The Dutch Oven is the ideal piece of cookware to take you through winter, slow cooking your favourite ingredients to perfection. In fact, this iconic piece of cookware excels at preparing winter staples, warming up the whole family with a delicious meal.
Dutch Ovens are great for preparing one-pot recipes, all-while leaving significant leftovers for the next day. Whether you want to simmer a soup or stew to perfection, or simply want to oven-roast a chicken for the whole family, this iconic piece of cookware has you covered.
Crafted with enamelled cast iron, the Dutch Oven is built to last and comes equipped with a tight-fitting lid to lock in heat and moisture. Its self-basting cycle will ensure ingredients are completely tender, helping you gradually infuse new layers of flavour with ease. This versatile pot is perfect for stewing and slow-cooking, exposing ingredients to a consistent heat source.
Here are nine of our favourite Dutch Oven recipes that will keep you warm throughout winter.
Dutch Oven Winter Recipes
Our list of Dutch Oven recipes has been carefully curated to offer delicious, easy-to-prepare winter staples, embodying the set-it-and-forget-it nature of cooking. From the classic pot-roast chicken all the way to a minestrone soup, these nine recipes are a great place to start with your Dutch Oven this winter.
Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
No recipe repertoire is complete with a Classic Chicken Noodle Soup. Ideal for warming up the whole family on a cold winter day, this soup is a great option when looking to prepare a quick and healthy meal.
The Dutch Oven is perfectly suited for this recipe, locking in heat and moisture thanks to its tight-fitting lid. This versatile piece of cookware will ensure your vegetables, including the carrots and celery, will be softened without browning them, gradually infusing their flavours into the broth. Finish by adding in the chicken and letting it simmer for another few minutes before serving.
Our Classic Chicken Noodle Soup recipe takes just under 30 minutes to prepare from start to finish and can quickly become a staple in your household, serving up to six people at a time.
Get the recipe
Minestrone Soup
Our Minestrone Soup is yet another dish that you can easily master with the Dutch Oven, incorporating all the classic ingredients of this traditional soup with a unique twist. Typically, a minestrone features a blend of beans, onions, celery, carrots, and tomatoes.
With a minestrone, however, home cooks and chefs alike have the flexibility to add in their own ingredients as the soup simmers. Le Creuset’s version of this Italian staple introduces zucchinis, squash, bay leaves, and fresh oregano, ensuring your soup will not be lacking in flavor or texture.
The Dutch Oven is the only piece of cookware you will need for this recipe, allowing all the vegetables to baste in their own juices, all-while offering superior heat retention. This recipe takes just under two hours to prepare, providing up to six servings. Consult our complete list for more Dutch Oven soup recipes!
Get the recipe
Chunky Roasted Tomato and Butternut Squash Soup
Looking for a hearty recipe for the whole family? Look no further than our Chunky Roasted Tomato and Butternut Squash Soup. This recipe is particularly ideal when snowed in, offering a heartwarming soup in no time.
The first step with this recipe is ensuring the tomatoes and squash are roasted and completely mashed before introducing all the ingredients in the Dutch Oven. This iconic piece of cookware will take care of much of the rest, gently boiling the vegetables until this delicious soup is ready. Its tight-fitting lid locks in heat and moisture while its enamelled cast iron construction distributes heat evenly.
Our Chunky Roasted Tomato and Butternut Squash Soup recipe is extremely easy to put together, taking just over one hour, and serving up to six people at a time.
Get the recipe
Osso Buco with Creamy Polenta and Gremolata
Our Osso Buco with Creamy Polenta and Gremolata is yet another traditional Italian recipe, perfect for the holiday season. Begin by braising the veal shanks in the vegetables, white wine, and beef stock until they are completely tender.
The Dutch Oven can be used to braise meat, with its thick enamelled cast iron walls and tight-fitting lid creating the perfect environment for tenderizing ingredients. Its self-basting cycle will ensure your veal shanks are completely tender before serving it with a creamy polenta and a gremolata garnish.
Our Osso Buco with Creamy Polenta and Gremolata takes just over two hours to prepare and makes for a great dish to bring as a guest at your next holiday get-together. Watch and follow along as we prepare this Osso Buco dish!
Get the recipe
Braised Beef Ribs
Our Braised Beef Ribs can be prepared with eight simple steps, tenderizing the beef short ribs for a delicious final dish.
The Dutch Oven can double as a braiser, with its tight-fitting and self-basting cycle tenderizing the meat until it is fall-off-the-bone perfect. This iconic piece of cookware has been carefully designed to lock in heat and moisture, exposing food to a consistent heat source.
