Chicken Hot Pot- NOT Pot Pie

by Christa Upton
(South Dakota)

Chicken Hot Pot-Not Pot Pie

Recipe 45 in the Solar Hot Pot

Chicken Hot Pot- NOT Pot Pie

Our son helped me name this recipe. It’s fun to say. LOL

So I’m hoping this will end up tasting a little like chicken pot pie, only I’m going to forgo the pie and make it hearty with potatoes instead. (smile) Once again, we are making a double recipe in 2 Solar Hot Pots--really helps out with meals later in the week!!!

10:15 am—1 T olive oil: into pot, cover, set up facing the sun, set timer for 15 minutes.

Then prep: cut up about 1 lb. boneless raw chicken (or cut chicken off the bone) into small pieces

10:30 am—1 lb. small chicken chunks: quickly add and stir into oil, cover, set timer for 30 minutes.

Then prep:

1/4 of a medium onion (chop finely)
2 carrots (chop finely)
1 stalk celery (chop finely)
4-5 mushrooms (slice thinly)
3 very small potatoes (chop into very small pieces)
1/2 can green beans, drained (or frozen, completely thawed)
1/2 c. canned peas (or frozen peas that have been thawed)
1 t. parsley (sprinkle on veggies)
1 t. sage (sprinkle on veggies)
1/4 t. thyme (sprinkle on veggies)
salt (and pepper if desired) (sprinkle on veggies)
1/2 c. cream (pour over veggies)


Well, after 45 minutes of clouds, we were nervous about that meat getting done and staying too cold too long. So, we popped the meat into an electric skillet while leaving the Solar Hot Pots in the sun. The Solar Hot Pots heated because the sun had come back, and we cooked the chicken chunks quickly in the electric skillet until they were pretty much cooked through.

(And the great thing is that after putting the meat BACK into the Solar Hot Pots, and adding the veggies and cream, the Pots were at 155 degrees within an hour! Yay!)

But I’ll continue with the times of the recipe as if there were full sun (and what we were planning to do).

11:00 am—all veggies, seasonings, and cream: quickly add, stir, cover, put baking rack in top and put thermometer through rack to rest on top of food.

Adjust to sun, set timer for 90 minutes.

12:30 pm—check Hot Pot temperature WITHOUT opening lid; needs to be around or over 150 degrees Fahrenheit because we are hitting the 2 hour mark for the meat. For food safety, if it is not to 150 yet, boost the temp quickly/cook with other heat source.

Obviously, the fewer clouds you have, the less trouble you will have with this. Also it will be more critical to check earlier in the morning or later in the day or the farther away from summer you get.

If over 150, adjust to sun, set timer for 90 minutes.

2:00 pm—adjust to sun and check food temperature (without opening lid). If over 150, set timer for 90 minutes.

3:30 pm—adjust to set and check food temperature. If over 150, set timer for 90 minutes.

5:00 pm—eat!

We had clouds come and go, so I ended up adjusting to the sun almost every hour to get the most out of what sun there was.

Just before 5:00, the temp in the Pots dropped to 149 degrees. Also, the potatoes and carrots were a bit on the CRISP done side, but quite definitely edible. With a little boost on that meat, not bad for a pretty cloudy day! Which was predicted as a sunny day. LOL Oh, well, hubby pointed out that the weatherman has mostly been correct for our Solar Hot Potting this summer.

I liked the flavor a lot, but it needed salt. Maybe I’m becoming addicted to too much salt. LOL

Oh, and interestingly--I liked the Lemon Chicken better as leftovers than the first night we made it! (See other post for recipe.) It was really good over pasta the second night.

FIVE recipes left to go to meet my goal of 50 recipes for the Solar Hot Pot!!!! I’m excited to meet my goal (although it will be a little sad to be done! smile)