Molly Yeh's Top Chicken Recipe Videos 🍗🌟 | Girl Meets Farm | Food Network

For a wildly comforting combination of two of my kiddos' favorite foods, chicken noodle soup and hot dish, I'm making chicken noodle hot dish. It's basically tuna noodle casserole, but instead of tuna, I'm using chicken and adding in all of chicken's flavorful friends like lemon, nutmeg, dill. The kids love it, and so do I. It's so good, and it also comes together all in one braiser. To start, I'm slicing up some leeks, which I love to use just as a change-up from the typical yellow onion. It adds bright, springy flavor. And leeks are fun to wash because they actually have a lot of little layers that sand and dirt get trapped in, so you've gotta fully submerge them in the water, and then when you do that, it's really soothing to poke the rings apart. You can already see some of the sand coming out, but this would also make a great activity for the kids. Bernie particularly loves cleaning. She didn't get it from me. And then swish the leeks around, breaking the rings up with my fingers so that the sand and dirt can fall to the bottom. Okay, I'll get my veggies going. So in my braiser here, I'll melt four tablespoons of unsalted butter. I'll get in my carrots and celery, and then lift out the leeks. I don't want to strain them and pour the dirty water back over them. Shake off any excess moisture, and then add them to the pan. A couple of pinches of salt will help the veggies soften, and I'll cook these down. So I thought of this concept because I'm on this everlasting quest to experiment with all the hot dishes in the world. And I was just dreaming one day about chicken noodle soup and how delicious it would be to add all of the flavors of chicken noodle soup into hot dish form. And it occurred to me that like, oh, that's basically tuna noodle casserole, but with chicken. I love this. These are softened. I'll toss in a couple of cloves of chopped garlic. I'm gonna make my sauce directly in the braiser by building a roux with a quarter cup of all-purpose flour. That's gonna thicken up my chicken stock and get that classic condensed soup texture. I'll cook the flour for about a minute just to get rid of the floury flavor. Typically with a hot dish, you're opening up a can, but it tastes really good when you make it from scratch. A bit of fresh thyme contributes some cozy herbiness. I'll grate in some nutmeg. Nutmeg and lemon are two of the sleeper hit ingredients of chicken soup because they don't steal the show at all. They just add depth and deliciousness. All right, now for my liquids for the soup, I'll first add the white wine because you want all that alcohol to cook off and it'll leave behind just that bright acidic flavor that balances out all of these other cozy flavors. Hot dish has so many creamy, hearty elements that you want to balance it out with something bright and acidic. I'll gradually add three cups of low-sodium chicken stock and allow the roux to thicken it. And now you gotta have cream in condensed cream soup, so one cup of heavy cream will give this the richness that it deserves. Oh, it's all coming together. This is gonna be so good. I'll season with kosher salt and black pepper. I like a lot of black pepper. A tiny bit of lemon zest and lemon juice will perk this up. I always add this right to the end of my chicken soup. And some parsley and dill for freshness and grassiness. Oh yeah, look at that deliciousness. And it came together quickly too. I feel like I could manage making this during the very short overlap between Bernie and Ira's nap. Next, the most popular part of a chicken noodle casserole, the noodles. I'm using egg noodles because they're so creamy and comforting and good. And I've cooked these until they're shy of al dente because they will continue to soften in the oven. Chicken soup with mostly noodles, I'm here for this. And for the chicken, I'm just using a chopped rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chicken has so much flavor in it already. That is a full casserole. Some peas. One of Ira's favorite veggies. They're so teeny and perfect for her teeny hands. They're frozen, but they'll thaw once they hit this hot mixture. I'll fold this all together. Okay, at this point, it's really important to check for seasoning and also taste test. It's looking too good. I have to make sure that there's enough salt in it. Possibly one of the most comforting bites in the universe. But it's just gonna get better now because all good hot dishes have a crunchy topping. I'm gonna get crackers and drizzle them with butter, which will help them get brown and crisp in the oven, and then perform the holy grail of kids' cooking