French Chicken Casserole
by Chungah
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The coziest, most wholesome meal. With golden brown chicken, tender potatoes, white wine, fresh rosemary + thyme.
Featured Comment
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
Video
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.
Equipment
Did you make this recipe?
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I’ve been wanting to make this dish for a while and finally made it today! It was phenomenal! So delicious. I made two small changes: precooked potatoes to 1/2 way done and reduced the flour to 2 tbsp. This amazing dish will be definitely a new shining star in my cooking repertoire.
Great flavours, but I would skip the flour next time. The addition of the flour makes the sauce more like a gravy and less like a light cream sauce. Also, I personally find that the addition of thickeners such as flours and corn starches sometimes detract from flavours. Otherwise, it’s a great combination of ingredients for a hearty but not overly indulgent main course.
So amazing!!! I’m doing keto so I replaced potatoes with cut up cauliflower… so good!! I loved the different flavors, instead of flour I used some almond flour instead as well and worked perfectly fine.
In the oven now. I’m not clear on whether I should cover it for at least part of the cooking time. I see that a number of people commented about the potatoes not being cooked through. Could this be clarified?
I’ve made this twice in the past 2 months and it was a success each time. My problem is I have a family of 6, and this is not enough to feed all of us, let alone have any leftover for a 2nd serving.
At STEP 7 assuming I have doubled the amount of chicken, can I transfer everything into a casserole dish to bake, or to a slow cooker (and for how long in a slow cooker)? Thank you.
Absolutely delicious. I made with chicken tenderloins because that’s what I had. I’ll be making this again.
Amazing! I only used 4 thighs, so I decreased the potatoes by about half (my kids won’t eat potatoes except in fry form), and I decreased the chicken broth by a cup since I read some thought it was thin. It was still a bit thin so I added a corn starch slurry (1 TBS corn starch and 2 TBS warm water) and added that after the chicken was done (took the chicken out and covered, added back when it was all mixed). Perfect! The flavor was amazing. I did cut the baby yellows in half to make sure they were cooked enough and they were perfect. Delicious dinner!
So amazing!!! I’m doing keto so I replaced potatoes with cut up cauliflower… so good!! I loved the different flavors, instead of flour I used some almond flour instead as well and worked perfectly fine.
Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Can I just say, this recipe is AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS? It’s simple, bursting with flavors, and so simple to make! Taking the advice of others, I made mashed potato and also paired it with a side of baby bok choy and brown jasmine rice. My husband and I devoured it. The sauce is so decadent, so flavorful, and on par with similar dishes, we’ve had at restaurants, except with a more homey feel — perfect for a cold November day.
My husband’s already asking when the next time I’ll be making this again!
Substitutes: I didn’t have any shallots or white wine, so I subbed with half an onion (diced) and 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine.
Made this with double mushrooms, whole chopped onion and double butter, since hubbies on low carb. GLORIOUS!!! I served mine with some pasta I picked up in Italy. Just fabulous! Keep them coming, please!!!
My whole family loved it! This recipe is a keeper! Thanks!
Amazingly delish! Thanks for yet another great recipe! Where can I order your cook book?
So good and easy to make! I will be making this again. I’m not a fan of mushrooms so I omitted those. Next time around I will probably add carrots and make sure we have some warm crusty bread to dip into the sauce and clean our plates!
Just made this for some friends for dinner. Everyone raved about it. I followed the recipe to the tee except I added a 1/4 cup of grated parmesan/Romano cheese at the very end to give it a extra kick on flavor. I’m a retired chef that’s been cooking for over 25 years. This recipe is fabulous. Kudos to you.
I made this recipe with changes but basically the same cooking process. It was delightful!
Totally delicious in every way!! I added butternut squash cubes that were already partially cooked with the potatoes and it was delicious indeed!
SO simple to make, and SO freaking delicious. Made this for my husband and my parents, jokes were made about slurping up the last of the tasty sauce with straws. I subbed white button mushrooms for cremini since my local grocer doesn’t carry those and used Chardonnay for the white wine. YUM and a great meal for guests!
Very tasty – nice and comforting home style meal, gravy sauce is yummy over rice!
I’m back.
Yes, again.
We still have the flavor
of this in our mouths and
the house still smells like
it’s still cooking.
Follow the recipe!
This was perfect. AGAIN.
I’ve been following damn
near every recipe you’ve ever
put out and I’m telling you,
you are just amazing.
This dish was delicious and
I will make it over and over again.
Wow.
Loved this recipe as did my daughter and two grandsons. I thought I would lick the plate it was that good. I wasn’t sure
which type of plate to use as it is rather stew like but that was solved by using shallow soup bowls. This will definitely be in our meal rotation. My son in law was off hunting in eastern WA and when he saw the photo of our dinner he wanted to come home! I’m 80 years old and I still love new recipes and cooking for my family.
I made this last night and it was delicious! I used 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs and 16 oz of mushrooms. I also pre-cooked the potatoes in the microwave before throwing them in the pot to make sure they got cooked. Lastly, I added a couple of teaspoons of chicken Better than Bullion at the end instead of salt. I will definitely make this again but will add more chicken (3 pounds) and serve it over mash potatoes to soak up the sauce. The sauce is fantastic!