One-Pot Victory Garden Smash with Chicken and Caramelized Onion Cream Sauce

My garden is going crazy, and because I enjoy forced productivity in the kitchen, I also subscribe to a small CSA. So I have a ton of veggies. By loading myself up with veggies, it makes me want to use them up so that nothing goes to waste, which encourages me to cook more, which I like doing anyway, obviously.

This year I have a particularly big garden, and my excuse is that it’s a victory garden and if it gets to be too much, I’ll just share with my neighbors, easy peasy!

My Victory Garden smash is a way to use up your keto-friendly veggies in a really delicious way. You start by cooking bacon, and the rest of this one-pot (skillet) meal cooks in the bacon grease, starting with the chicken, and then the onions. Then you scrape up all the tasty stuck-on flavor, and cook it into the veggies, and create a nice creamy sauce with heavy cream and parmesan at the end. It’s delicious!

I’m not including nutrition for this one, because it’s built to be adaptable to whatever you have (I wouldn’t use hard root veggies like carrots, though). I will say that it’s slightly advanced in that you have to have a basic understanding of the veggies you’re about to cook, how long they usually cook, and if they will taste OK together. When you get to the part where you’re throwing in the veggies, consider that softer items like tomatoes and kale, could be added at the end.

If you want to follow my lead, I’ll certainly share what I used this time, which you see in the photo: I used two types of squash (patty pan and kousa), wax beans, a tomato, and some kale. The squash and beans went in first, then I added the tomato in the middle, and the kale at the end. For the herbs, I used sage, thyme, and rosemary.

One-Pot Victory Garden Smash with Chicken and Caramelized Onion Cream Sauce

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 12 chicken tenderloins
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped herbs (I used thyme, sage, and rosemary)
• 12 oz bacon
• 1 cup chopped onions, reserving 2 tbsp chopped greens if available as a garnish
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup chicken bone broth or stock
• 3-4 cups of chopped veggies (depending on the size of your skillet) —I used: 1 small patty pan squash, 1 small kousa squash,1 handful of wax beans (whole but trimmed), 1 small tomato, 1 handful of chopped kale.
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Toss your chicken tenderloins with 1 tbsp olive oil, fresh cut herbs, and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
2. Using your largest skillet, cook your bacon over medium heat until crisp. Then, remove the bacon to a paper towel, but leave the grease in the pan.
3. Arrange chicken tenderloins in skillet, and brown over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side. If they’re particularly thick tenderloins, you can do this covered for half the time, though they do not need to cook completely through in this first round. Remove and set aside.
4. Add chopped onions to the skillet, and when the skillet begins to dry out, add up to two tablespoons of butter. Cook for about 5 minutes or until soft, then add broth and scrape the bottom of the skillet to get up all the flavor into the onions. Simmer for an additional 3 minutes until the broth is reduced slightly and is slightly thickened.
5. Add chicken and veggies (softer veggies you can stagger the timing, like throwing tomatoes and kale in at the end.) Shuffle every so often. Cook covered for about 3 minutes, then uncovered until the liquid is mostly dissolved (about 10 minutes) and is thick.
6. Add heavy cream and bring to a simmer, then add Parmesan slowly (you can use less if you started with less liquid in the pan before the heavy cream), top with crispy crumbled bacon, and enjoy!

Note: In the last step, if you have more water-rich veggies, it’s possible you might have a lot of liquid in the end. In this case, you may need to reduce the amount of heavy cream you add, or increase the amount of parmesan cheese used to thicken it. I’d recommend not using more than one item in the mix (such as one small tomato).

One-Pot Victory Garden Smash with Chicken and Caramelized Onion Cream Sauce

★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

This one-pot meal helps you enjoy the bounty of your garden in a keto-friendly way, in a light cream sauce. It’s completely adaptable to whatever is currently fresh in your garden that you want to use in a delicious way!

• Author: Amanda C. Hughes
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 12 chicken tenderloins
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped herbs (I used thyme, sage, and rosemary)
• 12 oz bacon
• 1 cup chopped onions, reserving 2 tbsp chopped greens if available as a garnish
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup chicken bone broth or stock
• 3–4 cups of chopped veggies (depending on the size of your skillet) —I used: 1 small patty pan squash, 1 small kousa squash,1 handful of wax beans (whole but trimmed), 1 small tomato, 1 handful of chopped kale.
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Toss your chicken tenderloins with 1 tbsp olive oil, fresh cut herbs, and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
2. Using your largest skillet, cook your bacon over medium heat until crisp. Then, remove the bacon to a paper towel, but leave the grease in the pan.
3. Arrange chicken tenderloins in skillet, and brown over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side. If they’re particularly thick tenderloins, you can do this covered for half the time, though they do not need to cook completely through in this first round. Remove and set aside.
4. Add chopped onions to the skillet, and when the skillet begins to dry out, add up to two tablespoons of butter. Cook for about 5 minutes or until soft, then add broth and scrape the bottom of the skillet to get up all the flavor into the onions. Simmer for an additional 3 minutes until the broth is reduced slightly and is slightly thickened.
5. Add chicken and veggies (softer veggies you can stagger the timing, like throwing tomatoes and kale in at the end.) Shuffle every so often. Cook covered for about 3 minutes, then uncovered until the liquid is mostly dissolved (about 10 minutes) and is thick. 
6. Add heavy cream and bring to a simmer, then add Parmesan slowly (you can use less if you started with less liquid in the pan before the heavy cream), top with crispy crumbled bacon, and enjoy!

Notes

Note: In the last step, if you have more water-rich veggies, it’s possible you might have a lot of liquid in the end. In this case, you may need to reduce the amount of heavy cream you add, or increase the amount of parmesan cheese used to thicken it. I’d recommend not using more than one item in the mix (such as one small tomato). 

Keywords: victory garden, one pot meal, easy keto meal, keto chicken dish, summer keto recipe, garden keto recipe,