The Perfect Roast Chicken - Includes a Step by Step Guide to Brining (Turkey or Chicken!!)

This may just be the perfect Sunday dinner. Juicy, tender chicken with homemade gravy and a plate reminiscent of Thanksgiving - mashed potatoes, veggies and stuffing.
Roasting a chicken can seem intimidating - there are so many decisions. Brine or no? Stuff or not? What to season it with? Roast in a bag or not? And how to make gravy without lumps? 
I am going to take you through it step by step, and I'll make all the decisions for you. Honestly, it's easy. As long as you plan ahead so you have enough time to make and cool your brine, the steps are really simple. 
In this post I share details of each step with pictures, but just so you don't get overwhelmed, here is a simple, sample timeline. At the end of this post I'll give you easy to read, step by step instructions. 
Based on Sunday Dinner, adjust as needed: (this can be used for Turkey, too!!!)  - Friday night: make and chill the brine  - Saturday morning: add the chicken to the brine   - Saturday night: remove the chicken from the brine and dry it in the fridge overnight  - Sunday, 4 hours before you plan on eating: season and stuff the bird, truss and cook. 

So yes, I did decide to brine for the first time ever and now I will ALWAYS brine! Why? The skin was crispier, the chicken was juicier, and the overall flavor was out of this world.  (note - if you buy a Kosher chicken it has already been brined). 

I did a lot of research on brines before making my own, and I decided to go with the advice of Chef Daniel Boulud and use a boiled brine that you chill as well as the drying method. If he can charge $75 a plate for his brined chicken, I'm sure his method has to produce some darn good chicken.  

Basically you bring your water and salt mixture to a boil (1 c salt to 1 gallon water). Adding sugar and other spices/herbs is optional, but I recommend doing it to maximize the flavors the brine will add. Once boiled, it is important to completely cool your brine. Putting your chicken into a warm bath to sit for 12 hours will just breed bacteria. So give yourself the time and completely chill the brine (use my timeline above).  

I brined the chicken for 12 hours. After that, I dried it and set it on a serving tray to dry in the fridge. This is something I hadn't heard of before, but Boulud says that it "really helps improve the purity of a chicken’s flavor and, especially, the crispness of its skin." I was a bit freaked out about leaving an uncovered chicken in my fridge overnight so I used my garage fridge which only holds beer and water :) 

On Sunday morning it was time to finish prepping the chicken by adding more flavor. I always stuff my turkey with herbs and garlic, so it was a no brainer to do it with the chicken, too. I chose fresh thyme, chunks of lemon, onions and garlic. I often add sage and rosemary, too.  Flavoring the skin and meat is important too. Make a mixture of butter (or oil), garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper. Use your fingers to gently lift the skin so you can season the meat. Be generous with it! You'll also want to season the skin. 

The final step is trussing the chicken, and I really like this tutorial. A woman behind the butcher's counter at the supermarket tried to tell me that you only need to tie the legs together, but following this tutorial helps to keep everything tucked in nice and tight. 

Put that bird on a roasting rack in a roasting pan that has been layered with carrots and onions. Feel free to add celery, garlic, or any other aromatics that you like. This is what is going to help flavor your gravy. If you don't plan on making mashed potatoes, throw some potato chunks in there too for amazing roasted potatoes. 
I like the high heat method of cooking chicken to get golden brown, crispy skin. Start your bird on 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, and then lower it to 350 degrees for the remainder. Plan on 20 minutes per pound. 
To summarize all of that, here is a timeline based on Sunday Dinner:  - Friday night: make and chill the brine  - Saturday morning: add the chicken to the brine   - Saturday night: remove the chicken from the brine and dry it in the fridge overnight  - Sunday, 4 hours before you plan on eating: season and stuff the bird, truss and cook. 
Look at this beauty!!! Is that a perfect chicken or what?? 

When you take the chicken out of the oven, you'll want to let it rest for at least 20 minutes before carving. In that time you can make the perfect gravy - I share my recipe below which is a spin on my husband's recipe from his mom. Creamy, lump-free and perfect every time!

Gorgeous. Mouth watering. The perfect Sunday meal. 

