This French Onion Chicken bake is incredibly decadent and delicious. Seared chicken gets nestled into a dutch oven with caramelized onions and red wine, topped with gruyere cheese and fresh thyme sprigs, and then baked to perfection! Serve the chicken atop creamy mashed potatoes for a date night-worthy meal.
Table of Contents
- This recipe is…
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- French Onion Chicken Bake Recipe Ingredients
- Recipe Variations and Modifications
- How to Make French Onion Chicken
- Recipe Tips
- How to Serve
- How to Store and Reheat
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Favorite Chicken Recipes
- French Onion Chicken Bake Recipe
- Recipe Contributors
This recipe is…
There is something really special to be said about caramelized onions. They elevate every single dish they are a part of, and this French Onion chicken bake is no exception! Picture flour-dusted chicken breasts seared to golden perfection, then nestled in alongside sweet, rich caramelized onions, and topped with a generous amount of gruyere cheese and fresh thyme sprigs. Special, right? This meal, especially when served on a bed of fluffy, creamy mashed potatoes is absolutely perfect for any special occasion or date night in!
Looking for more impressive chicken recipes? We’ve got you! This one skillet lemon chicken and orzo is bright and delicious, this creamy garlic chicken skillet is surrounded by the yummiest garlic gravy, and this chicken scampi has been a reader favorite since the day it went live on the website.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s special – I said it a second ago, and I’ll say it again: this French onion chicken bake is something really, really special. The caramelized onions and melted gruyere cheese topping make for such a rich, satisfying, elevated dish!
- It’s easy – for being so decadent and special, this chicken dish is incredibly easy to pull off, especially if you already have caramelized onions on hand!
French Onion Chicken Bake Recipe Ingredients
You don’t need much to pull off this dish: the chicken, of course, caramelized onions, red wine, gruyere, fresh thyme, and a couple of other ingredients that you may have on hand already. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Chicken cutlets – chicken breast cutlets are ideal here, but you can definitely use chicken breasts and either pound them to a half inch thickness or butterfly the chicken breasts to that same thickness.
- Gruyere cheese – if you can’t find gruyere at your local grocery store, feel free to use Swiss cheese instead.
- Red wine – any red wine will do here, and, if you’d rather swap it for something non-alcoholic, an equal amount of chicken broth will do.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Nix the red wine – while the alcohol in the red wine will cook off, if you want to nix it completely, that’s totally fine. Feel free to substitute for extra chicken broth!
- Make it dairy-free – this recipe is pretty dairy-heavy, so if you want to make it dairy-free, you’ll need to make a couple of swaps. First, make sure your caramelized onions are cooked in olive oil (vs. butter), swap the butter used to sear the chicken for olive oil, and swap the gruyere cheese for a dairy-free version (there aren’t a ton of these, but I found this dairy-free gruyere on an artisan vegan cheese website, or you may have good luck at your local grocery store).
- Make it grain-free – skip the flour dusting to make this recipe grain-free.
- Make it gluten-free – to make this recipe gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour in place of conventional. We use and love King Arthur’s Measure for Measure gluten-free flour.
How to Make French Onion Chicken
This recipe is incredibly easy to make! Follow along below for the full how-to.
Step 1: Add 8 tablespoons of butter to a heavy-bottomed pot over low heat, and once melted, add the sliced onions and sea salt. Stir to combine, place a lid on top, and let the onions wilt for 30 minutes.
Step 2: After 30 minutes, take the lid off of the skillet and toss the onions in the butter. Turn the heat up to medium-low, and let the onions continue to caramelize, uncovered, for 45 minutes, scraping the pot and stirring the onions occasionally. Once caramelized, remove the onions from the pot, and set aside.
Step 3: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Dust the chicken breasts with flour, salt, and pepper.
Step 4: Turn the heat to medium-high, add 3 tablespoons of butter to the pot, and once melted, sear the chicken breasts for 3-4 minutes on each side, until a golden brown crust is formed. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
Step 5: Add the caramelized onions, red wine, and chicken broth to the pot, stirring to combine. Let the onion mixture simmer for 5-6 minutes, until slightly thickened and reduced. Then, nestle each chicken breast into the caramelized onion mixture, making sure to cover each piece of chicken with the onions. Top each piece of chicken with shredded gruyere cheese and a sprig of fresh thyme.
Step 6: Bake for 10 minutes. Then let cool slightly, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
Make the caramelized onions ahead of time – the best way to get ahead on this meal is to make a big batch of caramelized onions ahead of time. That’ll eliminate a lot of the day-of cooking time and make the entire process much quicker. If you purchased a block of gruyere cheese, you can also go ahead and shred that and then store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
How to Serve
Serve this delicious French onion chicken bake alongside mashed potatoes and, if you’re looking for a green veggie side, sautéed green beans would be an excellent choice.
How to Store and Reheat
Store any leftover French onion chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat, simply pop a serving in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, until warmed through.
Frequently Asked Questions
The flavors and ingredients in this French onion chicken bake are really similar to those in classic French onion soup (caramelized onions, Gruyere cheese, thyme, to name a few), which originated in France.
The hallmark flavors of any “French onion” dish (soup, this chicken bake, French onion dip, etc.) are sweet, rich caramelized onions,
More Favorite Chicken Recipes
If you tried this French Onion Chicken Bake or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
French Onion Chicken Bake
Ingredients
- 11 tablespoons butter, divided
- 2 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1¼ pounds chicken breast cutlets
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 8 ounces gruyere cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Add 8 tablespoons of butter to a heavy-bottomed pot over low heat, and once melted, add the sliced onions and sea salt. Stir to combine, place a lid on top, and let the onions wilt for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, take the lid off of the skillet and toss the onions in the butter. Turn the heat up to medium-low, and let the onions continue to caramelize, uncovered, for 45 minutes, scraping the pot and stirring the onions occasionally. Once caramelized, remove the onions from the pot, and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Dust the chicken breasts with flour, salt, and pepper.
- Turn the heat to medium-high, add 3 tablespoons of butter to the pot, and once melted, sear the chicken breasts for 3-4 minutes on each side, until a golden brown crust is formed. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
- Add the caramelized onions, red wine, and chicken broth to the pot, stirring to combine. Let the onion mixture simmer for 5-6 minutes, until slightly thickened and reduced. Then, nestle each chicken breast into the caramelized onion mixture, making sure to cover each piece of chicken with the onions. Top each piece of chicken with shredded gruyere cheese and a sprig of fresh thyme.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Then let cool slightly, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
-
- Use chicken breasts instead – chicken breast cutlets are ideal here, but you can definitely use chicken breasts and either pound them to a half inch thickness or butterfly the chicken breasts to that same thickness.
- Nix the red wine – while the alcohol in the red wine will cook off, if you want to nix it completely, that’s totally fine. Feel free to substitute for extra chicken broth!
-
- Make it dairy-free – this recipe is pretty dairy-heavy, so if you want to make it dairy-free, you’ll need to make a couple of swaps. First, make sure your caramelized onions are cooked in olive oil (vs. butter), swap the butter used to sear the chicken for olive oil, and swap the gruyere cheese for a dairy-free version (there aren’t a ton of these, but I found this dairy-free gruyere on an artisan vegan cheese website, or you may have good luck at your local grocery store).
-
- Make it grain-free – skip the flour dusting to make this recipe grain-free.
-
- Make it gluten-free – to make this recipe gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour in place of conventional. We use and love King Arthur’s Measure for Measure gluten-free flour.
Nutrition
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