French Onion Chicken Bake is the perfect savory comfort meal the whole family will adore. Great to serve over pasta or potatoes, this nostalgic dish is packed with delicious ingredients and includes a homemade onion gravy for maximum flavor!
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Looking for a classic, crowd-pleasing French onion chicken recipe to add to your repertoire? This is a stress-free dinner with perfect results every time! The whole family will love this dish, whether you reserve it for special meals or incorporate it into your weekly meal rotation.
Why This Recipe Works
Featuring common, simple ingredients you're used to cooking with, this is an incredible chicken recipe that leans into the flavor of classic French onion soup like my French Onion Pork Chops.
The result is a savory dish with perfectly juicy chicken and saucy caramelized onions! This is great to serve over rice, pasta, potatoes, or just to eat on its own.
Similar to my Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Bake or this Baked Lemon Pepper Chicken, you'll love the ease of this simple recipe with restaurant-quality results!
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken Breasts: You can also use chicken thighs if you prefer, but my go-to for this recipe is boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Seasonings: Use a blend of Italian seasoning, garlic powder, cloves, and thyme.
- Cheese: For a nice melted cheese, I like to use something mild like provolone as well as Parmesan cheese for salty flavor.
- Onions: I like to use sweet onions here, but feel free to substitute vidalia onions, white onions, or yellow onions.
- Olive Oil
- Butter
- Sherry Wine: Deepens the flavors and helps to deglaze the skillet. White wine works as well.
- Soy Sauce: Gives the dish a more complex umami flavor--use low sodium soy sauce to avoid adding to much saltiness.
- Beef Stock: You can also use a low sodium beef broth to keep things light, or even substitute chicken broth or vegetable broth instead.
How to Make this French Onion Chicken Bake
- Step 1: Coat the chicken breasts in a mixture of Italian seasoning, flour, Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder. In a large skillet, sear on each side for 3 to 4 minutes and set aside.
- Step 2: In the same skillet, melt butter and add oil, then add sliced onions and saute until caramelized and tender, about 15 minutes.
- Step 3: To the onions, add garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant.
- Step 4: Add sherry wine and scrape the bottom of the pan. Add soy sauce and beef stock and simmer until slightly thickened.
- Step 5: Return the chicken to the pan and cook on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes.
- Step 6: Top each chicken with provolone cheese, then bake at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Recipe Tips
- If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, you can bake your chicken in a casserole dish or another baking dish. After you've made the onion mixture with the savory broth, add it to the casserole dish with the chicken, bake for 8 minutes, then add cheese and bake another 10-15 minutes.
- If you choose to use chicken thighs, they may need an extra minute or two. Chicken is fully cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, so use an instant-read thermometer to check on it.
- Feel free to substitute other cheeses like Swiss cheese, Gruyere cheese, or mozzarella.
- Allow leftovers to cool and transfer to an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
- To reheat leftovers, return to a pan over medium heat or pop back in the oven at 350 degrees F until everything is properly heated through.
Recipe FAQ's
French onion soup is named for its origins in France, where it became a staple dish in the 17th century. It features caramelized onions, provolone cheese, Gruyere cheese, and thyme. The classic presentation with toasted bread and melted cheese on top further ties the dish to French culinary tradition.
Because the baking is just to finish off the chicken and melt the cheese, I actually go for 450 degrees in this dish. Ideally, your onion chicken bake will only be in the oven for 10 minutes, so the high heat won't be enough to dry it out.
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French Onion Chicken Bake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs chicken breasts boneless skinless cut into 4-6 equally size pieces
- ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese grated
- 4 tablespoons oil divided
- 2 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 2 pounds sweet onions peeled & sliced to ¼” thick rings
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ cup sherry wine
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 2 cups beef stock or broth
- 2 cups provolone cheese shredded (mozzarella or Gruyère)
Instructions
- In a shallow bowl, add the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, flour, and grated Parmesan cheese. Dredge each side of the chicken and set aside on a new plate.
- In a large ovenproof skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add the seasoned chicken and sear on each side for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add the butter and remaining 2 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat; once the butter is melted, add the sliced onions and stir to coat the onions. Saute for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cover for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and starting to caramelize.
- Add the garlic and thyme and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Add the sherry wine and cook until completely reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Add the soy sauce and beef stock, increase the heat to high, bring to a boil, and then continue cooking to reduce the liquid for 8-10 minutes.
- a. Note: You want this to be a dark brown sauce, not thin like onion soup, but not gravy.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Return the chicken to the pan and cook in the onion sauce on medium/medium plus heat for 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and top each piece of chicken with the ¼ cup shredded cheese, then place the pan in the 450-degree oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts and starts to brown. The internal temperature of the chicken should be at 165 degrees F.
- Spoon cooked onions on the baked chicken and serve while warm. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and fresh parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Swiss, Gruyère, or mozzarella for a different flavor profile.
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs can also be used, you may have to adjust the cooking time a bit.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and spray a 9x13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Add the cooked onion mixture to the bottom of the casserole dish and top with the seared chicken. Place this casserole into the oven and cook for 8 minutes.
- Remove from the oven after 8 minutes. Top with shredded cheese, and return the pan to the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes once the cheese is melted and starts to brown. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for a few moments.
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