Whole Roast Chicken Based on a 7-8 lb chicken
Step 1 - The Brine

• 1 gallon of cold water
• 1 c salt
• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 Tbsp black peppercorns
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme

In a pot large enough to hold your chicken, combine the water, salt and sugar and stir until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Let cool to room temperature and then cover and transfer to your fridge to chill overnight. 

24 - 30 hours before your planned dinner, add the chicken to the brine. Keep in the fridge for 12-16 hours. 

Step 2 - Drying the Chicken

Remove the chicken from the brine and pat it dry. Transfer to a large plate and place in the fridge, uncovered, for 12 hours. 

Step 3 - Stuffing and Seasoning the Chicken

• 1 lemon, roughly chopped
• A few sprigs each of fresh herbs - thyme, sage, rosemary
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/2 of a white onion, roughly chopped

Put all of the above ingredients in the cavity of the bird. 

• 1/2 c olive oil (or 4 Tbsp butter, softened)
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 Tbsp black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed/crushed
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (same as what you use to stuff the chicken)

Combine the above ingredients. Gently lift the chicken's skin and apply the mixture directly to the flesh of the breasts. 

Additionally, brush your bird with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 

Step 4 - Trussing the Chicken

Follow these steps: 

• With the breast meat facing up, tuck the wings under the shoulders
• Place a long piece kitchen twine across the breast and using both hands, flip the chicken over. 
• Tie the twine
• Flip the chicken back over
• Using your right hand only, wrap the twine around the smallest part of the drumstick two times (I'd call it the ankle :). Repeat with the left side.
• Tie the twine tightly so the legs close over the cavity. Now we're all trussed up with somewhere to go!

Step 5 - Cooking the Chicken

• 4 carrots, chopped into chunks
• 1 onion, chopped into chunks
• Other optional ingredients: cloves of garlic, celery, potatoes - all roughly chopped. 
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Toss the veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper and place in the bottom of your roasting pan.  Place the chicken on a rack in the roasting pan. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and cook 20 minutes per pound, until the internal temperature reaches 180 (breast) and 190 (thigh). Another way to test is to cut between the leg and the thigh and see if the juices run clear. 

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board (make sure it has a well, the chicken will leak!) and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the veggies to a serving bowl. 

The Gravy

• 1 c plus 2 Tbsp water or chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp flour

Place your flour in a bowl leaving a well in the center. Slowly add 1 c of the liquid, whisking as you add. 

Place your roasting pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the 2 Tbsp of liquid, whisking it around the pan as you scrape up all the good brown bits. 

Slowly add the flour/liquid mixture - just a bit at a time - whisking constantly. Continue adding until you have the consistency you want. Season with salt and pepper, if needed. 

If it is too thick, add more liquid. If it is too thin, make another flour/liquid mixture and continue to add it until you have the gravy you desire. 

Weeknight Chicken Marsala

You can have rich, delicious, juicy Chicken Marsala on the table in 25 minutes! This is a great weeknight meal that will make your family think you cooked for an hour.

To save even more time, dice your onions, slice your mushrooms, and trim and pound your chicken ahead of time. I love having the prep done so when I get home I can just grab my ingredients and get cooking. Some mornings I'll even put my pots/pans on the stove and get out my tongs and cooking utensils. Every little bit helps.

I love the semi-sweet but earthy sauce that coats the chicken. Although this is a chicken dish, I prefer to use beef broth for a richer sauce.

Chicken Marsala doesn't have to be something you order in restaurants or something you spend an hour making. Try this weeknight Chicken Marsala the next time you need a quick and easy weeknight meal.

Weeknight Chicken Marsala
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients (to serve 3-4 people)

• 3 chicken breasts, cut in half and pounded to 1/4-1/2 inch thin
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground sage
• 1/2 c all-purpose flour in a Ziploc bag. 
• 3 Tbsp butter, separated
• 1 Tbsp olive oil, separated
• 1 c mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 sm white onion, diced
• 1/4 Marsala wine or Marsala cooking wine
• 3/4 c beef broth 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Season your chicken with salt, pepper and sage. Add the chicken to the flour bag and shake until coated. 
• Heat 1 Tbsp butter and half of the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Shake the excess flour from the chicken and add it to the pan. 
• Cook 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown. Transfer to an oven-safe dish and put in the oven until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees (probably 7-10 minutes depending on your thickness).
• Add the remaining butter and oil to the pan the chicken cooked in. Add the onions and mushrooms and saute 6 minutes. 
• Add the Marsala wine and stir; let simmer, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes to cook off some of the alcohol and reduce the wine. 
• Add the beef broth and stir. Taste and adjust s&p. 
• Return the cooked chicken to the pan and let simmer 1 minutes. 
• Serve with pasta, noodles, mashed potatoes, rice, or roasted potatoes (or whatever you prefer!). 

