French Chicken Casserole
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The coziest, most wholesome meal. With golden brown chicken, tender potatoes, white wine, fresh rosemary + thyme.
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Say hello to the coziest meal of 2020. Perfectly-seared golden brown chicken thighs, tender baby golden potatoes, juicy mushrooms, and a fresh herb-white wine sauce that you can basically guzzle down all day and night. Put it on a shoelace and it will hit just right.
It’s truly perfection on a crisp 55 degree Fall day – or let’s be honest, any day of the week. It’s rustic, it’s cozy, and it’s just so darn good. Easy to whip up on those busy weekdays or those weekends for a fancy night in.
tips and tricks for success
- Use a heavy pot. A heavy bottom pot, such as a Dutch oven, is ideal here for slow cooking and even heat distribution.
- Bone-in is ideal. While boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts can be used, bone-in will be juicier and have extra flavor.
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
what to serve with french chicken casserole
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
French Chicken Casserole: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, chicken breasts can absolutely be used here but chicken thighs have more dark meat and a higher fat content which will yield juicier, more flavorful chicken.
If you prefer white meat, bone-in, skin-on breasts or boneless, skinless breasts can be substituted but cooking times will need to be adjusted.
Mushrooms can be omitted completely if it’s not your thing. Eggplant or zucchini can be substituted, if desired, as it can absorb all the good flavors and mimic the texture of mushrooms.
Additional chicken stock can be used for white wine as a non-alcoholic substitute.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
A lid or cover is not required here. Uncovering allows the chicken to brown and crisp here, and helps reduce the amount of liquid in the finished dish.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
French Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved
- 3 large shallots, diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 pound baby gold potatoes, halved
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Season chicken thighs with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; set aside.
- Add mushrooms, shallots and celery, and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender and browned, about 5-7 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven. Stir in chicken stock, potatoes, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. Return chicken to the Dutch oven.
- Place into oven and bake until potatoes are tender and chicken has completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 175 degrees F, about 40-45 minutes.
- Stir in heavy cream; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
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Absolutely love this recipe
My family love it and have made it 2 weeks runni
Love love love this dish
The whole family (2 teenagers included) loved this dish.
Only recommendation add 2 1/2 hrs to cook time
I haven’t made this yet but it sounds amazing, and right up my alley! Do you have any alcohol free recommendations for substituting the white wine? More chicken broth or apple cider vinegar maybe?
Gerrian – you don’t have to worry. The alcohol in the wine completely burns off in the first few minutes of cooking. If you’ve ever spilled rubbing alcohol on the bathroom countertop you know how fast it evaporates even without heat. I can assure you that there will be no trace elements of alcohol in your dish after 45 minutes in the oven.
There is no equal replacement for wine (red or white) in a dish. However, if you have say a religious or psychological reason for avoiding alcohol for cooking, you can substitute white grape juice with a little fresh squeezed lemon juice for white wine in a dish (not too much so it overpowers, but instead just a subtle acidic hint like wine naturally has). You can get closer with a 90/10 concoction of white grape juice and white wine vinegar, but if you must be 100% zero alcohol out of the gate for whatever reason, that’s about the best you can do. Good luck!
I’ve made this for my family/friends. You can change this recipe easily. Add whole grain mustard or cream sherry, carrots. This is a very versatile recipe.Can use Breast.
Made this today and wow it’s delicious!! I did make a few changes only because I forgot to buy celery and shallots. I used celery seed seasoning and regular yellow onions. It was so hard to wait on my husband to get home before digging in!!!
Yummy yum yum yum. My husband hates when I “experiment” on him, but pretty much any recipe from dd.net is a keeper. This one is no exception. I loved it, he loved it, and I will definitely be making again.
I served this lovely dish to my French Son-In- Law and he loved it, as we all did. It is just the best flavours without being overpowering. Well done to the Creator.
This recipe is stunning! I’ve never eaten casserole and wanted to try something new. It’s got incredible savory and cream flavors, like nothing I’ve eaten before.
My husband and I have made this probably 10 times in the last year and a half. He normally doesn’t like chicken thighs, but he’s the first to request this dish!We have made it for family and friends. I am gluten free, I have made it without the flour thickener, with cornstarch as the thickener, and with instant mashed potatoes as the thickener.Our daughter is lactose intolerant and when she has been here we just have not put in the cream. The house smells so wonderful while this is cooking and we love this recipe! Yes it does help if you precook the potatoes a little and we have added carrot slices sometimes. But this recipe is a keeper! I urge everyone to try it!! Damn Delicious!!
So damn delicious. I subbed Sherry for wine and mashed potatoes for whole potatoes. Once again, DD, you’ve hit another winner!
This is one of our favorite meals! We love the Flavor. Just wish it showed the nutrition information
While I’m sure this dish is delish, it’s taking a lot longer than 45 minutes for my potatoes to be cooked all the way through. I weighed my potatoes and quartered instead of halfed and my potatoes are still hard and nowhere near fork tender. I think 325° F was a little low and I had to increase my heart because I was tired of waiting for it to be done.
Absolutely delicious! My house smelled wonderful too!
What a lovely dinner.
This chicken dinner was so enjoyable and so tasty.
I did boil up the potatoes for about 10 minutes before putting them in the recipe.
Everything was just beautiful and we had it with crusty bread.
Making this again next week with much anticipation.
Thank you for a fantastic recipe.
Amazing
I followed this recipe to the letter. Didn’t change, add or subtract anything.
Simply delicious and very French.
More left over for tonight… Mmmmmm
“c’est delicieux”
(I did par boil the Spuds before I put in the casserole
as I know my oven is a bit temperamental)
This was an exelent recepy! Thsnks for sharing.
I only have a question, if I can say that is a question, any ways; at the end I almost made the mistake of adding the cream to the source instead of adding it at the end. Was it suppost to be like that? I probably mixed everything up.
Antways, thanks a lot, I would prepare it again… Julia Child would be very proud if this recipe.
Delishes and so easy to prepare. I will certainly do it again
Ditch the potatoes and use gnocchi. It’s outstanding!
This amazing recipe is a keeper. Made this with 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs in my large cast iron skillet. I mostly followed the recipe except I didn’t have any mushrooms, replaced the potatoes for thickly sliced carrots and threw in a handful of frozen peas 5 minutes before the end of oven cooking to add some color. Used my fresh thyme/rosemary and a great Chardonnay wine (which we later enjoyed with the meal). Cooked it over the stove to thicken the sauce a bit and added the heavy cream. Served it over Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and it was delicious. My husband raved over it and thought that there were so many wonderful flavors. I felt like a fabulous French cook and will definitely make it again for company and maybe add the mushrooms next time. Thank-you!
This was so yummy. I have very picky young boys and they asked for seconds. The sauce was outstanding, with my 15 year old daughter threatening to eat it by the spoonful. So good!! Will definitely be making again.
This was delicious! My husband loved it and wanted to make sure we have it again. It was much “soupier” than I expected but probably won’t change a thing.