tests. Ta-da. I'll spread these evenly over the top. These are the best crackers dunked into chicken soup. That's why I'm going with the buttery crackers. So good. I'll bake this now at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes until the top is golden and the edges are bubbly. I feel like an impatient kid waiting for this. It's hot dish o'clock. Oh yeah. That looks so good. Those buttery crackers smell heavenly. I'll finish with fresh parsley and dill. You could leave it off if your kid doesn't like green things on top. I'm going in. I gotta make sure it's okay for the kids. 100%. It has it all. It's creamy, it's noodley. My kids are lucky. For dinner, I am making the juiciest, stickiest, crispiest Peking chicken. I got started on this yesterday. I loosened the skin from the meat to allow some air to get underneath the skin, and then I also dry brined it with kosher salt, black pepper, and some Chinese five-spice powder, and then I stuck it in the fridge overnight uncovered so that the seasoning could penetrate the meat and then also allow that skin to dry out so that it gets crispy. To get the chicken ready for the oven, I'm gonna crack open a can of beer. Let's get this party started, right? I'm pouring out one cup of it, which I'll add in later, and I'm setting it in a cast iron skillet. This is going to be sort of a stand for me to put the chicken on so that when it roasts, the heat gets circulated all around and the skin gets crispy, and then it'll also steam the chicken from the inside so that that meat stays juicy while the skin is crisp. I'll roast at 400 degrees for an hour. It won't be fully done cooking at that point, but I'll be ready for some glaze then. My chicken is almost ready to come out of the oven, so I'll whip up the glaze, which is going to give that chicken skin this sweet, sticky, shiny coating. I'll start with three tablespoons of soy sauce, half a cup of hoisin sauce, two tablespoons of honey, which will help to caramelize that exterior, a teaspoon of garlic powder, and one and a half teaspoons of Chinese five-spice powder, a tablespoon of oil to add some richness, a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, and all of these heavy, heavy flavors need some brightness, so I'll squeeze in the juice of half a lime and grate in a teaspoon of fresh ginger for some zing. In this, I'm gonna reserve some of it to add on as a sauce at the end, and the other half will be used to brush the outside of the chicken. Let me check on my bird. Being careful so it doesn't tip over. That chicken is already crispy on the outside. I'll get my glaze and brush this chicken lavishly all over. Mm, chicken skin is so good. Oh, do you hear that? It sounds crispy. So Peking is actually just another spelling, an older spelling of Beijing, so that's where Peking duck comes from. This looks beautiful. Not holding back with the glaze here. It just got back from the beach. Still has some tanning oil on. When this glaze drips down onto the skillet, I don't want it to burn, so I have my reserved cup of beer here that I'll pour right in to prevent the glaze from burning, and it'll also add a bit more moisture right at the end of its cooking time. Okay, carefully back into the oven this goes for another 20 minutes until the internal temperature is 165 degrees, and external is so shiny, I'm gonna have to get my sunglasses. This chicken's looking good. I'm gonna wait to carve until right before I serve, but I'm having to take a taste right now because this smell is pulling me in. That is like the queen of chicken skins. Sweet, it's salty, it's a little chewy, it's crisp. I am making one of my top five favorite foods with one of my top five favorite people. Thanks. Okay, so my chicken schnitzel is juicy fried chicken that's pounded extra thin, so it's really, really crispy. So, we are pounding out our chicken breast so that it's really thin so that it gets extra crispy. Once it's about like a quarter inch, you just want it as thin as possible without it breaking, so once it's that thin, then we can get on to the braiding. Okay, these are pounded perfectly, let's get on to breading. Okay, we're gonna set up a dredging station. We're gonna get flour in this pan, and then you wanna crack four eggs into this pan. Okay, so the chicken is gonna get coated in flour, dunked in egg, and then coated in panko breadcrumbs, which will make it really, really crunchy. Do you wanna whip up the eggs with a splash of water? That just makes it easier to coat. And then I'm just gonna add some paprika to the breadcrumbs and then season them with salt and pepper. It'll be so good. Okay, we've got our breading station set up, we've got flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, and now we're just gonna dunk the chicken in these three things in that order. So we just take a piece of chicken and get it evenly coated in the flour, and this is gonna help the egg stick, and just make sure that it's all covered in the egg because that is gonna help the crunchy breadcrumbs stick. And we want maximum breadcrumb adherence. Yes, exactly. Okay, this one is ready to fry. I have some flavorless oil heating up on the stove, and I'm gonna gently transfer it right in here. And these are getting fried at 360 for a couple of minutes on each side until they're golden brown. Let me flip it. Okay, look at this gorgeous golden color. Oh my gosh, that looks good. Yeah, this is a beautiful schnitzel. Okay, I'm gonna transfer it to a wire rack and this is going to keep it crispy. And then I'm just gonna sprinkle it with a little salt and pepper. And now these can hold in a warm oven so that they stay hot until our friends arrive. Enough chatting, let's get frying. Gently. It's important not to overcrowd the pan, otherwise it'll drop the temperature of the oil. And we don't want that because then the oil will soak into the breading and make it taste oily. And I keep my thermometer clipped to the side of the pan so that I can make sure that the oil is hot enough at all times. I'll keep on frying these in batches, and then I'll hold these in the oven at 250 to keep them crispy until my friends get here. Let's finish off that schnitzel. Oh my, these look incredible. They are golden and crispy. For the finishing touch, I'll sprinkle them with some parsley. And now schnitzel needs a fresh squeeze of lemon, so I'm gonna garnish with some lemon wedges. I bet Nick is outside already pouring some beers. I'm gonna grab my bites and take them out, and we are going to eat. Wunderbar! I am making my chicken Alfredo lasagna. It's creamy and rich and super indulgent. It's basically the cozy flannel sheet version of lasagna. To start, I've got a couple of chicken breasts cooking in my skillet here, and I've seasoned them with some Italian seasonings for extra flavor. You could also just go a shortcut route and use a rotisserie chicken from the store. I'll transfer these to a pan. I'll set these aside while I make my Alfredo sauce. I'll do it in the same skillet where I just cooked the chicken. I'm gonna add six tablespoons of butter. Get down. As the butter melts, I'll scrape the pan to get those chicken bits incorporated, because those harbor a lot of flavor, and add in six cloves of minced garlic. I'll let this cook just for about a minute or two so that the garlic can soften, and when I can really start to smell it, that's how I know it's ready to move to the next step. Garlic and butter is the key to a good Alfredo. I'm gonna add some flour now, which is gonna help to thicken my sauce. Two tablespoons is all I need, and the butter with the flour together is gonna create a roux, and that's gonna thicken up some milk and heavy cream so that it's just extra rich. I love lasagna made with a bechamel-type sauce like this. Now I'm gonna add two cups of whole milk mixed with one cup of heavy cream. I'll pour this in gradually as I mix continuously until it starts to get luxurious. This is looking really creamy and dreamy. It hasn't reached its full thickness yet, but it's gonna continue to thicken up once I add my cheese. I've got shredded parm, which is gonna load it up on flavor, and in my creamy sauces, I love a little bit of nutmeg. It'll coze it up. I'll just grate in a little bit, and then I'll mix in two and a half cups of freshly grated Parmesan for loads of flavor. I'll sprinkle in about half of it, and whisk it in until it melts. I'll add in a little more, and I'm gonna save some for the top. Okay, I'm gonna add lots of black pepper, and the Parmesan is pretty salty, so I don't need to add more salt. Give it a taste. Yes, that is perfect. All right, I'll just keep this on low while I chop up my chicken. Normally, I'm super opposed to chicken and cheese. I don't think that they go well together, but chicken and parm, and a little bit of mozzarella in this, I make an exception for. My chicken's all cubed up. I'll also chop up some parsley. It'll be really pretty and green. That's fiber. Gotta have something green in there. Okay, to put this decadent lasagna together, I've got a buttered casserole dish, some shredded mozzarella for meltiness, and no-boil lasagna noodles. I'm gonna start with a layer of sauce in my dish. I'll spread it all over the bottom. I'll lay down three noodles, spacing them out evenly, and they expand a little bit in the oven. I'll add another layer of sauce, make them extra cozy. I'll sprinkle