The Cozy Cookbook is here! This French Onion Chicken Recipe is easy to prepare in a skillet and bake in the oven! The chicken is smothered in a rich French Onion sauce and topped with hot, melted cheese. Serve this with mashed potatoes or buttered noodles and green beans for a complete meal that your family will love!
French Onion Chicken
Wait until you taste the gourmet flavors in this recipe. This is one dinner that might take a little bit longer than most recipes do, but the end result is so worth it.
It’s really just a matter of allowing the onions to sufficiently caramelize, just like you would with French Onion Soup. I actually like that I can measure out my other ingredients or prepare a side dish while the onions are busy caramelizing.
It’s definitely not a stressful or fast-paced meal to prepare, which is kind of nice. A good meal for a leisurely Sunday.
Check out how I make this, my pro tips, tools for this recipe, and MORE below:
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cut the chicken into 2-3 thinner slices. Place in between saran wrap and pound it to 1/4 inch thin.
Sprinkle with seasoning and dredge in flour/Parmesan mixture. Sear in oil in batches until golden brown, about 3 minutes/side. Set aside.
Heat olive oil and butter in the same skillet and use a silicone spatula to “clean” the fond on the bottom of the pot, this will add more flavor to the sauce. Add sliced onions.
Soften the onions over medium heat for 5 minutes, tossing to coat in the butter. Add soy sauce and seasoning. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and increase heat to medium. Cook for 10 more minutes. Add white wine and garlic.
Cook uncovered, until the wine has almost completely reduced, about 10 minutes. Add flour and toss to coat. Cook for 1-2 minutes to remove raw flour taste.
Add chicken broth, beef broth, and beef bouillon. Bring to a gentle boil and let it reduce and thicken, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add chicken and any juices back to the skillet. Top with cheese. Bake at 475° for 15-20 minutes, until the top begins to brown and bubble. Remove from heat. Garnish with thyme and serve with mashed potatoes.
Pro Tips
- The soy sauce in this recipe can’t be tasted but adds umami and enhances the other flavors in this dish.
- Mozzarella, Provolone, or Gruyere make great cheese toppings.
- Chicken broth can be used instead of white wine if needed.
- Low Sodium Broth, soy sauce, and butter can be used to control the salt in this recipe. The beef bouillon can be omitted as well, but it does add a bit of rich flavor that makes the sauce similar to a gravy.
- Chicken plumps up more when cooked so be sure to pound it thin.
Storage
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- This is the 3.5 quart skillet I used in this recipe, (and in 90% of my recipes). It’s pricey, but it conducts heat really well and is oven safe. The size is perfect and the quality is great.
- Kitchen Bouquet Browning and Seasoning Sauce– Optional, 2-3 drops will give the sauce a richer, darker color.
- Meat Tenderizer. Essential for this recipe!
- Kitchen Tongs– Makes it easy to handle the chicken when searing.
- Silicone Spatula– Makes it easy to scrape up any brown bits left in the pan and incorporate them into the sauce for more flavor.
- Meat Thermometer– The chicken is ready to serve when it’s reached 165°.
Try These Next
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- Mushroom Chicken
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- Chicken Spaghetti
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- Chicken Piccata
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- Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits
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- Crock Pot Roast with Gravy
-
- Tuscan Chicken Pasta
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French Onion Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Salt/pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ½ Tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon butter, salted or unsalted
Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 3 yellow onions, equal to 1.5 lbs.
- 1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon ground sage
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup dry white wine, like chardonnay or pinot grigio
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 beef bouillon
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, provolone or gruyere are great too
Instructions
Prepare the Chicken
- Cut the chicken into 2-3 thinner slices. Place in between saran wrap and pound it to 1/4 inch thick. (*PRO TIP: Using the textured side of the meat tenderizer makes this go a bit more quickly.)
- Pat the chicken dry and sprinkle each side with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Combine the flour and Parmesan cheese and dredge the chicken in it.
