A Hairy Bikers chicken and mushroom crumble is chicken, bacon and mushrooms simmered in mushroom soup and cream, then baked under a cheesy oat topping. Plus the recipe in Mums Still Know Best feeds 6 in about 1 hour, at roughly 750 calories a portion by my estimate.
Victoria Jones learned many of her recipes from her grandma, and Si and Dave call this “a good filling meal” for her three hungry sons. Yet there’s no pastry to roll, because the topping is just butter rubbed into flour with Cheddar and porridge oats.
The chicken must be fully cooked in the pan, since the oven’s 15 minutes only crisps the crumble and gets the sauce bubbling. Which is why I’d cut open a thick piece of thigh before the topping goes on, rather than trusting the oven to finish it.
Hairy Bikers Chicken and Mushroom Crumble
Description
Onion, garlic, chestnut mushrooms and smoked back bacon fry first, then chunks of chicken simmer under a lid in mushroom soup, cream and stock. Then a pulsed mix of butter, flour, Cheddar and oats goes over the top for a quick bake at 190°C.
Ingredients
For the filling
For the crumble topping
Instructions
- Soften the onion: Cut the chicken breasts and thighs into bite-sized pieces. Then heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion over a low heat for about 8 minutes, until soft and lightly coloured.
- Fry the mushrooms and bacon: Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Then turn up the heat, add the mushrooms and bacon, and fry until both are cooked through.
- Simmer the chicken: Add the chicken, followed by the soup, cream and stock, and season with black pepper, since the bacon should add enough salt. Then stir, put a lid on the pan and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.
- Make the crumble: Meanwhile, pulse all the crumble ingredients in a food processor until well mixed. Or rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in the cheese and oats.
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Then tip the filling into an ovenproof dish, spread the crumble over and bake for about 15 minutes, until crisp and bubbling.
FAQs
Can you make it ahead or freeze it?
Yes, they write that you can assemble it up to 24 hours ahead and keep it in the fridge, then bake for about 30 minutes. And it freezes once assembled too, as long as it’s defrosted thoroughly before the same 30 minutes in the oven.
They serve it with potatoes and green vegetables or a salad, so I’d get the potatoes on while the chicken simmers.
Can you make it without the canned soup?
The book offers no swap, and I’d keep the soup, because it’s the only thickener I can see in a filling with no flour. But either double or single cream is listed, and single brings it down to about 680 calories a portion by my sums.
Do they make other savoury crumbles?
Yes, their One Pot Wonders vegetable crumble skips the meat and the oats, so its topping is just flour, butter, parsley and Cheddar. And Ultimate Comfort Food has a smoky chilli beef and corn crumble, with cocoa in the filling and a cornmeal, buttermilk and sweetcorn crust.
Plus the topping here is close to their Mums Know Best apple and blackberry crumble, which also uses oats, but Cheddar replaces the sugar.
Is there a lighter Hairy Bikers crumble?
Their Eat to Beat Type 2 Diabetes fish crumble is 388 calories a serving, with white fish and smoked haddock in reduced-fat crème fraîche. Instead of butter and flour, the topping is wholewheat couscous, and they scatter cheese over it because it stops the couscous crisping up too much.
Is it more work than a pie or a casserole?
It’s less work than a pie, because their British Classics classic cheese and onion pie needs a lard and butter crust made from scratch. But if you’d rather skip a topping altogether, their Hairy Dieters chicken cider casserole uses the same smoked bacon and chestnut mushrooms with chicken legs.
