[Ree] Here's what's happening on the ranch.
It's all about great chicken dishes for busy times.
There's Marvelous Marry Me Chicken,
made even more perfect
with brown butter mashed potatoes
for a match made in heaven.
Then there's quick chicken avocado pizza,
when you're up against it over the holidays
or in a time crunch.
Everyone will always love crispy homemade chicken nuggets.
And then, finally, there's slow cooker
chicken and ravioli soup, an absolute shortcut savior.
When you're short on time,
you can always "Count on Chicken."
Around the holidays or just any time of year
when I have lots of family around,
I like to have quick, easy dinner recipes
in my back pocket.
So whatever the occasion, I can always make
something really delicious.
Enter Marry Me Chicken.
OK, Marry Me Chicken is a social media sensation.
It has gone viral over the past couple of years.
And basically, it's a chicken dish
that is so delicious,
you could reel in a spouse for life with it.
Kinda like I did with Ladd and my lasagna,
but that's another story for another time.
So I started by cooking some boneless,
skinless chicken thighs and cooked them on both sides
in oil and butter.
And then they're fully cooked, so I took them out of the pan,
put them on a plate, and I'm gonna move forward
with the sauce, which is really what Marry Me Chicken
is all about.
So into the pan I'm gonna scrape some sliced garlic,
some rosemary, and oregano.
And then finally, diced red onion.
So now, I just wanna stir these ingredients in the pan.
They're gonna scrape around with that chicken flavor,
their little chicken bits in there.
And, oh, my gosh, it already smells amazing.
So I'm gonna add some tomato paste to the mix
and get that going.
I'm gonna kind of fry the tomato paste
just against the bottom of this hot pan
just to kind of release those flavors,
give it a little bit of a deeper flavor.
So now there are still so many little bits of chicken
in the bottom of this skillet.
So I'm gonna deglaze it with some white wine.
Alright, so I'll splash in anywhere from half a cup
to a cup.
And then, immediately, you wanna start
kind of scraping all of those little bits
of chicken off the bottom of the pan,
little bits of garlic here and there.
I'm gonna add some chicken broth.
And let that start to heat up.
Wanna stir that around.
But the real star of the sauce for Marry Me Chicken is,
as you probably guessed, heavy cream.
Pour it in.
This results in basically my favorite kind of sauce
there is, just a pink sauce, a combination
of tomato and cream.
I just look at it as the best of both worlds.
It's just incredible.
And I love this ingredient in Marry Me Chicken.
Sun-dried tomatoes, and they're just cut
into julienne strips, so put in quite a bit of that,
and some crushed red pepper flakes
just for a little bit of heat.
You don't want it to be overpowering.
OK, with the pan this hot, it doesn't take long
for this sauce to start to bubble up,
and that's exactly what you wanna see.
It's gonna thicken pretty quickly,
so I'm gonna add this chicken back into the sauce,
and since I dredged the chicken
with flour before I cooked it, the flour will also just
slightly help thicken that sauce.
Alright, oh, my gosh!
Every time I make this, I am reminded of why this is
so popular -- it's so amazing.
Now, a lot of people serve Marry Me Chicken
with some kind of pasta,
but I am going a different direction.
Around the holidays, I always make mashed potatoes.
Seems like I always have a pan in the fridge
ready to pop into the oven.
And these are brown butter mashed potatoes,
which is basically my regular mashed potato recipe
made even more miraculous.
Let me walk you through how to make these.
For the brown butter, I added two and a half sticks
of salted butter to a saucepan over medium heat.
I swirled it from time to time and cooked it
for a couple of minutes until it was golden brown.
Then I turned off the heat.
After that, I mashed five pounds
of peeled, boiled Yukon Gold potatoes
over low heat, then turned off the burner,
added three fourths of the brown butter,
one and a half packages of softened cream cheese,
half a cup of half and half, half a cup of cream,
some salt and pepper,
stirred them in, then tipped the potatoes
into a serving dish.
