Cook It In Your Dutch Oven

Learn how you can put your Dutch oven to work every day in so many different ways.

Many home cooks own a Dutch oven, but often these prized pots get relegated to the back of the cabinet, to be pulled out only for making stews. Learn how you can put your Dutch oven to work every day in so many different ways. Make it your go-to for weeknight meals with practical yet fun recipes such as Udon Noodles with Mustard Greens and Shiitake-Ginger Sauce, Easy Chicken Tacos, and Lamb Meatballs with Herbed Orzo Pilaf. Impressive roasts and braises such as Slow-Roasted Chuck Roast with Horseradish-Sour Cream Sauce go seamlessly from stovetop (the enameled surface is perfect for creating fond without burning) to oven (cast iron maintains steady heat to ensure food cooks perfectly). And we’ll walk you through deep frying and artisanal bread baking. If you’re in the market for a new Dutch oven, we’ll offer up our picks based on extensive testing (and daily use of our pots).

Some of the recipes you’ll find inside:

Quick Beef and Bean Chili
Chicken Noodle Soup
Bucatini with Peas, Kale, and Pancetta
Halibut with Roasted Garlic and Cherry Tomatoes

Korean Fried Chicken Wings
Fish and Chips
Pear-Ginger Crisp; Chocolate Lava Cake for a Crowd
Braided Chocolate Babka

Chicken Pot Pie with Spring Vegetables

Build your filling in the pot and then invert the lid and place your lattice crust (we show you step by step how to create one!) on the upside-down lid so that they bake together. The lid emulates a baking sheet, allowing the heat to circulate around the crust so that it crisps evenly and doesn’t turn soggy, as it would if it were baked directly on top of the filling.

Roasted Pork Loin on a cutting board with a pot of Barley, Butternut Squash, and Swiss Chard

Roasted Pork Loin with Barley, Butternut Squash, and Swiss Chard

We cooked the pork loin en cocotte to produce juicy, perfectly cooked meat along with creamy barley. The low-heat, trapped-moisture method kept the pork from overcooking. Once it was done, we finished cooking the barley on the stovetop, adding cubed butternut squash and Swiss chard stems toward the end of cooking so that they could become just tender. In the final minutes, we stirred in the quick-cooking chard leaves and some Parmesan cheese for a bit of richness.

Overhead view of Coconut shrip being fried

Coconut Shrimp with Mango Dipping Sauce

Making this bar-food favorite at home is easy with our simple and flavorful recipe. Maximize coconut flavor in the shrimp by adding sweetened shredded coconut to the panko coating and using creamy coconut milk as a binder to help it stick. Fry the shrimp in three small batches to maintain a consistent oil temperature in the Dutch oven. A dipping sauce of pureed mango, peach preserves, and fresh cilantro is the perfect accompaniment.

Overhead view of chocolate lava cake served in a bowl

Chocolate Lava Cake for a Crowd

Individual-size chocolate lava cakes are a classic restaurant dessert, but they’re fussy to make at home, especially when serving a crowd. Our foolproof recipe makes a large-scale lava cake that maintains the magic of the original but offers up easy shortcuts (such as mixing the batter right in the Dutch oven). The pot’s heat-retaining walls keep the cake’s center gooey and warm through second servings.