- 6 weeks ago
Looking for easy ways to turn one rotisserie chicken into three totally different dinners? In this video, Nicole transforms this grocery store staple into three comforting, weeknight-friendly meals that definitely don’t feel like leftovers. From a cozy sheet pan chicken pot pie to crispy baked chicken chile tacos and a warm Italian pastina soup, these recipes make the most of one chicken while keeping dinner interesting.
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00:00One rotisserie chicken, three delicious dinners,
00:03none of which tastes like leftovers,
00:04starting with a sheet pan chicken pot pie,
00:07baked chicken chili tacos,
00:09and then finally, a comforting pot of Italian pastina.
00:13Now, disclaimer, it does need to be the Sam's or Costco
00:17or something similar rotisserie chicken
00:19because yes, they are bigger,
00:21but honey, there's a lot of bang for your buck right here.
00:24Are you over there seeing if my theory is gonna work?
00:28If anybody can, Nicole can do it.
00:30All right, I'm going to save my carcass
00:33along with the liquid gold right here for meal number three.
00:38So once I shred it, I like to take a knife
00:40and just give it a rough chop,
00:41kind of like chunky shreds, not long shreds.
00:44That's a lot of chicken.
00:46I'm gonna do about three cups for my first dish
00:49and then another like two cups for meal number two.
00:53Now we get to cooking.
00:55Are you ready?
00:55First up, sheet pan chicken pot pie.
00:59This is one of the easiest ways
01:01and arguably a better way to serve up chicken pot pie.
01:05Instead of pie crust, we're using puff pastry,
01:08so you get that extra buttery, flaky topping.
01:12And because you're cooking chicken pot pie in a sheet pan,
01:15it's thinner, so it takes less time
01:17than if it was in a deep dish pie shell.
01:19So I've chopped up a little onion,
01:21and I'm going to also chop some celery.
01:23And that is about the extent of your prep.
01:27The original recipe feeds eight people,
01:29so I am modifying this with the amount
01:31of rotisserie chicken that we're using.
01:34It's still plenty to serve my family of five,
01:36and what I've promised with all these
01:37is that they serve at least for a family of four.
01:40So, I'm starting with about three tablespoons of butter.
01:44Once your butter's melted, go in with your onion and celery.
01:46Got about two-thirds cup of onion here,
01:48and about half a cup of celery.
01:50All right, you want to cook this down
01:51until these vegetables are tender.
01:54Three-quarter teaspoon of salt,
01:56and about half a teaspoon of pepper,
01:58and about a quarter teaspoon of garlic powder.
02:00Let that cook for about another minute.
02:03And now I'm going to thicken it up.
02:04Adding in about a third cup of flour here.
02:06Let that cook for about a minute.
02:08If it's too much flour, you can add a little more butter.
02:10Then I'm doing a combination of chicken stock
02:13and heavy cream, because it's delicious that way.
02:18You don't just want to do chicken stock,
02:19because then you don't really get that creaminess,
02:21and what we're doing right now
02:22is making our own cream of chicken.
02:24I'm starting with two cups of chicken stock.
02:27Really stir it when you add that in
02:29to break up that flour so you don't get little clumps.
02:31And about two-thirds cup of heavy cream.
02:33You're gonna bring this mixture to a simmer
02:35before we add anything else.
02:37That way you can see how thick it's going to be.
02:40I'm telling you, it's one of the best chicken pot pies ever.
02:43You can see how thick and creamy it's gotten,
02:45and you want to cook it like this for about five minutes
02:48just to let all those flavors come together,
02:49and the vegetables to finish cooking.
02:52Now we go in with the star of the show,
02:55plenty of chicken, and some frozen mixed veggies.
02:59Cook that just for about two more minutes,
03:02and then you want to taste it and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
03:07And once you have everything in, you can also decide if you want to add a little more liquid or
03:10not.
03:10I kind of like it thick.
03:12So I've got my sheet pan.
03:14This is a quarter sheet pan.
03:16The original recipe uses a half sheet pan,
03:18so a quarter sheet pan is half of that,
03:20and it also uses two sheets of puff pastry, and we're just doing one.
03:23Filling down, I've buttered my pan also, and it just fits perfectly.
03:29Take one sheet of puff pastry, and you want to roll it out slightly to fit your pan.
03:34You can brush egg wash over this if you want to.
03:37I don't think it's necessary.
03:39That's it, then it just goes into the oven 400 degrees for just about 20 to 30 minutes.
03:44It's all still warm, so you're just wanting that pastry to puff up and become golden.
03:49Oh yeah, look at that beauty.