I spooned over the remaining brown butter,
sprinkled the top with chopped parsley,
and covered the potatoes with foil.
Honestly, these mashed potatoes are a dream.
There's something about that brown butter
that just makes them extra magical.
So those are ready,
and the Marry Me Chicken is ready.
Ooh, so inviting.
Alrighty, now I wanna show you
how beautiful this is on the plate.
I'll grab some of these mashed potatoes.
I have to be careful not to overdo my portion
because they're so irresistible.
Now for the chicken.
Pick my favorite piece. [chuckles]
They're all my favorite,
so I'll just kind of put the chicken
on the potatoes just a little bit off to the side
and it already got some of that sauce on there,
but I'm gonna get some more.
The sauce truly is the star of this dish.
I've said that over and over, but it's very true.
Yep that's a lot of sauce, but it is so good.
Now to finish it up, I like to sprinkle on
some grated Parmesan on the sauce and on the chicken.
And then, this is the perfect dish
for fresh basil.
Just kind of tear them here and there.
Ah, Marry Me Chicken.
It is so delicious.
Honestly, I would marry it if I could.
Whether you need to cook a yummy weeknight dinner,
or have a friend over,
or entertain around the holidays,
I have just the recipe for you,
chicken avocado pizza.
It is always popular, super easy to make,
and it's one of those recipes that always disappears.
There is never a single crumb left.
I'm starting with an olive oil and honey mixture
to go over the pizza crust.
I'm adding some garlic.
And it's as simple as that.
So I'll mix this together.
It's equal parts olive oil and honey.
OK, that looks amazing.
So I'm basically gonna just drizzle this
all over the pizza crust.
And part of what makes this recipe so great
is that I'm using store-bought pizza crust.
And I just kinda formed it into a big rectangle
on a sheet pan, my favorite way to make pizza.
So I brush this all over the crust,
even on the edges of the crust,
and that way the crust around the edge
will also have that honey garlic oil flavor.
I'm gonna sprinkle on some salt and pepper, always a good idea.
OK, before it goes in the oven,
I'm gonna sprinkle on the cheeses,
and I'm doing Monterey Jack,
which kinda makes it a little bit more of a --
just an easy Americanized pizza.
And then for the mozzarella, I'm actually using
fresh mozzarella pearls, and I love the way they bake,
because they just kind of stay in their spot and bubble up
into these little piles of mozzarella.
So delicious.
And I'm leaving a rim of crust around the edge,
just so I'll have that nice crust on the outside.
So I'm gonna put this in the oven at 375 degrees,
and it's gonna cook for about 15 to 17 minutes.
So I'm gonna get the chicken ready,
because I'm gonna bake the pizza
and then put a bunch of toppings on
when it comes out of the oven.
So for the chicken, I just have some grilled chicken cutlets,
just seasoned with salt and pepper,
very straightforward.
And I'll just kinda slice them into thin little strips.
I grilled this chicken on a grill pan,
and that's why it has these really beautiful grill marks.
And that's just gonna give the chicken
a little bit more flavor.
You can cook it in the skillet, if you want,
or you can buy store-bought chicken cutlets already grilled.
What a time to be alive, right?
[chuckles]
You know, I used to think when you make pizza,
you have to put everything on the pizza
before it goes into the oven.
But when you think about the fact
that you can bake the crust,
finish the pizza with a whole bunch of toppings...
Oh, my gosh, there's so many creative things you can do.
Alright, all the chicken's ready,
so I need to let the crust finish baking,
then I'll take it out and top it.
[ticking]
[ding]
That beautiful pizza crust is almost ready to come out
of the oven, so I am finishing up the toppings.
In addition to the chicken, I'm going to top the pizza
with beautiful slices of avocado.
It's perfectly ripe, and I'm gonna squeeze
over some lime,
and just gently stir it.
I don't wanna mush up
all those beautiful slices of avocado.
Alright, I'm gonna grab that pizza crust.
It should be just right by now.
Oh, yeah, so inviting.
Alright, now it's just about topping it.
