Chicken Fricassee is a classic French dish that is timeless. The chicken is browned, then slowly braised with onions, garlic, herbs and carrots in a white wine cream sauce.
Serve this amazing chicken fricassee recipe with our creamy mashed potatoes and a crusty bread to experience the fullness of French cuisine. Your friends and family will be so impressed!
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Chicken Fricassee Recipe
French cuisine has always had a shroud of mystery surrounding it and rightfully so. Many countries’ cuisines have been influenced by it! However, it doesn’t mean that attempting French dishes like this Chicken Fricassee Recipe at home should be complicated.
What is the Origin of Chicken Fricassee?
This chicken fricassee recipe is not the one that comes from Michelin star restaurants. This recipe is the heritage of country cooks aka home cooks like you and I. It is rustic and simple. This recipe doesn’t require precise measurements but instead relies on quality ingredients and a slow braising technique for its savory and rich taste.
What is Chicken Fricassee?
It is more of a method of cooking than an actual recipe. Chicken Fricassee literally means cut up and fried chicken, so what you add to the chicken is up to the cook entirely.
However, what is nowadays accepted as a chicken fricassee is chicken braised in white wine cream sauce.
What Vegetables can I put in Chicken Fricassee?
Good news is you can add any vegetables that can sustain a slow braising process without falling apart. So carrots, mushrooms, green beans or even broccoli will all work well here.
How to Make Chicken Fricassee:
- Brown chicken pieces until golden and removing them to a separate plate.
- In the same pan, sautee onions, carrots, garlic and your choice of herbs.
- Next we need to thicken the sauce by adding flour and quickly cooking it until it’s mixed with the butter and smells slightly nutty.
- Add white wine and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a thick sauce.
- Return the browned chicken with the juices back to the pan and cook in the oven uncovered for 45 minutes.
The final touch is the addition of cream. It’s important to add it last, so it doesn’t separate under the intense heat of the oven. After your chicken has finished its time in the oven, stir in a splash of heavy cream.
We used heavy cream for thicker sauce, however you can add light cream, which will result in a slightly thinner sauce with less calories. The choice is yours. We love to enjoy this with Sourdough Bread or Sourdough Dinner Rolls.
More Chicken Recipes
- Spatchcock Chicken – best way to roast a whole chicken
- Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo – in a lighter cream sauce
- Korean Chicken – sticky glazed chicken thighs and legs
- Chicken Madeira – famous Cheesecake Factory copycat
- French Chicken Casserole (Vikalinka) – creamy and excellent
- Chicken Marsala in a mushroom wine sauce
I hope this Chicken Fricassee Recipe becomes a new favorite for you. It is an excellent staple for any kitchen and you can change the vegetables and herbs based on what you have on hand.
Chicken Fricassee
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 8 chicken thighs and legs, combined
- salt and pepper , to taste
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 small onion , chopped
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 carrots, cut in large pieces
- 3-4 sprigs thyme, (leaves only)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dry white wine , such as Sauvignon Blanc
- 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Pat dry chicken with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Place a large deep pan over medium/high heat with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Brown chicken approximately 4 minutes per side until golden on each side but not cooked through. Remove to a plate and set aside until needed. Discard excess fat leaving 1 Tbsp in the pan.
- Add 1 Tbsp butter to the pan and saute chopped onions and carrots over low heat for 7-10 minutes. Add minced garlic and fresh thyme leaves and cook briefly for 30 seconds. Add 2 Tbsp flour and cook while stirring until flour is completely absorbed by the fat and mixture smells nutty. Add 1/2 cup white wine and simmer until slightly reduced. Pour in 1 1/2 cups chicken stock.
- Return chicken to the pan together with the juices and bake uncovered at 350˚F for 45 minutes.
- Take the chicken out of the oven and add 1/2 cup heavy cream, stir until combined. Taste and season with salt if needed.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
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I made this the first time and my daughter loved it. Now she wants it for her bday dinner coming up. The problem is my oven safe pan can’t hold that much servings and the only thing big enough would be my Dutch oven quart pan. What it be okay to either stack the chicken in the skillet or use the le cruset Dutch oven to make it in?
Hi Ani, I would not stack the chicken but it might work fine to just make two batches in two separate skillets and bake together, or sautee up two batches and combine them in an oven-safe casserole dish then bake. It would create another dish to wash though.
Absolutely delicious! My picky teenage son loved it and ate up the whole pan. I only had chicken breast on hand so just a few tips: you have to cut back on the oven bake. Not much but like 15 min so it won’t dry out. I used my meat thermometer to determine when to take out of oven, at 165 internal temp. Next time I might bake the sauce first for 10-15 and then add the chicken breasts. Bon Appetit!