03:53Piping hot, as you can see, that buttery, crispy top,
03:57but then we have a lot of saucy goodness underneath.
03:59This needs to set for about 10 minutes.
04:02I mean, you're not going to get, this is not a chicken pot pie where you get the pretty slice.
04:05It is a scoopable version, but it is saucy perfection.
04:10If you're ready for a bite of a warm hug, this is that.
04:14Mm-hmm, a little fresh parsley.
04:18This would definitely feed a family of four, maybe even with leftovers.
04:25This over pie crust is just such a genius move, and you saw how easy it was to make.
04:31This is from scratch, and it's ready in about half the time as a regular chicken pot pie.
04:35Meal one is an A++.
04:38Next up, our Taco Tuesday.
04:41Dinner number two, baked chicken chili tacos.
04:45This is the perfect dinner for making a bunch of tacos at once.
04:48They end up being somewhere between a quesadilla and a soft taco.
04:52Whatever they are, they are so good.
04:55Start with some oil.
04:57Instead of putting the chicken in first, I'm just going to cook up some onion.
05:01Okay, and you just want to soften this up a little bit.
05:03You can add a little salt now.
05:05That will help.
05:06I'm adding less salt since I'm also not starting with raw chicken.
05:09All right, once that begins to soften, I'm going to go in with the rest of the ingredients.
05:13A little garlic powder.
05:14Some pepper.
05:15In with some pinto beans.
05:17This really bulks up the filling.
05:18That's two cups of chicken going in along with a can of green chilies.
05:21Some cumin and chili powder.
05:24I mean, the filling alone is one of the most flavorful things ever.
05:28I'm going in with about a cup of salsa verde.
05:30You could also just use green enchilada sauce here.
05:33It's got chilies and tomatillos in it.
05:36That's basically it.
05:37You just want this to completely warm through.
05:39Cook that down until it thickens up.
05:41I like to also kind of mash some of the pinto beans just to make this a really thick and
05:48hearty filling.
05:48That's the extent of that.
05:50Now we build our tacos.
05:52We're about to make magic in this pan.
05:55Take a flour tortilla.
05:56You're going to brush one side of it with melted butter.
06:00Plop it in your casserole dish.
06:01I put a little bit of cheese down on the bottom.
06:04Then scoop in your filling and then a little more cheese.
06:08Then you're going to get your next one.
06:09Same thing.
06:10And each taco you're making holds up the previous one.
06:13So we're going to put this down, butter side down, right up against the other one.
06:18And just repeat the process.
06:19Putting the cheese down on the bottom kind of acts as a barrier so you don't get like a soggy
06:24tortilla.
06:25And this is a hearty portion.
06:27Even though we're just using one rotisserie chicken, we're getting lots of hearty servings.
06:32The butter is what's going to help these get crispy, toasty, and more flavorful on the outside.
06:38And then the last two you can just position along the sides.
06:41Just whatever fits in whatever dish you're using.
06:43That's it.
06:44If you have any other, like any leftover cheese, you can just kind of sprinkle it over the whole thing.
06:49And they just go into the oven, 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes.
06:54They'll be all toasty, slightly crisp.
06:56The guy behind the camera says this is in the top five things I've ever made.
07:02It's quite ambitious.
07:04While the tacos are baking, you've got to make a little sauce.
07:08It's just two ingredients.
07:09Some sour cream and a little more of the enchilada sauce or tomatillo salsa.
07:14You just stir that together.
07:16Mm-hmm.
07:19Look at that.
07:20I'm telling you.
07:21That gooey cheese.
07:23And you'll see the tops and the bottoms have the toastiness.
07:26And then it's kind of soft in the middle.
07:28You know I'm going to try to build the perfect bite and all the textures.
07:31So I like cold and crunchy going on this hot and gooey.
07:34Some of our green chili crema.
07:38I'm also going to add in a little green onion because that just sounded good today.
07:42This is not a crunchy taco, but it's also not just a soft taco.
07:45Yeah, it's just better.
07:49Mm.
07:51This is about my fifth time making these.
07:54And each first bite is as delicious as the very first time I did it.
07:59I mean, it's like I'm surprised every time.
08:02If you have not tried these yet, I cannot explain how good the flavor is.
08:05It's like a 15 out of 10.
08:07The original recipe, you could start with raw chicken.
08:09In this case, with rotisserie, it's just as good.
08:12We've got straight A's on our report card so far.
08:14Can we finish with a bang?
08:16I think so.
08:18And this pot of Italian pastina is known as Italian penicillin because it can cure all.
