Chicken Fricassee is a classic chicken recipe cooked in a skillet with a delicious and creamy mushroom sauce.
This is a really good chicken dinner. And I mean really good! Chicken Fricassee is a very old French dish. It’s sometimes made with beef or rabbit too. But this version is made with bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks.
This recipe comes from a fabulous new cookbook by Australia’s Nagi Maehashi: RecipeTin Eats Dinner. Let me just tell you how much I loved this cookbook from the moment I opened it and started browsing. It’s a good one, and it’s full of great recipes. I guess I’m not the only one who things so since it quickly made the New York Times Best Seller’s list. And it was the highest selling title ever by a debut author in its first week. Isn’t that awesome??
Here are some recipes in the book that sound absolutely droolworthy:
- Vietnamese Baked Chicken
- Cheesy Baked Broccoli Fritters
- Cauliflower Cheese Steaks
- One Pot Baked Greek Chicken and Lemon Rice
- Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce
- 3-Minute Double Smash Burger
- Peking Shredded Beef
- Garlic Roasted Mushrooms
- Butter Basted Steak
- Restaurant-Worthy Easy Shrimp Linguine
Honestly, I could go on and on. Every recipe in this book looks amazing. She even has a few desserts at the end. This is a must-have cookbook!
Ingredients needed:
- skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
- chicken drumsticks
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- unsalted butter
- white button mushrooms
- yellow onion
- bay leaf
- fresh thyme
- garlic
- all purpose flour
- chardonnay
- chicken broth
- heavy whipping cream
- fresh parsley
How to make Chicken Fricassee:
The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.
PREP THE CHICKEN:
PREP THE MUSHROOM SAUCE:
SIMMERING:
FINISH UP AND SERVE:
Return the chicken to the sauce, then remove the pan from the stove. Sprinkle with parsley (if using) and serve.
Recipe Notes:
- The chicken needs to be skin-on, bone-in thighs and leg pieces so they don’t overcook and dry out.
- To make this recipe non-alcoholic, it’s okay to replace the wine with chicken broth.
- No lid for your pan? Just use aluminum foil.
Traditionally fricassee is served over creamy mashed potatoes or white rice and with steamed vegetables. You can certainly serve it all on its own, and I promise you will be super happy with the flavors. But you don’t really want to waste any of those delicious juices, so it’s best to serve it over something that is going to soak them all up. We love ours served over mashed potatoes. Or you can use a hunk of toasted French bread for sopping up the leftover juices too. Enjoy!
The Best Chicken Recipes:
- Swiss Chicken Cassserole
- Easy Baked Chicken Drumsticks
- Chicken Pizzaiola
- Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna
- Sheet Pan Paprika Chicken
Chicken Fricassee
Ingredients
CHICKEN:
- Four 8-ounce skin-on bone-in chicken thighs
- Four 5-ounce chicken drumsticks
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE:
- 10 ounces small-ish white button mushrooms, halved
- 2 medium yellow onions, halved and then sliced ¼-inch thick
- 1 whole bay leaf (fresh or dried)
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme)
- 2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- ½ cup chardonnay wine (can sub Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ⅔ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
PREP THE CHICKEN:
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper. In a large, deep skillet with a lid, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs, skin-side down, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the skin is golden brown. Turn and cook the other side for 1 minute. Transfer to a plate. Add the drumsticks to the pan and brown them as best you can (3 sides for about 2 minutes each). Transfer the drumsticks to the plate with the thighs.
PREP THE MUSHROOM SAUCE:
- Add the mushrooms, onion, bay leaf and thyme to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes until the mushrooms are lightly golden. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine, chicken broth, salt and pepper and stir, scraping the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan into the sauce.
SIMMERING:
- Return the chicken, skin-side up to the pan with the sauce. Once the sauce comes to a simmer, adjust the heat so it's bubbling gently (medium-low should do it). Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Then remove the lid and let the fricassee simmer for 20 more minutes. The chicken will be cooked with the meat's internal temperature reaches 165℉.
FINISH UP AND SERVE:
- Transfer the chicken to a plate, leaving the sauce in the pan. Stir the cream into the sauce. Once the sauce comes back up to a simmer, taste it and add more salt if desired. Return the chicken to the sauce, then remove the pan from the stove. Sprinkle with parsley (if using) and serve. Traditionally fricassee is served over creamy mashed potatoes or white rice and with steamed vegetables.
Notes
- The chicken needs to be skin-on, bone-in thighs and leg pieces so they don't overcook and dry out.
- To make this recipe non-alcoholic, it's okay to replace the wine with chicken broth.
- No lid for your pan? Just use aluminum foil.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Very good recipe. I left the mushrooms out. Cut up a fresh baguette, for dipping.
The entire process took way longer than expected. But overall very yummy.