Thank you for sharing that with us, Amy. We also appreciate your tips!
What an amazing, delicious, affordable weeknight dinner! I love every recipe of yours that I’ve tried. So grateful for you!
Thank you for that wonderful compliment! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Can this be made a day in advance? Does it keep well frozen?
Hi May, you should be able to but I wouldn’t suggest freezing it for more than a few days.
I made this today with a baked potato… YUMMY!!! Family loved it too…
That’s a perfect combo, I’m glad you and your family enjoyed it!
What is considered to be a serving size for this? I am making this tonight and I try to stick to my calorie count. It is smelling yummy!!
What if I don’t have the heavy cream?
Hi Nancy, I haven’t tested this, but I think it could work with half and half. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
It looks amazing with the addition of cream and carrots but down in Louisiana we don’t add that. It’s lot of trinity, broth, and a light roux, stewed down and served over rice. Fracases means to stew not fry.
as mentioned in the recipe blog notes use any cream you wish
Thank you so much for wonderful recipes you share. This was very quick and easy yet so tasty!!! My family all loved it with mush potato with spinach. I have already printed the recipe and added it to my master file 😉
Personally I would maybe add more carrots but that’s just me!
I’m so happy you’re enjoying my recipes, Yuri! Thank you for that lovely review!
This dish was fairly easy to prepare and was absolutely scrumptious! I served it with homemade mashed potatoes as suggested and crusty bread and it was a delight thank you so much. I added the mushrooms as suggested which were really wonderful in there.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, Stephanie! Thank you for sharing that great feedback with me!
Hi! If I were to use breasts for this recipe, how long should I cook in the oven for? Thank you, I’d love to try but my family likes them over thighs!!!
Hi KP, that should work. I haven’t tested that with chicken breast myself, but you will need to cut down cook time to avoid drying the chicken out. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
Made this last night along with your 3 other recipes of the cherry pie, apple pie and the butter crust. MY GOODNESS!!! THEY NEED TO ALLOW MORE THAN 5 STARS!!! THANK YOU for the successful family dinner. And making delicious meals where I’m not slaving in the kitchen all day long.
Love it, that is fantastic feedback. Thank you for sharing that with us, Karen! Glad you enjoyed these recipes that you tried.
Made this last night. Used bone-in, skinless thighs only. The only thing I didn’t do was taste it for proper salt & pepper at the end. It was still excellent. Will keep this in our regular rotation.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this last night and it was amazing. THANK YOU!
You’re welcome, Todd! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
So very yummy! I had to add a lot of salt at the end, but it’s all good! I also added two diced potatoes right before putting this into the oven and they were perfectly cooked! Will definitely make this again!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Excellent. Wish I could leave 10 stars. I used a whole chicken cut into six pieces. Can’t wait to make again. Next time I’ll add a few more carrots.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Hi Penny, thank you for your wonderful feedback and for your perfect review. We appreciate it!
This is delicious! Even my husband who doesn’t love chicken will eat it. I love all of your recipes that I’ve tried. Thank you!
Hello Heather, I’m happy to hear that! I hope you’ll both enjoy every recipe that you will try.
Fabulous dish. I made your beef stroganoff the other night and it was so good I had to try another one of your dishes. However, I made the full amount 8 thighs and there are only two of us. How about reheating with the cream already added. Any issues, or just slow reheat?
Hi Melissa, I’m glad you enjoyed the stroganoff recipe. Yes, you may reheat with the cream added, just use slow heat and it should be good.
I made this the other night but did not add the cream…it was delicious!
So nice to know that it was still delicious even without the cream. Thank you, Cindy!
Made homemade fettuccine to go with the chicken. It was my first time using a kitchenaid pasta machine and I had some problems getting it to come out right lol. My husband decided that he was going to cook the chicken and asked me what to do. I explained what he had to do and what ingredients to put in. I told him at the very end he had to add the heavy cream. He added it before adding the flour and the heavy cream started to separate lol. I had to add the flour and blend it with the broth and hope to be able to hide the fact that the heavy cream started to separate. Thank goodness it covered up the fact that the heavy cream had separated and the sauce was as smooth as butter. Awesome recipe NATASHA! Definitely making this again. Love your recipes and look forward to doing more. Thank you for posting the recipes.
Very nice! I’m glad that the end result was still good. Thanks for sharing that with us, Christine!
hi can i use moscato white wine?
Hi Sheena, I have not tried this with Moscato; if you happen to experiment, I would love to know how you like it.
Moscato in this dish could be too sweet. Moscato is my favourite wine, but it doesn’t do well for me in savoury dishes. I always have a bottle of pinot grigio for cooking.