So here comes the chicken, and don't be shy.
You really want the chicken to cover the pizza.
You could put the chicken on the pizza with the cheese,
and bake it in the oven, but there's something
about the texture that I like.
You get that melty cheese and crust,
and then nice grilled chicken on top.
And here comes the avocado.
And you don't have to split the avocado
into individual slices.
You can just kinda do little clusters here and there.
Oh, this looks so good already.
Another ingredient I really like to add to this pizza
is pickled red onion.
This is something that I used to never really have
on hand routinely.
Every now and then I would make a jar,
but more and more,
I've just started keeping it in my fridge.
They're kind of crunchy.
They give you a little bit of a bite.
So nice.
And then, as if the colors on this pizza aren't
already glorious, I'm gonna sprinkle on
some fresh diced tomato.
And you can see what I mean
about just piling the toppings high.
And then I love the flavor of cilantro,
just whole cilantro leaves.
And last thing, I'll just add a little more salt and pepper.
And I am gonna stop there,
because it looks absolutely perfect.
And when you take a bite of this chicken avocado pizza,
you're gonna agree with me.
If there is one dish universally loved
by every member of my family, it's chicken nuggets,
especially homemade chicken nuggets.
I can never even make enough to satisfy everyone.
They're so good.
I'm gonna show you a new way I've been making them.
It's just a little bit of a spin and it makes
the most delicious nuggets.
These are great whether you're making them for your family
for a weeknight dinner or for an appetizer
around the holidays.
So I started with ground chicken and I added
a beaten egg and I'm gonna sprinkle in
plenty of black pepper and some paprika...
and seasoned salt. Gives it amazing flavor.
And then I have the whites of some green onion
and I just minced it really, really fine.
So basically, the green onion is gonna disappear
into the ground chicken.
A little bit of heavy cream and some minced garlic.
Alright, I'm gonna get in here with a spoon.
This mixture is so amazing, and it's a little bit of a spin
on regular chicken nuggets that I've always made.
Usually, I'll just take chicken tenders and cut little,
bite-sized pieces, bread them, and fry them in that form.
But this kind of mimics the chicken nuggets
that you might buy in the freezer section
or at fast food restaurants.
It's actually sort of a chicken mixture
that's pressed together and then fried.
And you wind up with a super tender nugget,
which is really, really nice.
And if you're having a holiday party,
you can make this mixture in double or triple the quantity
and make a whole bunch for your guests.
So I'm gonna use my scoop and get a little portion
and then I'll just kind of press it
into a little bit of a disk, and then I'll get this
onto a little pan and I'll do the same
with the rest of the mixture.
OK, I got the patties all formed.
This mixture is so soft that I'm gonna pop it in the freezer
for about 15 minutes just to flash freeze them,
and that's gonna make it easier for me to bread them
and fry them, that's what I'm gonna do next.
[ticking]
[ding]
OK, these little nuggets have gotten a lot more firm,
and trust me, that chicken mixture is so soft
that you will be glad you did this step.
So first thing is breading,
and I'm gonna do four at a time,
just a little bit easier to move down the line.
So I'll dredge in flour first, both sides,
and then shake off the excess
and then dunk it in beaten egg.
So you really want to toss it around the egg
just so it's totally coating the flour,
because then they're gonna get tossed in breadcrumbs.
These are seasoned panko crumbs.
And you can just kind of sprinkle the crumbs all over,
but you wanna wind up
with really, really heavily breaded little chicken nuggets.
OK, and then look at these.
Ooh, they're so nice. It's a perfect size.
That coating is gonna get nice and golden.
It's gonna be so good.
Alright, now I'm gonna do the exact same thing
with the other 12 and start cooking.
So I'll drop them four at a time into the flour to dredge them,
then shake off the excess, then dip them
in the egg, roll them in the seasoned panko
to coat them, and put them on a sheet pan with the others.
When they're all done, it's time for the next step.
So I'll put the first batch of eight nuggets into oil
that's heated to 375 degrees in a large pan.
