Recreating French White Bean Cassoulet at Home

{originally published in 2013 and updated in 2025}

We were in Paris in 2013 and this is the epitome of comfort food. Here’s what we had in Paris – white beans, duck, pork and a delicious broth:

The Three Bite Rule - Paris Dinner Like a Local

Sometimes the best tasting dishes are not the most photogenic, but comfort comes to this dish from sauce with white beans, pork, and chicken thighs. Baguette would be good but the kiddos like to “make” (and eat) crescents so here we are.

Cassoulet at Home
Ingredients: (for 4 servings)

3-4 chicken thighs
2 sausages
2, 8 oz cans white beans
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup white wine
1 tsp thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Directions:
Heat a large heavy pan to medium heat. Season the thighs with salt, pepper, and thyme. Sear them until golden and mostly cooked (about 4 minutes each side – they’ll finish in the oven). Remove from the heat. Slice the sausages.

In the same pan, deglaze with the wine and bring to a boil for about 2 minutes scraping the bottom bits off. Add in the tomato paste cooking for a few minutes. Next, pour in the broth bringing to a boil.

Pour off the excess liquid for the beans. Pour them in and add the chicken and sausage back in.
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.

Bake for 20 minutes checking that the chicken is cooked through. My sausages were fully cooked so they were warming in the sauce.
Serve with bread to dip. Enjoy!

I loved this! There’s so much more flavor than the 40-minute(ish) cooktime.

Teriyaki Mushroom Rice Bowls

I love rice bowls for customization though, as the only mushroom fan in the house, this one was purely for me. Roasted broccoli, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms top rice and get a sesame peanut drizzle. Swap the broccoli for edamame or cucumbers or greens!

Teriyaki Mushroom Rice Bowls
Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice
1/2 sweet potato
1 cup broccoli
1 cup mushrooms
1 – 2 teaspoons teriyaki
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
chili crisp

Directions:
Prepare the rice, the potato, and the broccoli.
Pan fry the mushrooms and add a splash of teriyaki at the end.
Spread the rice into the bottom of the bowl and add the broccoli, the potato, and mushrooms.

Stir together the peanut butter, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Add chili oil if desired.
Drizzle sauce over the top.
Enjoy!

This has sweet from the potatoes with salty from the teriyaki and crunch from the broccoli and the perfect nutty sauce.

Salmon Teriyaki Rice Bowls

Leftovers dream of becoming a rice bowl like this one. Salmon, on top of rice, with edamame, and wonton strips then drizzled with a teriyaki drizzle.

Give some roasted salmon a second life with a flavorful sauce. The veggies can swap, the crunch element can too – just go for a grain + salmon + veggies + a crunch factor.

Salmon Teriyaki Rice Bowls
Ingredients: (serves 2)

~1 cup brown rice, cooked
2 salmon fillets
1 1/2 cups edamame in the pods (or 3/4 cup shelled)
3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 cup wonton strips

Directions:
Warm the rice, salmon, and edamame. Whisk together the teriyaki sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger.
Layer the bowls with rice, salmon, edamame, and wonton strips.

Drizzle the sauce on top. Enjoy!

This hit the spot – the salmon goes well with lots of flavors and these work together so well. Broccoli would be good, or fried onions instead of wonton strips.

Loaded Tomato Sauce

Our family eats pasta on the regular though pesto is the top request so I push the boundaries with different shapes and sauces to keep them on their toes.

This one is a pink sauce with heavy cream and a fun shortcut!

Loaded Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:

1 1/2 28 oz cans tomatoes (blend smooth if desired)
2 tablespoons garlic
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 creamy sauce mix
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Directions:
In a large pot, heat a drizzle of olive oil and garlic. When sizzling, add in the tomatoes.
Whisk together sauce mix with milk and add that into the tomatoes quickly before the tomatoes get hot to avoid separation.
Stir well and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.

Stir into pasta. Enjoy!

Hibachi Rice Bowls

We are not hibachi connoisseurs but it was such a fun family birthday celebration for a special 9 year-old so I remembered these flavors and made them into rice bowls. A good rice bowl is customizable with a grain and has something raw, something cooked, and a special sauce.

Ours have rice, teriyaki chicken, sautéed zucchini, shredded carrot, and a yum yum sauce – which was just yum to one kid, and not at all yum to the other. Theirs was on the side so don’t worry to much about them.

Hibachi Rice Bowls
Ingredients: (for ~4)

1 1/2 cups rice + water/broth
1 pound of chicken, chopped into bite size chunks
1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce
1 zucchini
1-2 carrots
1/2 cup mayo
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon melted butter
1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika

Directions:
Cook the rice + water/broth. Mine went in the pressure cooker for 8 minutes.
Marinate the chicken in the teriyaki sauce while the rice cooks. Chop the zucchini and grate the carrot.
Heat a large pan to medium heat. Add in a drizzle of vegetable/canola/avocado oil. Cook the chicken until cooked through with an internal temperature of 165-degrees.
Mix up the yum yum sauce with mayo, vinegar, ketchup, melted butter, spices.

Whisk together and refrigerate until serving.

Assemble the bowls as you wish – the kids wanted everything separate.

These were good – though I haven’t cracked the code on the restaurant yum yum sauce. I love how sweet it is – especially with the teriyaki but I wonder if theirs isn’t ketchup/paprika flavored…more turmeric/orange?

These won’t be our most requested, but I was glad for variety of flavors, and after a busy day it was a good dinner. Here are others – Italian themed rice bowls are always a hit, and the coconut rice/pineapple/pulled pork or kielbasa is my personal favorite.