This One Pot Carrot and Cabbage Cider Chicken is a healthy and easy one pot, thirty minute meal. Stewed cabbage and carrots are cooked in an apple cider vinegar mixture with tender and juicy boneless chicken thighs. Serve over brown rice or potatoes.
Boy do I fool you guys. You know what question I get asked all the time???
“How do you stay in shape baking all the time?!”
Well, trust me it’s not easy. Basically I work out 5-6 times a week, practice portion control, limit myself to one sweet a day, and cook healthy weeknight meals. Oh, and I pawn off all my treats to my friends and family. You’re lucky if you live close by!
I was just telling Ben how it never ceases to amaze me that we can go through all of the healthy produce I buy. I’m a bit anxiety ridden when it comes to wasting money, and throwing out food is one thing I cannot stomach. Occasionally it happens, but most weeks we clean out our fridge by the time I make my next grocery run.
But no fail, even for as long as I’ve been cooking, I almost have a heart attack when I unload the groceries from the store and see our fridge stocked full of fresh produce. How are we going to eat all of that???!
And it was no exception with my most recent grocery trip. When we were halfway through the week and I still had an entire head of cabbage staring me right in the face, I found it momentarily difficult to breathe.
Why the heck did I buy you?! What am I going to do with you?! Curse you, you $1.00 piece of produce that I haven’t used yet!
But alas, I faced the cabbage crisis with poise by chopping, dicing, cutting, and slicing my way into making this delicious One Pot Cabbage and Carrot Cider Chicken. This meal was an instant hit with the family!
Which, by the way, it always amazes me when your kids end up loving the things you think they’ll hate and despising the things you think they’ll love. I’ll never figure it out. Apparently the cabbage didn’t scare them off…they actually enjoyed it.
And Ben? Wow! He usually finds every reason to “forget” his lunch because he loves himself some fast food and a soda in the middle of the day. Yes, I’ve given up on him. But you know he must really love something when he has already packed his lunchbox, himself, with the evening’s leftovers before the kitchen is even cleaned.
We loved this meal so much that I made it twice last week, and there isn’t even a single bite left in the fridge. Okay, and maybe I also made it twice because the other half of the cabbage was still taunting me. Regardless, it was delicious.
The cabbage, carrots, and onions are stewed in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, chicken broth, and other spices. The chicken is nicely browned on the top, and then flipped over to simmer with the veggies until cooked through. The meat ends up perfectly juicy and full of flavor.
This meal would be perfect served over a spoonful of brown rice, mashed or baked potatoes, or a helping of gluten free noodles. And let me tell you, the leftovers are just as good! The flavors continue to meld together and make for a comforting meal right out of the microwave.
There you have it. Save yourself some time, calories, and sanity this week with this no fail healthy one pot meal and discover a delicious way to use up that cabbage!
Now to figure out what to do with the rest of the parsley…
How well do you use up the produce in your fridge?
- 5-6 (4 oz.) boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 4 carrots peeled and cut into ⅛" slices
- ½ onion sliced into thin strips
- ½ head of cabbage cut into ¼" thick strips
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ cup chicken broth
- dash of cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon ground sage
- ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground mustard
- salt
- pepper
- Cut and prepare vegetables by peeling and slicing carrots, slicing onion and cabbage, and mincing garlic. Prepare sauce by mixing together in a small mixing bowl apple cider vinegar, honey, chicken broth, cayenne, sage, rosemary, thyme, coriander, and mustard. Set aside.
- Prepare chicken by trimming fat and generously seasoning both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat 3 tablespoons avocado oil on medium high heat in a large saucepan. Add onion and carrots. Stir to coat with oil and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to slightly above medium and make space to add chicken thighs. Cook for 7 minutes, stirring carrots and onions occassionally to make sure they don't burn. Turn chicken to opposite side. Arrange cabbage between thighs and pour liquid over. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove lid, increase heat to medium high so liquid is boiling and cook until liquid reduces and chicken is cooked through, about 5-10 minutes.*
- Serve over mashed potatoes, brown rice, or gluten free stroganoff noodles.
