Chicken, Cabbage and Carrot Bake

I recently came into possession of two small heads of cabbage. That's about two more cabbages than I know what to do with. So I applied my google-fu and came up with this recipe: Cabbage-Carrot Casserole. It looked like a winner, and was already fairly keto-friendly.

I also had about two pounds of chicken breast that needed using, so I decided to turn the casserole into a Chicken, Cabbage and Carrot...Bake. For lack of a better description.

I did use some flour in the recipe. With the small amount that I used it's probably/possibly not even worth it. I'm not convinced it did much to thicken the entire sauce, but the carbs from the flour were so small that I decided "screw it" and added it anyways. If you have a keto friendly thickener, that would obviously be a better choice.

This dish is a bit heavier in carbs than I'm used to, but I found that the two servings I ate (totaling 8.5 g net carbs) were pretty satisfying. You could also reduce/replace the carrot or make any number of alterations to suit your fancy.

I've included a text version of this recipe for those who enjoy copy/pasting and an image version for those who like pictures. The image-recipe has a more detailed nutrition breakdown of the individual ingredients. And for those who are into micronutrients, I have a detailed breakdown here.

Per serving (1/8 of the recipe): 240 calories, 6.1 g carbs, 1.8 g fiber, 4.3 g net carbs, 16.3 g fat, 17.2 g protein

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp lard / butter / oil
• 2 large chicken breasts
• chicken stock (optional)
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1/2 small cabbage, shredded
• 5 small cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp flour
• 5 Tbsp heavy cream
• 2 oz cheese (I used cheddar)
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. On the stove, heat up 2 Tbsp lard in a an oven-safe pot. Once nice and hot, lay 2 well-salted chicken breasts (mine totalled 550g), skin side down in the pan. They should sizzle and pop. Let cook until skin is crisp, then flip over. Pour in enough chicken stock or water to go halfway up the chicken (don't cover the crisp skin!). Let that simmer. By the time it's boiled down to a thick liquid the chicken should be cooked. Remove the chicken to a bowl (so you can collect any extra juices) but keep as much of the juices in the pan as you can.


2. Add to the pot 1 large chopped carrot (mine was 220g), a lot of shredded cabbage (mine was about 300g), and 5 small/medium cloves of garlic. Mix it all up in the chicken'y juices and add enough water to steam the veggies until soft. Start with 1/3 cup water and keep checking back to make sure it's not too soupy/burning. Use a lid to steam it faster. You're aiming for something between a saute and a boil, leaning heavily towards the saute side.


3. Meanwhile, shred/chop/whatever your chicken. I do this in the bowl they were resting in so I lose as little juice as possible.


4.  Once veggies are soft, scoot them to the side of the pot (or take it out if you don't care about juice loss - I'm all about the juices) and melt 1/2 tbsp butter in the vacant spot. Add 1 tsp flour to the butter and consistently stir for about a minute to make a little roux. Then add a mixture 2 Tbsp cream and 2 Tbsp water to the roux and stir until it starts to thicken. Add the other 3 Tbsp cream and keep mixing until it thickens again. At this point you can add some more water if you'd like to thin it back out. Keep in mind that it will boil down a bit in the oven.


5. Now add your chicken and all its juices back to the pot of veggie matter and mix. Shred in 2 oz of cheddar cheese and mix again. Taste it. Does it need salt? Pepper? Some other seasoning or herb you think would be tasty? Now is your last chance.


6. Gently press the whole concoction flat and put it in the oven (350F/175C) for 20-30 minutes.


7. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before eating. Or eat it right away and burn your mouth with the delicious flavors.