Ina Garten And Nigella Lawson Share A Go-To One Pot Dinner

Making a family dinner day in and day out can be exhausting. For many home cooks, though, nothing beats a one pot meal, offering something that's quick to prepare, comforting to eat, and easy to clean up afterwards without having to wade through a sink that's full of dirty pans.

Whether it's a nostalgic soup that reminds you of childhood, a hearty pasta dish, or a spicy curry, nearly anything goes for one pot, slow-cooked meals. Even creative options like a fragrant Moroccan style chicken tagine can be prepared this way.

Chicken is often a go-to for one pot meals, even for two of our favorite TV food personalities, Nigella Lawson and Ina Garten. As the duo revealed during a stop on Lawson's book tour in New York City (for her new title, "Cook, Eat, Repeat"), they both share pretty much the exact same standard dish: chicken in a pot with orzo.

Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson's one pot chicken recipe is a family favorite, she says, one that she's cooked often after being on the road, "to signal and celebrate that I was truly home," as she shares on her website. It also involves a unique serving method — presenting the beautifully roasted chicken whole in its pot to the table and then shredding it.

To prepare the meal, Lawson first browns the chicken in a heavy casserole dish or Dutch oven, adding oil to and heating it up, and then placing the chicken breast side down to cook for three minutes over high heat. After turning the chicken right side up, she removes the dish from the heat, adds in minced garlic and lemon, and scatters chopped carrots and leeks around the bird before adding salt, chili flakes, and dried tarragon. The dish is then covered in 6-¼ cups water with a squeeze of lemon juice before bringing everything to a boil, and then she places the dish (lid on) in the oven to cook for an hour and 15 minutes.

Orzo is added to the pot towards the end of the cooking time, so that it soaks up the rich broth. Once ready, the chicken is laid out on the table whole, and the meat is stripped, putting the skin and bones in another dish on the side. "For me, these bits are a particular treat: I live for the cartilage!" Nigella shares. 

Ina Garten's one pot chicken dish, featured in her book "Go-To Dinners," also uses orzo and follows pretty much the same steps. Garten's does differ slightly from Nigella Lawson's in that she uses dill and saffron rather than chili flakes, tarragon, and lemon. Garten also adds celery and fennel in with the carrots and leeks.

To prepare her dish, Garten similarly browns her chicken first in hot oil (also preferring to do so in a Dutch oven). But then she removes the bird and places it on a separate plate while she prepares the veggies and lets them brown as well. Garten adds carrots, celery, leeks, and fennel to the Dutch oven and sautés for up to 15 minutes, then adds the garlic and cooks for another minute. 

After, the chicken goes back into the pot, placing the veggies around it, and Garten adds in chicken stock, saffron, and water to cover. Thyme, parsley, dill, salt, and pepper are added and the chicken is baked in the oven, also for an hour and 15 minutes. Orzo is likewise added towards the end, soaking up the broth for 20-ish minutes. Garten prefers to break up the chicken while still in the pot and serve in quarters in shallow bowls.

"It has all the classic chicken soup flavors plus a big pinch of saffron," said Garten when she shared a picture of the dish on Instagram. "The whole house smells wonderful."