11/07/2023

Potted Chicken with Tarragon, Garlic & Lemon

Name: Potted Chicken with Tarragon, Garlic & Lemon
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 250 g cooked boneless, skinless chicken (e.g. 1 breast plus carcass pickings from a roasted chicken); 125 g butter; 1 medium clove garlic (finely grated); 1 lemon, zest only (finely grated); salt and black pepper to taste; 1 tbsp chopped tarragon; 75 g butter (if using lots of small pots, you may need a little more); chopped tarragon; black pepper

Potted Chicken is an easy and delicious way to use up leftover roast chicken. In this recipe I’ve flavoured the chicken with some classic partners. Fresh tarragon, garlic, and lemon zest. But you can swap in your own favourites like chives, thyme, or parsley.

Simply whizz the meat with melted butter and your chosen seasonings, add an optional layer of clarified butter, and you’ll have a wonderful spread for crusty bread, toast, or crackers.

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POTTED MEATS

Potted meats are a very old way of preserving. Originally made by slowly cooking meat in fat, the resulting mixture was pounded and put into pots. Another layer of fat was then poured over with the aim of keeping out the air, thereby stopping the meat going bad.

These days, with more reliable methods of preserving meat, I make potted meats simply because I love them. It’s so easy to whip up a batch, store in the fridge and use within a few days. Although this method makes the layer of fat on top redundant, extra butter does make them even tastier! But you can leave it off if you prefer.

potted meats and cheeses — *My potted ham, game, cheese & beef*

You could cook meat especially for potting, as I do for my Homemade Potted Beef and Potted Game. However, I think potting is also a great way to use up leftovers. I’ve made Potted Ham with the remains of Christmas Glazed Gammon (although, so good, I sometimes do buy a ham hock specially). You can even use odds and ends from a cheeseboard to make Potted Cheese.

For the Potted Chicken recipe I’m sharing today, I almost always use leftover roast chicken. Easy and delicious, I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

POTTED CHICKEN: GETTING THE MOST FROM A ROASTED BIRD

As there’s just two of us in our house, a roasted chicken will be stretched to make several meals. The legs and wings might be first to go, eaten with potatoes roasted around the bird and, depending on the season, salad or hot vegetables and gravy. The breasts and any remaining carcass meat might end up in a pasty, Italian-style croquettes, a hearty stew, or an unusual white chilli. Bones and trimmings will often go to make chicken stock for the freezer.

For my Potted Chicken you’ll need 250 grams of cooked, boneless chicken. For the batch pictured in this post, I used one breast plus the carcass pickings from a free-range bird that was just over 2 kilos in weight. If you don’t have leftover chicken, then you could gently poach some breasts instead.

You only need a handful more ingredients:

Butter. Apart from the chicken, this is the most important ingredient. It’s butter that will give richness and spread-ability. If you want to make a smaller or larger amount of Potted Chicken than that shown in the recipe card at the end, then a good rule of thumb is to use half the weight of butter to chicken. So, for 250 grams of chicken you’ll need 125 grams of butter.
Tarragon. This faintly aniseedy herb is a classic partner to chicken, But if you don’t like or can’t get it, you could swap in another herb like chives, parsley or a small amount of thyme leaves.
Garlic. Just one clove is sufficient to give a subtle rather than overpowering garlic flavour.
Lemon zest. This gives a nice acidic lift to the rich mix.
Salt & Pepper. Obviously!

For the optional topping:

You’ll need extra butter, plus more tarragon and black pepper if liked. Traditionally, the butter layer on potted meats would be clarified as it keeps for longer. Although that’s not relevant to my version, I still recommend clarified butter for the topping for an improved appearance. As we’ll see, it’s easy to make. However, it does involve a little wastage so it’s up to you whether to clarify or not.

EASY POTTED CHICKEN

I reckon it takes less than 10 minutes to mix up Potted Chicken with Tarragon, Garlic & Lemon. I’m assuming here that you have a food processor. Mixing by hand will take a little longer, but not much. I’ve given instructions for both in the recipe card.

Start by putting the roughly chopped or torn chicken in a food processor. Whizz it very briefly just to start breaking it down. Then, in a small saucepan heat together the butter, garlic and lemon zest. Just until the butter melts. This takes the raw edge off the flavourings without really cooking them. Pour the butter into the processor, season with a little salt and pepper, then whizz to combine. It’s up to you whether you go for a completely smooth or slightly chunky texture.

Because I think it looks much nicer with the fresh herbs still discernible, I transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the chopped tarragon leaves. Then I check the seasoning, adding more salt and/or pepper if needed.

Your Potted Chicken is now ready to pot up. I find it’s just right for filling three of my cute little 125 ml Kilner jars. But you could divide it into however many portions (4 – 6) you want to serve it as. For these, individual small ramekins or other little pots are great. Or you could put it all in a small (450 ml / 1lb) loaf tin. Whichever you choose, if you want to be able to turn it out later then line the containers with cling film first.

Smooth the tops and, if you’re going to be adding the butter topping, make sure you don’t fill the pots right up to the rim.

ADDING THE CLARIFIED BUTTER TOPPING

In all circumstances, I think Potted Chicken is best left for a little while to allow the flavours to meld. For safety reasons, do this in the fridge. If you’re going to add the butter topping, then you must chill it for 30 minutes. Otherwise, especially in warm weather, the top and bottom layers could merge. Longer than half an hour is fine too if that’s more convenient.

To make the clarified butter, all you do is gently melt 75 grams in a small saucepan then take it off the heat. After a few minutes you should see that the white milk solids have sunk to the bottom.

Pour off the golden liquid into a little jug or similar, discarding the milk solids. Originally, this would be because the solids go off more quickly. But I do it because it looks more appetizing. To avoid waste, just melt the butter without clarifying it, but accept you’ll get little white specks over the top.

Pour the butter, clarified or not, over the chilled Potted Chicken. This is where you discover whether you smoothed the tops evenly! Before putting it back in the fridge to set, I sprinkle over a little more chopped tarragon and a grind of black pepper.

SERVING & STORING POTTED CHICKEN

Potted Chicken will taste much nicer and be easier to spread if you take it out of the fridge a little while before you want to eat it. Depending on room temperature, say 20 – 30 minutes in advance. Covered, it should be fine in the fridge for 2 – 3 days. Although I haven’t tried freezing it, feedback on my other potted meats suggests it should be fine frozen.

To serve, all you need is good bread, toasted or not, or perhaps some crackers like my Easy Homemade Crackers or Scottish Oatcakes. In this post, you see it served on my Dark Rye Bread and also toasted no-knead Bloomer Bread. Add some crunchy veg or pickles alongside if you like.

However you eat it, I hope you’ll love the subtle garlic, lemon and herb flavours coming through the buttery chicken spread. With such simple ingredients, and the herbs adaptable to your own taste, you might be surprised at just how good easy Potted Chicken can be.

IF YOU’VE TRIED THIS RECIPE, I’D LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT. PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT & RATING.

5 from 2 votes