Celebrating 10 Years with our Best Recipes

Today Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations turns the big 1-0!! Ten years of sharing recipes from my kitchen - I can't believe it!

It's funny to think back on how much has changed in ten years both with this blog and with me personally. When I look back through the blog year by year I can remember things happening in my life by the way I was cooking and the food I would make. Kind of like when you hear an old song and it brings back a memory. My food brings back so many memories of times in my life. Oh how things have changed! Ten years ago we were both in our early 30s -

Ten years ago I had never cooked risotto. I had never baked something that didn't come in a box. Believe it or not, I had never worked with bone-in chicken (except that one time I made chicken soup from scratch in high school). There were so many dishes and ingredients I hadn't heard of, or wasn't brave enough to try. I (thought) I loathed mushrooms and blue cheese and eggs. Things like homemade tomato sauce, pan sauces, homemade frosting and whipped cream did not exist in my kitchen. And my knife skills? None. I still used to put my index finger along the top of my cheap knives.

But then after being married for about three years, I took an interest in cooking, mostly because both my husband and I were getting sick of tacos, stuffed peppers, pepper steak, and cheese nip chicken. Sadly, that's about all we ate when we were both home... Thank goodness for work travel!

When I first jumped into really cooking, I immediately discovered that I did not enjoy measuring and preferred to go by taste, look, and smell. I soon started to read recipes and decide what I'd change before even trying the recipe. I had some failures and some successes, and learned a LOT along the way. Weekly I was trying at least 2-3 new recipes, and Saturday nights were dedicated to date nights at home where we'd cook something new and fancy together (yes, my husband is an awesome cook and loves being in the kitchen whenever he can!). I don't think we ate the same thing more than twice for at least 2 years because I was in love with experimenting and creating new recipes. That is when I decided to start this blog - it was really just a way to keep track of recipes. I had no idea where it would take me.

During those first few years, favorites were discovered and put on rotation, however I never lost that love of creating new recipes. Over the years my food has evolved to suit our lifestyle, and these days, instead of spending hours on one recipe, I focus a lot more meals to feed my family. Although every now and then I do get a full day in the kitchen and love it!!

Writing this blog has taught me and brought me so much more than just cooking.

Entertaining and planning menus is one of my favorite things to do. I love sitting with my notebook writing out ideas and I totally appreciate that my husband lets me run them by him a million times. Luckily he enjoys it too, and we love creating holiday menus together. We often start talking about Christmas months before the big day!

Photography has also become a hobby of mine. I know I still have a lot to learn and hope to find the time to take some classes soon, but on my own I can see much improvement. Those early food pics were pretty homely, as my husband would say! (so please, as I share some old recipes below, be mindful of that :)

And finally, it's crazy to think that I wasn't even on Facebook when I started this blog. There was no such thing as Twitter, Instagram, Yummly, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc. I could go on and on! It has been fun connecting with people through those platforms and learning the best ways to use them to connect with all of you (and meanwhile my 6 year old sees a logo and knows what social media platform it belongs to - it's like second nature to them!).

