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.
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Do you cover this in the oven?
Easy to follow recipe tasted delicious,will certainly cook it once a week
Can you freeze this dish? It’s delicious
Loved it! The recipe I read didn’t tell you to take the chicken out of the pan before adding mushrooms and other veggies but I realized the mistake when it told me to “return the chicken to the pan.” So I accounted for this when the chicken went into the oven. It was soooooo good! Loved the flavor- even before the cream! Served it with roasted broccoli and wild rice.
I’ve made this twice in 2 weeks. Once with bone in chicken thighs, once with boneless, skinless thighs. Equally delicious! I didn’t use the wine and threw in extra potatoes. I cooked it at 350, lid on for 1/2 hour, and with no lid for the remaining 1/2 hour-45 mins. Potatoes were cooked. I think the flavor really comes from the fresh herbs. We all love this dish! Thank you.
This might just be the best dish I’ve ever made. I tweaked the recipe by adding fresh tarragon and asparagus heads.
This was so good with amazing flavors. This was added to our favorites list for future meals. Thank you for an excellent recipe.
Made this last night. August, not just a fall/winter meal. Sauce was so good. I hate to see when people write that they changed recipe but I did too. Changed to chicken breast. Changed out mushrooms for artichokes. Herbs de Provence for herbs and milk instead of cream. It’s what I had and don’t like mushrooms. Loved it!
I’m going to try this in my crockpot. Anyone else tried to cook it this way?
Hi, Chungah! This recipe makes me long for Fall (My fav time of year!). I will make this soon and rate. It sounds amazing and I am sure it is. Your recipes and pics are always good and beautiful! (Just like you!) Thank you for sharing! Looking forward to more “fall” recipes!
I have made this twice small dinner parties. It was a hit! I love that you can do so much beforehand. Served it with a lovely salad, some bread, and a lovely dessert after…And yes..WINE!
This recipe turned out delicious – an excellent winter weekend night meal (July is winter in New Zealand). I served it with blanched green beans and some soft fresh bread for wiping up the sauce. Alas, I had to leave out the mushrooms for my mother’s sake (they upset her stomach) but I can imagine they would have been excellent. Having read the comments about potatoes not being quite cooked through, I parboiled my potatoes (brought them to the boil starting from cold water, then gave them just five minutes before draining as they were quite small pieces of potato) and they were just right. My family thoroughly enjoyed this and I’d like to make it again. Thank you for sharing!
I made this and it turned out great. For those who said their potatoes were not done, I believe you must not have used the “Baby” Yukon Gold potatoes. They are very small already and you cut them in half. Also, you need your pan quite hit in order to sear the chicken. 3 min on each side in a very hot pan. I actually used EVOO with the butter and I think so probably used 12 Oz of baby golds. I served with a side of asparagus. Delicious. Julia Child would be proud.
Delicious. I used broccoli instead of mushrooms. Also omitted the potatoes and served with a side of mash instead. If you omit the potatoes I recommend reducing chicken stock by 1/2 cup. However it still turned out delicious. Will make again.
This was very savory. We did not use the heavy cream. We baked it uncovered and it thickened up just fine!
So simple to make. Delicious to serve and eat.
It was okay. The sauce was really tasty, but I think to get the full effect, you’d have to debone the chicken after it’s finished and add to the sauce. Otherwise, the chicken doesn’t have a lot of flavor.
I followed advice from the comments and parboiled the potatoes 10 minutes before adding. I used 375 degrees and everything turned out cooked in 45 minutes. I did the cornstarch slurry at the end to thicken the sauce. That all worked out great.
On my own advice, I added a tablespoon of oil to the butter in the beginning. Butter on medium-high equals burnt butter.
If I made it again, I would definitely debone the chicken after the cooking, drench it in the sauce, and serve it that way.
Next time I make this casserole, I will do two things differently because the celery, the chicken and the potatoes were sufficiently done to my liking. I will saute the celery with lid on longer until it is soft and only then add the mushrooms. Even though it was finely diced, it was still a little hard in the finished product. I will also cook it at 375, and longer than 45 minutes since the chicken was hard to cut from the bone and all the potatoes were not done. I did enjoy making it and eating it. It was nice to have something different to make with chicken.
The chicken turned out so tender and creamy. Love the taste of the herbs too.
Very easy to put together. Didnt have skin on thighs but Husband and I enjoyed the flavours …… delish. Can you provide nutritional info pls. Thanks.