I'll fry them for a minute on the first side,
flip them over,
and cook them for another minute
on the second side.
Then I'll take them out onto a paper towel lined plate.
And eight more completes the cooking.
Would you take a look at these chicken nuggets?
Oh, my gosh, they look good!
Now, of course, with chicken nuggets,
you have to have something to dunk them in
when they're being eaten, so I have a couple of...
[chuckles] ...sauce options -- ketchup,
I've got honey mustard...
[chuckles] ...regular mustard, ranch,
another favorite of mine is barbecue sauce,
really anything goes, sweet and sour sauce
is also good, perfect for a party,
perfect for watching a game on TV,
perfect for a holiday gathering.
In a word, perfect.
The hardest thing about making these nuggets
is figuring out what sauce to use.
Honey mustard.
That's my choice today.
Having a nice hot pot of soup is always good
if you have family around, it's great for holiday season,
it's great for any time of year.
I love making soups in a slow cooker.
It just makes the process so much easier.
It takes a little longer to cook,
but the results are amazing,
especially if you're making this chicken and ravioli soup.
Oh, my gosh, it's great.
It just has a couple of steps.
None of them are complicated.
So first, I added some diced onion
and sliced garlic to the slow cooker,
and I'll add some Italian seasoning.
And for the chicken, this is so cool.
I love these.
They're fresh chicken meatballs.
They're store-bought, so it's a really nice,
kind of slightly gourmet ingredient.
And I'll just pop 'em in there.
If you can find frozen meatballs,
you can put 'em in in frozen form.
Any kind of meatballs work.
These are extremely flavorful, so they're gonna add
so much flavor to the soup.
And then I love this ingredient.
A couple of big heaping tablespoons
of store-bought pesto.
I remember a time when I would just add, like,
a little teaspoon of pesto to my soup, and now I'm, like,
"How much can I add?"
See, I just added another one.
And for the liquid, chicken broth.
I love slow cooker recipes,
especially when you don't have to do any pre-cooking.
And even though those chicken meatballs are store-bought,
you're not sacrificing any flavor,
because they are so delicious.
OK, I'm gonna get the lid on.
I'm not even gonna stir the soup.
Now I'm gonna cook this on high for two hours,
and that's the first stage.
And then I'll come back and move on with stage two.
[ticking]
[ding]
Alright, I am two hours older and the soup has been cooking.
So I have some more things to add.
I made a slurry with heavy cream and corn starch
and I just whisked it
until it's totally mixed together.
And I'm gonna pour this into the soup
and it's gonna help the soup get nice and thick...
make it really creamy, and it is going to be superb.
So for the ravioli, I love just finding
good quality store-bought ravioli.
And this has spinach and ricotta in it.
I use it all the time.
And then for a big pop of green, some chopped kale.
I'm just gonna stir everything around.
It looks and smells amazing. and the textures in here, wow.
OK, just one more stage of cooking.
I'll get the lid back on.
I'm gonna let it cook on high for another 30 minutes,
and then the soup will be done. I cannot wait for that.
[ticking]
[ding]
Well, I have to say, it smells super good in here.
Sorry. [chuckles]
But it really, really does.
Now when my family is home, whether it's around the holidays
or just any time of year,
I'll just put a stack of bowls and a little pile of spoons
right by the slow cooker.
I cooked some baguette bread in the oven.
I'll put that nearby and everybody can just...
do the work themselves. But look at this.
Oh, my goodness, the ravioli looks great.
The kale really adds something nice,
and these little chicken meatballs.
I think I might've taken more than my share.
Ooh, this soup looks good.
So I'll also put a little dish of basil nearby,
if I have some, and it really is the perfect little garnish.
And then a little piece of bread, just kinda break it
in two and stick it right in the bowl.
Well...
When it comes to all the meals
you have to make for your loved ones,
whether it's around the holidays or not,
reach for that chicken.
There are endless possibilities,
and I hope you enjoy the four I just shared.
Cheers, friends. Cheers to chicken!