Begin by searing the short ribs in the Dutch Oven before braising them in onions, garlic, celery, carrots, tomato paste, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red pepper flakes. Thanks to the self-basting feature of the Dutch Oven, the ribs will absorb all the rich flavours of the surrounding vegetables and spices.
Our Braised Beef Ribs take just over two hours to prepare, serving between six and eight people.
Get the recipe
Vegan Eggplant Chickpea Tomato Slowpot Quinoa
Our Vegan Eggplant Chickpea Tomato Slowpot Quinoa is a great plant-based alternative, offering a flavourful slow-cooked meal for the whole family.
The key to this recipe is to toast the spices before introducing the eggplant into your Round Dutch Oven. This dish combines a number of hearty ingredients, including eggplants, chickpeas, and avocados, providing a well-balanced meal.
The end result is a perfectly slow-cooked vegan eggplant chickpea tomato quinoa that is equally delicious as it is aesthetic. Minimize cleanup by serving directly out of your Dutch Oven, and voilà dinner is served. If you liked this recipe, here are eight additional vegan recipes perfect for your Dutch Oven.
Get the recipe
Pot-Roast Chicken
Our classic pot-roast chicken recipe is sure to become a favorite in your household, offering a delicious weeknight meal. Ideal for feeding a family of six, or when hosting friends, this recipe is yet another Dutch Oven staple.
Once all your vegetables are in the Dutch Oven, including pearled onions, thyme, bay leaves, celery, and carrots, the chicken will cook gently, gradually absorbing all the rich flavours inside the pot. The Dutch Oven’s self-basting cycle will tenderize the chicken, delivering a truly delicious and flavourful final dish.
Our classic pot-roast chicken recipe takes just under two hours to prepare, elevating this traditional dish with bacon. Here are 10 more chicken recipes ideal for your Dutch Oven.
Get the recipe
Panettone with Dark Chocolate, Figs and Almonds
Typically prepared over Christmas and New Year’s, our Panettone with Dark Chocolate, Figs, and Almonds is the ultimate holiday dessert.
Rest your starter ingredients in a bowl between 8 and 12 hours before preheating your Dutch Oven. This versatile piece of cookware will lock in heat and moisture, ensuring the dough rises to perfection thanks to its tight-fitting lid. The combination of dark chocolate and figs makes for a great twist on this Milanese recipe, complementing the panettone wonderfully.
While this recipe does require an element of preparation, it is a great way to serve up a delicious dessert for family and friends, accommodating up to twelve servings at a time.
Get the recipe
Beef Stew with Gremolata
Our Beef Stew with Gremolata is a great recipe to get started with your Dutch Oven, offering a healthy meal with minimal effort required. Our Beef Stew features a number of vegetables, including carrots, celery sticks, and onions, complementing the beef to perfection.
Before introducing all the ingredients to the Dutch Oven, begin by browning the beef and vegetables until they achieve a crispy, golden brown colour. This will add some much-needed texture and flavour into the dish before cooking it low and slow.
With all the ingredients in the Dutch Oven, slow-cook the beef stew for approximately two and three hours. This multipurpose pot offers even heat distribution and superior heat retention, ensuring the beef and vegetables cook evenly.
While this recipe requires a couple of hours to cook, you can sit back and relax as the Dutch Oven tenderizes the meat for you. Our Beef Stew with Gremolata serves between four and six people, offering a delicious one-pot meal.
Get the recipeDutch Oven vs. French Oven
Dutch Oven and French Oven are often used interchangeably given their many similarities, however, one key distinction exists. Indeed, the French Oven revolutionized the original Dutch Oven design, replacing the pure cast iron construction with enamelled cast iron. Today, this versatile pot can be used for a number of different cooking techniques and new recipes.
Dutch Oven Wintertime Meal Preparation
The Dutch Oven has earned a reputation as a kitchen workhorse over the years, accommodating a variety of different dishes and cooking techniques. Whether you want to sear a piece of meat, simmer a soup, or bake a decadent dessert, this iconic piece of cookware is the ultimate piece of cookware to equip your kitchen with for wintertime cooking and baking.
With winter right around the corner, equipping your kitchen with a Dutch Oven is a smart choice. This multipurpose pot creates the ideal environment for slow-cooked stews, soups, and hearty meals for the whole family. From a Classic Chicken Noodle Soup, to baking your very own Panettone, the Dutch Oven is a must with wintertime meal preparation.
These were just nine of our favourite Dutch Oven winter staples, but for more recipes and inspiration, visit our blog and Dutch Oven recipes.