08:25If nothing else, it can just make you feel good and comforted.
08:28The main ingredient of pastina is chicken broth, chicken stock.
08:33So you could use store bought, but why?
08:35When you have this little magic ingredient.
08:38You should make a pot of just chicken broth every time you get a rotisserie chicken
08:42because it makes delicious stock because it is seasoned chicken already.
08:47Add the carcass to your pot along with that juice.
08:51It's just going to fortify our stock.
08:53And then you're going to add in cold water.
08:55You always want to start with cold water when you're making a stock because as it heats up,
09:00it can slowly extract the collagen from the bones and give you a heartier stock.
09:05If you start in hot water, it doesn't have that chance to slowly come up.
09:09And then I'm just going to add in a couple of carrots and a couple of stalks of celery.
09:12If you have any with the leaves, that's good.
09:15Throw those in there.
09:16This part is what you need to do ahead of time.
09:18And then the night you want to have your pastina, the hard part is done.
09:22And then I'm going to go ahead and add in some salt.
09:24And I'm just going to pop this on the stove, bring it to a simmer.
09:27I'm going to partially cover it so I don't lose so much of the liquid and let it go for
09:31about 45 minutes.
09:32It is a quick stock when you start with a rotisserie chicken versus a raw chicken.
09:36It is smelling so good.
09:37Look at this flavorful stock we've created.
09:41I mean, the color is great.
09:42Look at that.
09:43Now I'm just going to strain this out and put the liquid gold back on the stove.
09:47Look at the color of this.
09:49It is golden and flavorful.
09:52I like to taste it because you do want to start with a flavorful stock.
09:55It is a real true healing ingredient.
10:00I don't even think we need to fortify that.
10:04This is perfect.
10:05All right, now we turn it into the viral Italian penicillin.
10:09It was all over TikTok a couple of years ago.
10:12And I grew up as an Italian and I did not grow up with this.
10:17I asked my mom, I'm like, where has this been my whole life?
10:20All right, so you take an onion, just cut it in half.
10:23Then you're going to take a few more celery stalks and carrots, cut them in half.
10:28And everything goes in whole, just like this.
10:31And then you're just going to bring this up to a simmer and let it cook for about 45 minutes
10:36or until those veggies are really soft.
10:38Also in with a couple, two or three cloves of garlic.
10:42Basta to the stove.
10:44And you just let nature do its thing.
10:47Just before your soup's ready, add in your pastina.
10:50And you're going to cook them al dente, just like you would your pasta.
10:56You don't want to cook them in the broth because they would absorb all the liquid.
10:59So we're going to add the cooked pasta to the broth.
11:02Our veggies are tender.
11:03And now for the final steps to bring it all together, remove the vegetables from the broth
11:10and place them in a blender.
11:11And we're going to puree them along with a little of the liquid and add it back in.
11:16This gives the whole soup a lot of richness and then you're not missing all of those vitamins
11:22and nutrients from the veggies.
11:24Add in about a cup or so of the broth.
11:27All right, pop the top on.
11:29Don't forget to open the top to let the steam escape or this could be a dangerous situation.
11:38I like to get it really smooth because I found my kids like it better like that than if there
11:44are little chunks in there.
11:46Now we just pour this back in.
11:48I'm going to go in with just a pinch of salt and a little pepper.
11:51About to dish up this warm hug.
11:53This is just one of those soups that I actually start craving.
11:56I don't know if it is just when I want a little comfort, but it is just so good.
12:01Here's how you do it.
12:02You don't want to put the pasta in the broth or it's just going to suck it all up.
12:06So you put a little of your pastina in the bottom of your bowl and you pour your broth around
12:12it.
12:12A little fresh parsley and lots of grated parm.
12:16This is key.
12:17Final crack of pepper.
12:18And we've got our third complete dinner from that one rotisserie chicken.
12:26I mean, I can't explain it.
12:28I can't explain it.
12:29You immediately feel good after the first bite.
12:31Even if you weren't sick, you feel better than you were five minutes ago.
12:34You wouldn't think with something so simple, it could have that much flavor, but it does.
12:38It's a perfect balance of savory and then a hint of sweetness from the carrots.
12:42And the pasta just absorbs all of those flavors.
12:45So when you get a little bit of everything in every bite, it's perfect.
12:49If you've never had this, now is the time.
12:51Indeed, we have made the most with that one $5 ingredient.
12:55Can you believe one rotisserie chicken made all this?
12:58Me either.
13:00Winner, winner, three chicken dinners.
13:02Amazing Nicole, you killed it.
13:06Two in a row.
13:07Cha-ching.