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Break out the cast iron and your favorite beer and get cookin' to celebrate Beer Month!
My friend Sophia over at NY Foodgasm is at it again, celebrating all things beer with a bunch of awesome food bloggers.
There are a lot of fun local breweries and craft beer shops where I live, but I tend to drink beer more often than I cook with beer. So when the challenge was thrown to come up with a beer-infused recipe, I knew what needed to be done.
Cast. Iron. Skillet.
I picked up what was possibly the largest package of chicken legs/thighs ever from a local farm recently (the 2 pieces were 3 ¼ pounds!!) and I knew they'd work beautifully with some veggies and a sweet-and-tangy, mustardy beer sauce.
I found a Toasted Lager from Bluepoint that I thought would work well in this recipe. I didn't want to use anything too dark or hoppy because I didn't want to mask the flavor of the chicken too much.
I also had some carrots in the fridge, so I sliced them quickly while the chicken skin was getting crispy and popped them into the pan before it went into the oven.
Easy peasy!
I was left with a LOT of liquid in with the pan drippings, so I poured out quite a bit of them before making the sauce. Throwing a bit of chopped parsley on at the end gave it a nice pop of color.
This chicken was nice and juicy, and the skin was perfectly crispy. Feel free to add more mustard/brown sugar, depending on how sweet/savory you want your sauce to be. And, of course, if you don't have an iron skillet go buy one immediately you can use any ovenproof skillet for this recipe.
If you have the time, take the chicken out of the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes or so before you start cooking to take the chill off.
Print📖 Recipe
Iron Skillet Chicken + Carrots with Toasted Lager Mustard Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Break out the cast iron and your favorite beer and get cookin’ to celebrate Beer Month!
Ingredients
- 4 pieces bone-in, skin on chicken thighs and/or legs (I used 2 whole chicken legs, 3 ¼ pounds total)
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 12 carrots, cut on the bias into 1-inch thick slices
- ¾ cup Bluepoint Toasted Lager (or your favorite lager)
- 1-2 tablespoons grainy mustard
- 1-2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Parsley, roughly chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Heat a cast iron skillet (or other oven-proof skillet) over medium-high heat. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season liberally on both sides with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the skillet, skin-side down and let sear for 4 minutes. Add carrots and place the whole skillet into the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then flip the chicken pieces and stir the carrots a bit and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F. Remove chicken and carrots to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm.
- If there’s a lot of liquid left in the pan, pour off the majority of it, leaving a few tablespoons plus the pan drippings. Place skillet back onto the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add beer, mustard and sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and allow to reduce, stirring occasionally. Taste the sauce – if it’s too sweet, add more mustard. If it’s not sweet enough, add a little more brown sugar. Add salt and pepper if needed. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.
- To serve, pour sauce over chicken and carrots, sprinkle on a little parsley and enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 318
- Sugar: 11 g
- Sodium: 270.9 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.1 g
- Fiber: 5.5 g
- Protein: 31.7 g
- Cholesterol: 147.7 mg
Want to see what everyone else is cookin' up? Check out the complete #BeerMonth roundup below!
Sophia of NY Foodgasm made Triple IPA Chili Verde with Pork
Heather of All Roads Lead to the Kitchen made Beer Braised Pork Carnitas
Lori of Who Needs a Cape made Beer Mimosa with Raspberries
Ashley of Big Flavors From a Tiny Kitchen made Iron Skillet Chicken + Carrots with Toasted Lager Mustard Sauce
Debra of Bowl Me Over made Beer Braised Chicken Stew
Stacy of Food Lust People Love made Beer Cheddar Fondue
Lauren of Hall Nesting made Beer Bacon Mac and Cheese
Heather // girlichef.com
Mmmm, yes please! You can never go wrong breaking out the cast iron skillet ;). This sounds amazing.
BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen
Thanks so much! We <3 our cast iron collection.
Stacy
My mom gave me a large cast iron skillet just recently and I've been loving it. I am incredulous that your chicken pieces weighed that much! Are you sure they weren't turkey?! 😉 What a beautiful dish!
BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen
I know, right?! That farm sure fed that chicken well! And then it fed US well 😉
Lauren @ Hall Nesting
They should go buy a cast iron skillet if they don't have one! This sounds like I might be breaking out mine sooner rather than later.
BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen
Cast iron can be intimidating, but once you're on board, you're totally hooked!
Lori WhoNeedsaCape
This sounds just lovely, and the Toasted Lager is probably amazing! Just a lovely dish! Gooo #BeerMonth, loving all the selections!
BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen
Thanks! The toasted lager was delicious. Had to do something with the other 5 1/2 from the 6-pack 😉
Debra C.
I love using my cast iron skillet and your chicken looks so delicious! And the sauce.....can't wait to give that a try! What a terrific recipe!!!
BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy it! What's your favorite thing to make in an iron skillet?
Manila Spoon
That chicken looks so moist and delicious!
BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen
Thank you! It was fantastic 🙂