on some chicken, some mozzarella. Lasagna is all about the textures. You have the creamy sauce, melty mozzarella, noodley noodles, and that juicy, tender chicken. Ugh, all in one bite. A little parsley, and I'll just repeat this two more times. Nick grew up eating a lot of Italian food because he was on the cross-country team. The night before a meet, they would have pasta parties. I'll finish with my remaining Parmesan. Oh yeah, just enough cheese. All right, this is ready for the oven. I'll stake it in at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes until the cheese is super melty and the noodles are tender. I'm gonna crush this. Mm. This is delicious. It's my buttermilk fried chicken. To start, I've got my chicken broken down into 10 pieces in my casserole dish where I'm gonna brine it, and I'm gonna cover it with buttermilk, which is the best brining liquid because it makes the meat so moist, and then it also adds that tang. I'm gonna add about three cups. Some cayenne pepper. A half teaspoon will add the perfect little kick, but it won't be overpowering. And then three tablespoons of kosher salt, which seems like a lot of salt, but the brine needs it in order for it to do its job because what the brine is doing is it's basically pulling out the moisture from the chicken, and then when the moisture goes back into the chicken, it's flavored with all that salt and this other goodness in the brine, and then it's just gonna get so juicy. I'll add one tablespoon of sugar. Loads of black pepper. And then a few sprigs of fresh thyme, and this is gonna mirror the dried thyme that's in the za'atar that'll go on top at the end. And lastly, a couple of cloves of garlic, and I'm just gonna smash them so that they can infuse the mixture. I don't need to chop them up totally. Plop these in, and then I'm gonna use my tongs to zhuzh everything around. And this is a great straightforward brine. It'd be really good with pork chops or turkey, other lean meats. The chicken is fully coated. I'll grab some plastic wrap. I'll let this brine in the refrigerator for a few hours, and it is gonna make the meat so tender and juicy. It's worth it. And now I just need to mix up my coating. So I'm gonna grab two and a half cups of all-purpose flour, half a cup of cornstarch, which is gonna make it extra crunchy, and two teaspoons of baking powder, two teaspoons of kosher salt, and then I'll spice things up with one tablespoon of paprika, or three teaspoons if you wanna get mathematical, two teaspoons of garlic powder. So flavorful. I feel like garlic powder is underrated. One teaspoon of dried mustard powder. Chicken and mustard, match made in poultry heaven. And then half a teaspoon of cayenne for a little more heat. I'll crack in some black pepper. Smelling good already. And I'll whisk it together. My coating is combined. Let me grab the chicken, see if it's up from its nap yet. This is gonna be so juicy. I'm gonna do something that has revolutionized my life as a fried chicken lover. I'm gonna actually add some of the brine into the coating, and that allows the coating to clump up so you can get more of it in each bite, and it adds some of this delicious flavor from the brine. I'm gonna drizzle in a quarter cup of the brine, and then get in here with my hands to get it clumpy and good. Oh yeah, baby. So I have a pan ready to go here with a wire rack, and I'm gonna start with the legs, the best part. I'll let any of the excess coating drip off, and then I'll coat it all over. See, some of these clumps are just sticking on. I love the texture that the brine forms with the coating. This is what you need to live in the North, is a big, heavy coat. The chicken is ready. I'll get this on my pan, dredge the rest of my chicken, and then head outside for an awesome fry out. Hey. You ready to fry some meat? Yes, I am. Okay, the chicken is dredged. It smells really good. How's the oil doing? We are getting real close at 350. Perfect. So, fry this in two batches. It'll take about 10 to 12 minutes, but the wings and the breasts will be done first. How's the chickens? Done. Oh, that looks beautiful. Okay, you can put it on this wire rack now. The wire rack is gonna allow any excess oil to drip off. It's gonna keep it crispy on the bottom too. And they said I couldn't fry chicken. I didn't say that. I'm gonna sprinkle it with some za'atar as it comes off. Za'atar is a spice blend with dried thyme, sumac, which is vinegary, and some toasted sesame seeds. This is just gonna bring it over the top. Oh, look at that chicken. Last batch is frying away. Okay. Oh my gosh. Done. This looks so good. I'm ready to eat. Chicken! Well, this is fine. I did that. Kind of unbelievable.