Chicken Fricassée (quick French chicken stew)

This is our chef JB‘s Chicken Fricassée recipe. It’s a traditional French chicken stew made with browned chicken pieces braised in a creamy white mushroom sauce. A rustic family-style meal that’s easy enough for midweek, it’s a bit like a white sauce version of Coq au Vin – except it’s so much faster to make!

This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!

Chicken Fricassée

Pronounced “fri-ka-say”, this is a terrific recipe to get a cosy stew fix any night of the week without hours of slow cooking. This dish is a traditional French chicken stew made with a creamy white sauce with mushrooms, instead of the more common rich, dark brown sauce like you ordinarily see with stews, such as with Coq au Vin and this baked Chicken Stew.

I’m just going to tell it to you straight: the chicken is lovely (juicy, golden brown, etc etc) … but this dish is all about the creamy white sauce!!!

Ingredients in Chicken Fricassée

Here’s what you need to make Chicken Fricassée.

1. Chicken pieces

This dish is best made with skin-on, bone-in chicken pieces that stay nice and juicy after simmering in the sauce. Mind you, this is a quick stew that only calls for 30 minutes of simmering time. But still, boneless breast or thigh would overcook in this time. Having said that, I’ve included in notes in the recipe for how I would make Chicken Fricassée with breast and boneless thighs, because I know some of you will ask!!

2. Other ingredients in Chicken Fricassée

Here are the other ingredients required for Chicken Fricassée:

• Garlic and onion – The foundation upon which many savoury dishes are built, and Chicken Fricassée is no exception!

• Bay leaves and thyme – The herb flavourings for the sauce. Fresh is best if you have them, else dried is fine.

• Butter – It’s a French dish. Say no more! 😂

• Mushrooms – The traditional vegetable included in the sauce. Though really, this is such an adaptable dish that it can be made with any vegetable suitable for braising. Add those that can withstand a 30 minute braising time at the beginning, and faster-cooking vegetables (like green beans and asparagus) towards the end.

• White wine – Any white wine that’s not too woody or sweet will work great here. Chardonnay in particular adds really good flavour. Substitute with more low-sodium chicken stock/broth for a non-alcoholic version.

• Chicken stock/broth – This dish is extremely tasty made with regular store-bought chicken stock. But it becomes a restaurant-quality treat if you make it with homemade chicken stock! Homemade chicken stock is straightforward to make and really worth it for the added deliciousness. (Bonus: It’s lower sodium than store bought and you get extra nutrients from the bones).

• Flour – Used to lightly thicken the sauce.

• Cream – This also thickens the sauce as well as making the sauce rich, creamy and decadent!

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How to make Chicken Fricassée

In a nutshell, Chicken Fricassée is made by browning chicken pieces in butter, then braising them in a creamy mushroom sauce thickened with a little flour. It’s a quick stew so it’s only simmered for 30 minutes on the stove which is all you need for the chicken to cook through.

1. Brown chicken – First, we sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Then in a large skillet or pot that has a lid, melt the butter over medium-high heat. (If your pot/skillet doesn’t have a lid or you don’t have a lid from another pot that is the same size or larger, don’t stress, there’s options – I outline these in the simmering step.)

   Brown the chicken thighs first, placing them in the butter skin side down. Cook them for 4 – 5 minutes until nice and golden, then turn and cook the other side for just 1 minute. Remove the thighs from the skillet to a plate or tray. Now do the drumsticks. For drumsticks, I usually sear 3 sides which gets decent coverage all around – about 2 minutes on each side. Once done, add them to the plate holding the thighs.

   There will still be plenty of butter left in the skillet, which has now transformed into browned butter. Which means it’s extra tasty – woo!

2. Sauté mushrooms – To start the sauce, sauté the onions, mushrooms, thyme and bay leaves for around 5 minutes in the residual butter, adding the garlic towards the end. The mushrooms will change from white to light golden, but won’t go a deep golden brown. There’s no point browning mushrooms well because they will lose the colour when braised.

   Then add the flour and cook it for 1 minute to cook out the raw floury taste.

3. Add stock and wine – Then add the wine and chicken stock. Stir well, scraping the base of the pot to dissolve all the golden bits stuck on the base of the pot into the sauce. This stuff is called “fond” and it’s concentrated flavours that makes the sauce even tastier!

4. Return chicken to pan – Return the chicken to the pot, skin side up. It will mostly be submerged, and that’s exactly what we want. The braising liquid will keep the chicken nice and juicy, while the chicken will absorb the tasty sauce flavour!

5. Simmer covered 10 minutes – Once the chicken is in the sauce, bring the liquid back up to a simmer. Then adjust the heat so it’s bubbling constantly but not boiling rapidly – see video to see what this looks like. On my stove, it’s medium heat.

   Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes.

6. Uncovered 20 minutes – Remove the lid then simmer for a further 20 minutes. In this step, the sauce will reduce and thicken into a thin gravy consistency.

   “When is the chicken cooked?” – By this time, the chicken will be cooked. 30 minutes mightn’t sound like long for a stew, but that’s all you need because the chicken is cooked submerged in a very hot liquid. It will be completely cooked and quite tender, though not at the “fall-apart-at-a-touch” stage which is intentional.

7. Now make the sauce creamy … – Remove chicken from the sauce to a plate. Add the cream, stir, then bring the sauce back up to a simmer.

8. Garnish and serve! Once the sauce comes back up to a simmer, return the chicken to the sauce. There’s no need to simmer the sauce after the cream is added.

   Garnish with a good amount of parsley, and it’s ready to serve!

Matters of serving and eating!

How to serve Chicken Fricassée

Chicken Fricassée can be served directly in individual servings. Otherwise, serve it family-style by placing either the cooking vessel on the table or transfer the Chicken Fricassée to a large serving bowl so people can help themselves.

Starchy sides

As for what to serve with Chicken Fricassée, any sauce this good demands a starchy partner! Mashed potato is traditional (Cauliflower Mash for those going low-carb) though I was interested to learn that rice is not unheard of either.

Short pastas like macaroni, penne and ziti would also be ideal. Basically anything that let’s you enjoy every drop of that gorgeous creamy mushroom sauce!!

Side salad

We’re a little light on the vegetables in Chicken Fricassée! So round off your meal with a nice side of greens. Try a big bowl of roasted vegetables, Garlic Sautéed Spinach, a fresh French Bistro Salad, Roasted Asparagus or a big bowl of leafy greens tossed with a French Vinaigrette.

If you try this Chicken Fricassée, share below in the comments what you served it with. People want to know! 😊 – Nagi x

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Watch how to make it

This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!

Life of Dozer

Ordinarily I hose him down with the garden hose after his beach session. But it was bitterly cold on this particular morning, so I took pity on him. #sucker (that’s me I’m referring to!).