What do you use your Le Creuset/dutch oven for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use it for literally everything except deep frying.

And I use it (or, more precisely, it and a Staub) for deep frying.

[Anonymous]

Mostly braises, stews, and bolognese. I use my pressure cooker for beans and stock, but I also use this for a lot of braises that I would normally slow cook in my Le Creuset. I use my All-Clad stainless wide saucepan for marinara. And I use my Lodge cast iron for frying.

So I use it but I don't use it for everything like others here.

[Anonymous]

I love it. Hardly ever use it for deep frying but i did last night to make these delicious little Brazilian rice balls.

Usually braising in the winter and pulled pork in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 sizes of LeCreuset Dutch ovens and use them for pasta sauce, stews, chili, roasts, anything that requires a lot of simmering time.

Same. I use one or the other several times a week. They are my workhorses. Even use them to boils things because they heat so well, everything takes less time.

[Anonymous]

Everything. Soup. Chili. Sauces for pasta. Nothing better than a dutch oven for starting a roux, in my opinion. Red beans and rice. Veggie curry. Etc. I also bake bread in it sometimes -- it's nice to have something with a lid you can remove for getting the crust right. I also have a big All Clad sauce pan and a set of all-clad non stick that get a lot of use, but nothing gets as much use as my dutch ovens, they basically live on the stove.

I don't overthink oil. Use olive oil instead of vegetable/canola -- it's better for you and tastes better. If olive oil will lend the wrong flavor, look online for other oil ideas -- I use sunflower oil sometimes. Sometimes I just used butter! I honestly think pure butter is better for you than vegetable oil because it's not heavily processed. In terms of amounts most recipes will tell you how much to use at this point (this is a recent development but I like it). But you just need a fat in order to cook something at a high enough temp to build flavor. That's what the oil is for. Plenty of recipes are more minimal with oil use. I'd estimate that most things I make in the dutch oven take a tablespoon of olive oil at the beginning in order to sauté some garlic or onions or ginger or similar, and then I don't add any more.

[Anonymous]

Count me as another 'use it all the time' vote.

Braised chicken, pot roast, stew, beans, Bolognese, ratatouille, baked pasta dishes (make the sauce in the dutch oven, mix in the pasta, and pop it in the oven for a one-dish meal), curries, lots more that I can't think of.

I don't use much oil. Maybe 1-2 tablespoons to saute sliced veggies. But I also don't use nonstick much, so I don't know how that compares.

[Anonymous]

I have the largest oval dutch oven that I splurged on because I wanted to cook roasts in it (a whole chicken fits!). But I mostly use it to bake bread. Sometimes I'll do stew or chili, but mostly bread. I bake a massive loaf of sourdough every two weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Haha. Sure.












I bake sourdough every week and have two 4.5 quart ovens that I use for bread (and other small batch stuff). I have two so I can bake both loaves at once.

Also this week:
- duck fat fried potatoes last night in big Dutch oven
- poaching chicken breasts for Caesar salads tonight
- also tonight making an apple crisp that I’ll bake in one of the smaller ovens (cast iron is great for baking because it holds heat really consistently, is easier to pull from the oven than a baking dish because of the side handles, and I love having a lid for leftovers storage!)
- tomorrow night making dal and rice. I’ll use one oven for the dal, another for the rice. And my cast iron LC pan to heat up my naan.
- Thursday making homemade gnocchi and will boil the pasta and then toss with pesto in my Dutch oven.
- Friday pot stickers, again in my cast iron pan.
- Saturday I’m baking braised short ribs, polenta, and roasted green beans. I’ll probably use three for just the meal, although may do the green beans on a sheet pan.
- Sunday I’ll make stock and then soup, so that’s two more uses…

It goes on and on and on

Wow!! Your family is lucky. That's an amazing plan for the week. Can you list some of your other go tos and favorites? I tend to like healthy (lean meats and fish) and lots of vegetables or legumes etc. I bet the duck fat potatoes were delicious.

[Anonymous]

Don’t use high heat on a Dutch oven - use low/medium heat and let it come up - it’s cast iron, so it will stay warm and cook really well once it’s going. And yes, you have to use a little oil to sauté vegetables, no matter what kind of cookware you are using, As a former person with bad “food issues”, get help and get your head around healthy fats.

[Anonymous]

Beans from scratch, chili, roasts, greens, stews, oxtails, soups, donuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Haha. Sure.












I bake sourdough every week and have two 4.5 quart ovens that I use for bread (and other small batch stuff). I have two so I can bake both loaves at once.

Also this week:
- duck fat fried potatoes last night in big Dutch oven
- poaching chicken breasts for Caesar salads tonight
- also tonight making an apple crisp that I’ll bake in one of the smaller ovens (cast iron is great for baking because it holds heat really consistently, is easier to pull from the oven than a baking dish because of the side handles, and I love having a lid for leftovers storage!)
- tomorrow night making dal and rice. I’ll use one oven for the dal, another for the rice. And my cast iron LC pan to heat up my naan.
- Thursday making homemade gnocchi and will boil the pasta and then toss with pesto in my Dutch oven.
- Friday pot stickers, again in my cast iron pan.
- Saturday I’m baking braised short ribs, polenta, and roasted green beans. I’ll probably use three for just the meal, although may do the green beans on a sheet pan.
- Sunday I’ll make stock and then soup, so that’s two more uses…

It goes on and on and on

Wow!! Your family is lucky. That's an amazing plan for the week. Can you list some of your other go tos and favorites? I tend to like healthy (lean meats and fish) and lots of vegetables or legumes etc. I bet the duck fat potatoes were delicious.

Wow. Thanks. I feel so *seen.* I love to cook and recently switched to a much more plant-based diet so I only cook with animal protein twice a week. It’s made me much more adventurous. I usually do a big soup once a week - my favorites are an Asian-flavored noodle with tons of vegetables, red lentil-butternut squash, green lentils with sweet potatoes and spinach, simple white beans with pesto… I also make grain bowls once a week - some type of whole grain + homemade sauce + tons of fresh cut vegetables and maybe something roasted or crispy chickpeas. My family makes their own bowls with whatever they want. I also cook a lot of Indian - veg-based curries or dal, and do Italian once a week to keep everyone else happy.

[Anonymous]

Beef burgundy, chili, spaghetti sauce, soups, fried foods, and more.

[Anonymous]

I have a knock off Dutch oven, and love roasting chickens in it. Also go to for any soup or stew. If I could eat bread would bake in it.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious if anyone had a comparison between Le Creuset brand and a non Le Creuset brand dutch oven (Lodge, for example). Is it worth it to spring for Le Creuset?

[Anonymous]

I suggest the cookbook “All About Braising” by Molly Stevens. We love it - good luck!