- Heat 3 Tbsp. oil and 1 Tbsp. butter over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken for about 3 minutes/side, until a nice golden crust has developed. PRO TIP: Adjust heat as needed throughout the searing process, turning down slightly if it gets too hot, and back up again if needed. Add a little additional olive oil if/as needed.
- Set the chicken aside and tent with foil. If it’s not cooked all the way through, it will finish cooking in the oven.
Caramelize the Onions
- Slice the onions to even ¼ inch slices. (Not too thin as they reduce in size during cooking.)
- Melt 2 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Use a silicone spatula to clean the chicken remnants (called “fond”) from the bottom of the skillet, this will add more flavor to the sauce.
- Add the sliced onions and toss to coat. Soften for 5 minutes. Add soy sauce, rosemary, thyme, and sage.
- Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove cover and increase heat to medium. Cook for 10 more minutes, stirring frequently.
Make the Sauce
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
- Add the garlic and white wine to the skillet. Cook uncovered until the wine is almost completely reduced, about 10 minutes.
- Add flour and toss to coat. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until raw flour smell is gone.
- Add chicken broth, beef broth, and beef bouillon. Increase heat to medium-high and bring the sauce to a gentle boil. Let it thicken and reduce for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Bake
- (Note: Transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish prior to baking if necessary. I always use a large, oven-safe skillet for this recipe to make it easy to transfer from the stovetop to the oven.)
- Add the chicken back to the skillet and top with cheese. Bake at 475 for 15-20 minutes, until the top begins to brown and bubble.
- Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh thyme. Serve!
Notes
Low Sodium Broth, soy sauce, and butter can be used to control the salt in this recipe. The beef bouillon can be omitted as well, but it does add a bit of rich flavor that makes the sauce similar to a gravy.
Kitchen Bouquet Browning and Seasoning Sauce is an optional addition, 2-3 drops will give the sauce a richer, darker color.
If your pan has any black spots from cooking the chicken, you can give that a rough wipe before making the sauce, but brown remnants add a lot of flavor. Adjust heat during searing as needed to control the temperature.
You can measure out all of the ingredients that come after the onions while the onions are cooking. This is also a great time to prepare a side dish of mashed potatoes or cheesy scalloped potatoes.
Nutrition facts includes all of the flour dredge ingredients but it's likely that there will be some left on the plate.
The chicken is ready to serve when it's reached 165°.
Loved this recipe! Very flavorful! It’s a little timely- could you caramelize in the crockpot?
Any other shortcuts you would recommend?
Hi Sherrie, you can caramelize the onions in the crock pot over low heat, it may take up to 10 hours. Then I would transfer them to the stove and with some additional butter and some of the juices from the Crock Pot and cook over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes.
Easy and super good! Even if you don’t like French onion soup I think you will like this. I cook it all on the top of the stove and sprinkle cheese on it before serving. I have used slices and shredded cheese. I have also made without the wine and replaced with broth.
Thanks so much for your comments Linda, I love that you’ve made different variations of this one!💗
WOW!!!!! My 22 year old son was looking through my Cozy Cook recipes I have printed out (I have a ton of them) and he asked me to make this tonight (we just got done eating) along with your skillet potatoes. What a fantastic combination! First of all, I was not sure how my VERY picky husband would feel about this due to the onions. He had two huge helpings and said, “this is probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had” We only had enough left for my husband and son to pack some up to take to their jobs tomorrow. It was SO flavorful. I followed your recipe exact except for the cheese, instead of Mozzarella I used Muenster (grated myself) I am not a huge fan of Mozzarella. Another excellent recipe from you. Pretty soon all of my rotation meals will be from you 😉
Wow, I’m not sure what I love more, the fact that this was such a hit or that you have a bunch of The Cozy Cook recipes printed out!😃 Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and leave a review and thank you for your support!💗
Looks delicious, I can’t wait to try it! What size skillet do you use, is it the 5qt?
Hi Diana, I use the 3.5 quart skillet! 🙂