Since my life and this blog are completely entwined, I can't help but think of how my personal life has changed over the past ten years. Ten years ago I was in my early 30s, married almost 4 years and working in the corporate world, traveling the country (and world) for pharmaceutical and medical meetings. After the birth of my daughter I decided to move on from that life, and now I consider myself very lucky that I am able to work part-time for now so I can be there for the school bus, school events, and extracurricular activities with my amazing 6 year old daughter.  Ten years ago I wasn't even thinking of kids yet, and now this little one is almost 7! How awesome is it that she loves to get in the kitchen with me and we can pretty much get her to try (almost) anything. Most recently she tried mussels and loved them! She's an energetic little girl and keeps us on on toes - our little first grader who loves acting, dancing, cooking, singing, playing outside, reading, writing, making lists, playing games and telling jokes. Things haven't always been easy over the past ten years - although blessed to be in our forever home, it has been a continuous work in progress and it always seem like something is going wrong or breaking. We have both dealt with unemployment, secondary infertility, pregnancy losses, and the death of our first dog, Daisy Mae. During all of those times, I always turned to cooking as my therapy. Family and cooking have been my one constant through all of these ten years. 
So take a trip down memory lane with me as I share my most popular and/or favorite recipes. These are recipes that have been shared the most, liked the most, and recipes that have been favorites of my family. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My top post of all-time comes from May of 2008 - Time for a Party. In this post I shared a menu for a party including this recipe for tortilla pinwheels, and now I see them pinned all over Pinterest. They are a hit! I take them to every party and get asked for the recipe several times at each party. Sometimes simple is the best! 

My husband has contributed several recipes, desserts, and wine reviews to this blog. Two of his recipes are in my top searched, pinned and shared recipes! He loves making this Maine Lobster Stew, has made it for the last 2 years on Christmas, and is always looking for excuses to make it again. I'll take credit for helping with the plating and taking the photos. 

Another recipe of his that sends a lot of people to this blog through searches is his Beef Negimaki. After ordering it several times at our local sushi place he decided to make it on his own. We both agreed it was even better than the restaurant's! Since this post is from 2009 the pic isn't great, but what I do love about this post are the step by step photo instructions for cutting and rolling the beef. 

My top breakfast post of all time, and one that I make often, is a grab and go breakfast - Egg Muffins for Breakfast-on-the-Go. 

I'm so happy that this next recipe is in my top ten of all time because it is one of my favorites - Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with a Lemon-Garlic Aioli. "Too hot to cook" and "grilled chicken salads" are both so commonly searched, and lead my followers to this post for Yakitori Chicken with Cold Veggie and Soba Noodle Bowls. This is one of my top chicken recipes as well as a top salad recipe. 

With close to 200 chicken recipes in this blog, it was really, really hard to narrow it down to my favorite. I have so many, from this French Onion Braised Chicken and this Gruyere Chicken with Mushrooms, to Shredded Chicken with Chiles and Chicken and Dumplings. I finally chose a popular recipe, and it is fitting that it is a bone-in recipe - Garlic Herb Roast Chicken with Vegetables. 

Soups are cooked in my kitchen once a week over the cool and cold months, so with over 80 soup recipes in this blog it is hard to choose a favorite. This Potato and Corn Chowder with Bacon is one of my most popular, and it is one of my favorites because it is so hearty and well, bacon!

It's funny that ten years ago I had never made risotto, and now I have over 20 risotto recipes on this blog. Risotto is in my top ten search words, so I picked one of my favorites for this anniversary post - Three Garlic Risotto. I have been making this one for years (it was probably one of the first risotto recipes I ever made!) but finally just blogged it recently. 

Still, after ten years of doing this, I only use my crock-pot for shredded/pulled chicken, pork or beef. My top slow cooker and top pulled pork recipe is this amazing Guinness Pulled Pork. I'm so happy it gets so much love because it definitely gets a lot of love in this house! Korean Pulled Pork Tacos

My personal favorite pulled pork recipe is the pork for these Korean Pulled Pork Tacos. These are pretty popular on Pinterest, too! 

And sticking with the pork theme, this Stuffed Pork Loin with a Mushroom Wine Gravy is one of my most popular posts. It is a great recipe, perfect for holidays or entertaining, and the tutorial for cutting and rolling the pork is spot-on. This post, and the picture, are from 2008 - 

This is a newer recipe and it quickly became my second most popular appetizer - Cheesy BLT Stuffed Jalapenos, and it is easy to see why. Look how yummy! 

Let's finish this off on a sweet note! I don't bake that often - my husband is actually the baker in the house. This cake recipe has become a favorite of both of ours, and is my most popular dessert recipe on the blog - Philly Fluff Cake. 

Thank you to all of my readers and followers for making the last 10 years possible. I have enjoyed sharing and learning with all of you, and I appreciate all of your comments, likes and shares. I look forward to continuing this journey in my kitchen and with this blog, and hope you will be there with me! Thank you!

