Chicken Fricassée

Just a decade or two ago, chicken dinners often had a reputation as ho-hum and perhaps even a little bland. But if you view chicken as a high-protein, affordable, and versatile staple that’s easy to customize based on your mood, cravings, and goals (hey, Marry Me Chicken has sparked some real love stories!), you start to realize this bird is full of possibilities. 

Chicken is also full of flavor when you fix it fricassée (pronounced fri-kah-say) style. Read on to learn more about this comforting chicken stew and to discover what sets it apart from other chicken dinner ideas. We’re also dishing about the best sides, desserts, and wine pairings to consider serving alongside to round out the meal. And then stick around for the star of the show: Our foolproof Chicken Fricassée recipe.

What Is Chicken Fricassée?

Fricassée is a cooking technique that comes from the French word for “to fry” (frire) and “to break into pieces” (casser). It refers to browning pieces of a food, usually chicken (but we love this mushroom rendition!), in a pan before stewing it in a creamy white mushroom sauce along with aromatic vegetables and herbs. The result is a hearty, one-pot French chicken stew that’s like the white sauce cousin of red wine-infused Coq au Vin.

Icons like Julia Child, Nigella Lawson, and Geoffrey Zakarian have all shared their own plays on chicken fricassé—and with the easy Chicken Fricassé recipe below, you can join them

As these chefs and many home cooks across France (and now the globe) prove, Chicken Fricassée recipes vary quite a bit. They might include morel mushrooms instead of creminis when they’re in season, sometimes feature white wine in the sauce, and may or may not include potatoes in the stew itself. A fair amount of folks opt to serve spuds or pasta on the side instead. 

Chicken Fricassée Ingredients

We designed our homemade Chicken Fricassé recipe to use flavor-packed yet easily-accessible ingredients. To deliver a full, family-friendly meal in a single pot, we call for vinegar instead of wine and suggest adding fingerling potatoes to the mix.

Most of the chicken dinner ingredients are self-explanatory, but here are a few notes to guide your shopping and cooking.

• Whole chicken legs: Estimate 1 whole chicken leg (drumstick and thigh) per adult serving. Note that this is different from chicken leg quarters, which has a portion of the back attached as well.
• All-purpose flour: Dusting the chicken pieces in a small amount of flour helps the skin get nicely crisp and brown when you sear it in the pan before adding the sauce ingredients. 
• Cremini mushrooms: Available year-round at most supermarkets, creminis are budget-friendly and lend mildly earthy flavor and a pleasant meaty texture. If you can’t find or don’t dig cremini mushrooms, white or Shiitake mushrooms are suitable substitutes.
• Red wine vinegar: If you prefer to use real wine, 2 tablespoons should impart similar flavor to 1/4 cup wine vinegar.
• Chicken broth: Store-bought or homemade chicken broth or stock; pick your favorite.
• Fingerling potatoes: These buttery, tender potatoes shine in stews. Look for fingerlings that are approximately the same size, or cut them into pieces that are about equal, to ensure even cooking.
• Bouquet garni: French for “garnished bouquet,” this is simply a fancy term for a bundle of herbs tied up with string and used to infuse flavor into soups, stews, stocks, and other saucy braised items. For this Chicken Fricassé recipe, we suggest 3 sprigs of fresh parsley, 3 sprigs of fresh thyme, and 1 bay leaf.
• Heavy cream: Stirring in some cream near the end of the cook time adds luxurious richness to the sauce. No cream on hand? Half-and-half and whole milk both work as one-for-one heavy cream substitutes; the result will be just a hint less rich.

How to Make Chicken Fricassée Recipe

The full step-by-step instructions for this Chicken Fricassée recipe follow. Here’s a quick overview that shows how simple it is to execute this elegant Sunday dinner idea:

• Season and sear the chicken. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, coat them in a light layer of flour, then brown them in two batches in a Dutch oven.
• Sauté the veggies and vinegar. To the drippings left in the Dutch oven, toss in the sliced mushrooms, carrots, and quartered shallots. A few minutes later, add the garlic, and then the vinegar. 
• Bring the broth to a boil. Once the vinegar is evaporated, pour in the broth and bring this mixture to a boil.
• Add the chicken, potatoes, and herbs. Place the chicken back in the broth blend, then add the halved fingerlings and the bouquet garni.
• Bake or simmer until the chicken is tender and cooked through. Now it’s time to choose your own adventure: Simmer the fricassée on the stove for 45 minutes or bake in a 350°F oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until chicken is tender, no longer pink, and a meat thermometer reads 170°F in the thickest part of the breasts and 180°F in the center of the thighs and drumsticks.
• As the chicken rests, make the sauce. Remove the chicken and veggies from the pot and cover them with foil to keep warm. Discard the herb bundle, stir in fresh thyme, and cook uncovered for 10 minutes to reduce the sauce. Stir in cream, gently boil for 5 minutes more, and spoon the sauce over the chicken, potatoes, and vegetables. 

What to Serve With Chicken Fricassée 

Since this one-pot chicken recipe includes meat, potatoes, and a few vegetables, you could serve it as a complete meal on its own. 

For even more variety and balance, we usually add another side—Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus or Oven-Roasted Brussels Sprouts, depending on the season—and love to offer bread (such as Overnight Refrigerator Rolls, or Classic Sourdough Bread) to help mop up every drop of that savory sauce. To really elevate the experience, round out the meal with a French dessert.

If you’re in the mood for a wine pairing, we recommend a light red wine such as Bordeaux or Pinot Noir,  or a full-bodied white like unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay.