Recipe for poule au pot – chicken in a pot

Chicken in a pot to illustrate a recipe for poule au pot — *© Rina Nurra from Meat, Poultry & Game, Flammarion*

This recipe for poule au pot, a classic French chicken in a pot dish, is said to have its origins in the 16th century when King Henry IV, considered a good king to his people, is alleged to have announced: “If God gives me more life, I will ensure that there is no ploughman in my Kingdom who does not have the means to have a hen in his pot, and it’s said that this started a tradition of “Sunday chicken.”

Serves 4
Active time: 2 hours
Cooking time:About 2 hours
Storage: 3 days

Ingredients for poule au pot

Chicken

4–5-lb. (1.8–2.2-kg) chicken
8 orange carrots
8 small yellow carrots, with tops
4 turnips
2 rutabagas (swedes)
2 leeks
1 stalk celery
1 onion, peeled and studded with 2 whole cloves
1 tbsp (10 g) kosher salt
8 green cabbage leaves

Rice

1 ⅔ cups (400 ml) chicken broth (see above)
1 cup (7 oz./200 g) long grain rice

Suprême sauce

2 tbsp (1 oz./30 g) butter
3 tbsp (1 oz./30 g) all-purpose flour
2 cups (500 ml) chicken broth (see above)
⅔ cup (150 ml) crème fraîche
Salt and freshly ground pepper

To serve

10 celery leaves, preferably yellow
A few sprigs micro purple shiso (you could also use peppermint leaves, lemon basil or thai basil)

Preparing the chicken

Place the chicken in a Dutch oven and add enough cold water to just cover it. Bring to a boil, carefully skimming all the foam from the surface. Peel the carrots, turnips, and rutabagas, and cut them into large pieces, quarters, or halves, depending on their size. Wash and trim the leeks and celery and cut them into large pieces. Once the chicken cooking liquid is clear, add the chopped vegetables, clove-studded onion, and salt. Cover and cook for 1 ½ hours, or until the chicken and vegetables are completely tender. Cook the cabbage leaves in a separate saucepan of boiling water until tender, then set them aside until serving.

Preparing the rice

Measure out 1 ⅔ cups (400 ml) of the broth from cooking the chicken. Cover the Dutch oven with a lid so the chicken and vegetables stay hot. Bring the measured broth to a boil in a medium saucepan, stir in the rice, and cook for 20 minutes.

Preparing the suprême sauce

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat, then whisk in the flour to make a roux. Cook for 2 minutes, whisking continuously, then gradually whisk in the 2 cups (500 ml) broth reserved from cooking the chicken, until the sauce is well blended and smooth. Bring to a boil, stir in the crème fraîche, and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

To serve

Remove the chicken from the Dutch oven and cut it into pieces. Chop the cabbage leaves. Spoon the chicken and vegetables over the rice with the remaining broth in the Dutch oven and scatter celery leaves and purple shiso sprigs over the top. Serve the suprême sauce on the side.

Extracted from Meat, Poultry & Game : Recipes and Techniques from the Ferrandi School of Culinary Arts by FERRANDI Paris (Flammarion, 2025).