Classic Chicken Pot Pie

Classic Chicken Pot Pie - comforting, traditional home cooking from scratch. 

When Jon and I got married I really didn't cook much at all. I was a vegetarian at the time, so I had the tofu and vegetable stir fry meals perfected, and could make stuffed peppers and tacos using both real and "fake" ground meat, but that was about it.  Jon loves to tell the story of the first time we hosted dinner for friends and I decided to make a roast pork tenderloin. I wanted to infuse it with some garlic flavor, so instead of marinating or rubbing it, I decided to put full cloves of garlic in the pork. Well, that's fine and all, but I didn't push the cloves all the way in, so they were all sticking up all over the pork. Jon jokes that I made porcupine pork.  Not my proudest moment, but I was inspired to learn more and keep trying. I started reading recipes like crazy, but never liked to cook from them exactly, not even the first time making something new. That is what started my love of experimenting and cooking, and is a big part of why I don't like to bake - too much measuring!! I'd rather wing it and go on flavors.  I started this blog almost 10 years ago when I was still very much a beginner. I look back at some of my recipes from 10 years ago and besides being horrified at the pictures, they make me laugh but also smile because I see how much I have learned. And I'm so glad that I truly LOVE to cook and that my daughter thinks I am the best cook ever :)  It is for that reason that I have started to revisit some of my much older posts not only to take updated pictures, but to make some changes to the recipes. Most recently I updated a Chicken Pot Pie recipe. 

Chicken Pot Pie is such a comforting and traditional dish. And really, it's not that hard to make, even completely from scratch. Ok, I can't lie - you know that I didn't make the crust from scratch. But with so many good store bought pie crusts out there, I don't see a reason. What is important to me is a good stock as the base. You won't find any cream soups in this recipe. 

So here it is - my updated Classic Chicken Pot Pie based on my old adaptation of a Martha Stewart Recipe. 

Don't be overwhelmed by the list of ingredients and steps. I'll break it down like this for you -  Step 1 - cook your chicken which also is the stock making step.  Step 2 - chop and saute your veggies.

Step 3 - add liquid to make the sauce.  Step 4 - put in a dish, cover with pie crust and bake. Enjoy!!!

One final tip before we get to the recipe. Look at that picture above - see how some of the sauce bubbles out and down the sides of the dish? To avoid making a total mess of your oven, place a large piece of foil or a cookie sheet on the rack below the rack the pot pie is on to catch any drips. 

Classic Chicken Pot Pie Loosely adapted from Martha Stewart Ingredients
For Step 1: 

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stalk of celery cut into chunks
• 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 2 c low sodium chicken broth
• 1 c water

For Step 2: 

• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 brown Russet potato, diced into small bit sized pieces (if you do this ahead of time, just store the diced potatoes in a bowl covered with water)
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced (same size and potato pieces)
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 large white mushrooms, chopped
• 1/4 c frozen corn
• 1/4 c frozen peas
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

For Step 3: 

• 4 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups of reserved stock (from step one, cooking the chicken)
• 1/2 c heavy cream

For Step 4: 

• 1 refrigerated pie crust

Directions

• Step 1: Place the chicken in a pot with the thyme, peppercorns, bay leaves, celery, onion, pinch each of salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and then add water slowly until your chicken is just covered. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until the chicken is cooked through (180 degrees), about 15-20 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. Pour the contents of the pot through a colander into another pot; discard what is left in the colander and reserve the stock. Cut chicken into bite sized cubes.
• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 
• Step 2: Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Add the potatoes and saute for 5 minutes, until turning translucent. Add the carrots, red pepper and onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, peas and corn and stir. Season with salt and pepper. 
• Step 3: Add the flour to the pan and stir, coating all of the veggies. Slowly add the stock, stirring as you add it to thicken the sauce. The slower you add the sauce, the thicker you will be able to make your sauce. Once you have added all of the stock, add the cream and stir. Bring to a simmer, stirring often, and let simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken. 
• Step 4: Transfer the chicken-veggie mixture to a deep dish pie plate. Top with the pie crust, cutting off anything hanging over the edges. Cut a few slits in the top. Bake until the crust is golden, about 30 minutes. Make sure you put a piece of foil or a cookie sheet on the rack below the pie as it may bubble over. 
• Let the pot pie sit for several minutes before serving. 
• Tip: makes great leftovers! 

