion
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp salted butter
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup couscous

Directions:

Put all ingredients in crockpot, no need to stir. Set crockpot to low for 4 hours. Remove bay leaves and chicken breasts. Toss bay leaves. Shred chicken — the two forks method is easiest and should keep you from burning yourself on the hot chicken — and equally distribute into 6 mason jars. Stir remaining ingredients in crockpot then pour onto chicken in mason jars.

Nutrition Information:

Recipe yields 6 servings at 395.5 calories per serving.

Tips:

1. The porridge will taste good the first day, but it is best after it has sat for a while — or better yet, until the next day — as it will thicken up giving it that delicious hearty porridge consistency.
2. If you don’t have 1.5 lbs of chicken, no worries. Just make sure you use at least a pound. No frozen chicken.

Throw all the ingredients in the crockpot.

This is what you’ll find 4 hours later.

Shredding the chicken.

When I’ve first put the “porridge” in mason jars.

After sitting over night in the fridge this is how much it thickens (even once heated!)

Hope you like the dish! Let me know what you think below!

P.S. Not my best photos… but hopefully you get the picture. For the full caption, click on each photo.