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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Was this supposed to go in the oven covered or uncovered? I covered it, and sauce did not thicken!
It was excellent. Make sure brown the chicken. I doubled it and included a split breast. Had a lot of sauce left over, but, was delicious. Also, made it in advance and finished it in the oven after my guests had arrived.
Yummy!
Made this following the recipe exactly as written. Oh, so delicious. My son-in-law, who has very polite manners, was seen scooping the sauce from his plate into his mouth as he walked to the sink while clearing the dishes. Not a drop was wasted. This is a great meal to prep the day before by chopping the shallots, mushrooms and celery to be refrigerated in one container; chicken stock, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf in another container; and individual, small containers for pre-measured flour and garlic and cream and salt/pepper. (I halved potatoes just before adding them so they did not turn brown.) In fact, I prepped the meal at home then transported all the ingredients to another location where I did the cooking. The fully-prepped meal came together perfectly and allowed me more time to play with my granddaughters. This recipe is a family favorite and so easy!
As the dutch oven is left uncovered once placed in oven, would a large cast-iron skillet do just as well?
It would have to be pretty deep. I’ve made this before and I think the level of the sauce may be a little too much for a normal skillet.
Made this last night but just with 2 thighs so cut bac kthe ingredients a little. I didn’t have mushrooms which my husband is not that fond of anyway, but ended up having a few extra potatoes than needed, but after enjoying the meal – served with a salad, I couldn’t bear to toss the potatoes and the extra sauce so decided to repurpose the left overs into an amazing soup. Just removed the skins from potatoes and smashed them a bit, added a little more stock and cream and wha la.. my husband enjoyed the soup for lunch today!!
Have made this several times , only tweeked it a bit , dried herbs not fresh, added carrots as well ,used boneless chicken thighs also added some smoked pancetta.
Absolutely delicious, cooked as per instructions, never disappointed with it , served with green beans and garlic ciabatta.
Blimming marvellous.
This was amazing and so easy to make!
I followed this exactly with the exception of the celery, which I didn’t have and don’t think it would have made a difference (not a big fan). I did have to cook longer than an hour because my potatoes weren’t ready in 45 minutes. My potatoes were a little larger than baby so that’s why – I’ll get smaller potatoes next time. The longer cooking time did not dry anything out as there was plenty of sauce (I only cooked four thighs). I’ll probably also cover next time, but it came out great anyway. Served with a salad with dried cranberries, walnuts, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese which went well. Fantastic!
Delicious! My only regret is that I didn’t make some carrots for a side. So good!
Made last eve. It was delicious! Added one diced carrot and instead of adding potatoes, I made mashed. So glad I did, the mashed potatoes were so good with all that mushroom gravy! The chicken was perfect! Will definitely make again and again. Thank you.
Hi Chungah,
At this very moment, I am making your French Chicken Casserole. It sounds so very good! The recipe is easy to follow and has no really exotic ingredients…had ’em all in my pantry. One unfortunate omission is that you didn’t say whether or not to cover the Dutch oven before putting it in the oven. So now, I’m writing to you with my casserole in the oven and my fingers crossed that I did indeed do the right thing by covering the Dutch oven. (not easy to type a message with crossed fingers, btw…). My assumption was that the purpose of a Dutch oven is the tight seal with the heavy lid, so…
I would be very curious to know, though, what your intention is with this recipe. Please reply, if you have a minute. Thanks so much! Chef Andy
Agree. Fabulous! Cover in oven.
And so it is “Dame Delicious” covered in the oven!
Holy smokes is this delicious! I would cover the dish next time but I will keep this in my comfort food recipe box!
When you place the Dutch oven w/chicken into the oven, should it be covered or uncovered??
We loved it, would you use more thyme and rosemary if using dried ? We made it with the dry and making it again tonight, was so delicious. Hope your not freezing in Chi town today
This recipe is a culinary delight!
Made this for dinner this evening and to quote my husband it was “damn delicious”. Thank you for all your delicious recipes!
This was a really good recipe. The whole family liked it and is was simple to make. Lots of good flavor. The name “casserole” throws you off though. Nothing casserole about this tasty dish!
OMG made this last night and it was so good. I read a comment that said they just cooked it on top of the stove and thats what I did. I cut the potatoes smaller. I turned out great with a lot of extra gravy. I will make again. I love her simple recipes!