Oven Baked Chicken Burritos in a Creamy and Cheesy Roasted Jalapeno Sauce

Easy shredded chicken in the crockpot for oven-baked burritos topped with an out-of-this-world creamy and cheesy roasted jalapeno sauce

I love enchiladas and could probably eat them daily. The soft tortillas, different fillings, all smothered in a delicious sauce.. I think it's the sauce that gets me. I'm not the biggest burrito fan because of the lack of sauce, so when I spotted a recipe for smothered burritos I was all over it. 

This recipe is SO easy because your chicken cooks in the crockpot all day, so it's really just making the sauce (which can be done in advance) and then assembling the burritos and baking them. This is definitely easy enough for a weeknight.

The original recipe called for canned green chiles for the sauce, but I really prefer the smoky and fresh flavor from roasted jalapenos. The canned ones tend to be a bit tangy, in my opinion. If you have a gas cooktop it's really easy to roast your own jalapenos. Alternatively you could char them on an outdoor grill or even a fire pit. All you need is open flame. 

My advice - make extra!!! These were so, so good that I was so excited to have leftovers the next day. The chicken was so tender and flavorful. The tortillas were nicely crisped in the oven, and the sauce MADE these burritos. Smoky and full of a subtle heat, creamy, salty and just spoon-licking good. Seriously, I was licking the spoon. And leftover sauce is the perfect nacho topping! 

I will absolutely be adding these to my rotation... you should too!


Oven-Baked Chicken Burritos in a Creamy & Cheesy Roasted Jalapeno Sauce
Loosely Adapted from: Carlsbad Cravings

Shredded Chicken Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 c salsa (I prefer hot, mild or medium would work too)
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 jalapenos, chopped
• 1 14.5 can diced tomatoes with their juices
• 1 Tbsp each: chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano
• 1 tsp each salt, black pepper, chipotle chili powder

Shredded Chicken Directions

• Rub chicken with olive oil and place in the bottom of your crockpot
• Add the salsa, brown sugar, jalapenos, tomatoes, and all spices
• Cook on high 2-4 hours or low 6-7 hours until chicken is cooked through. 
• Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and shred with 2 forks OR use your stand mixer to shred chicken on low speed (my favorite use for my KitchenAid mixer!)
• Return chicken to the crockpot and keep warm until ready to assemble burritos.

Creamy Roasted Jalapeno Sauce Ingredients

• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 2 c low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp each salt, black pepper, cumin
• 1/2 c sour cream
• 1/2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Hot sauce to taste (optional)

Creamy Roasted Jalapeno Sauce Directions

• Roast your jalapenos - place the jalapenos over an open flame until all of the skin is completely charred. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. After 10-15 minutes, peel off the charred skin (you may want to wear gloves!). Cut off the top of each jalapeno and slice down one side to open the jalapeno flat. Scrape away the seeds and then chop the jalapenos.
• Heat olive oil and butter in a sauce pan. 
• Whisk in the flour and stir until combined and slightly bubbling, about 3 minutes
• Lower the heat to medium and slowly whisk in the chicken broth and add the spices. Continue to stir for about 3 minutes. 
• Remove from heat and stir in the chopped jalapenos, sour cream and cheese. Taste and add hot sauce if you want more heat. 
• You can make this a day in advance and then slowly reheat it on low, stirring often, when you are ready to make your burritos.

The Burritos

• 4-6 flour tortillas (burrito size)
• 1 c shredded cheddar cheese
• Cooking Spray
• Toppings (tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, etc)

• Line a cookie sheet with foil and top with cooling racks.
• Fill your burrito with chicken (drain the chicken from the liquid first, or just use tongs to pull out the chicken - you don't want liquid in your burrito), top with some cheese, and roll by folding in the sides and rolling as you continue to tuck in the sides. Place seam side down and spray with cooking spray (both sides).
• Cook on 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Turn on the broiler at the end to quickly crisp; flip burritos over and crisp other side. 
• Serve topped with the warm sauce and toppings.