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French Onion Chicken Skillet

The flavors you know and love in one easy skillet dinner!

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When we say this French onion chicken skillet is one of the best chicken dinners we’ve ever made, we are not exaggerating. Not even a little bit. For all you French onion soup lovers out there, get ready to have your minds blown; we turned one of our all-time favorite soups into a skillet dinner, adding chicken into the mix for some more protein and to make it a more well-rounded meal. But other than that, we prepared the onions almost exactly the same way we would to make the soup.

Which way is that exactly? Well to start, you’re going to need two pounds of Vidalia onions. We use Vidalias because they caramelize beautifully. They’re a sweeter onion to start, so that means they get even sweeter as they soften – no bitterness here! One thing to keep in mind though is that you do need a little time to dedicate to caramelizing these bad boys. You want to keep your heat relatively low, so the whole process takes 20-30 minutes, depending on how delightfully sweet and soft you want your onions to turn out. Once those are caramelized to perfection, you’ll want to make a nice sauce to coat your chicken and onions, then top it off with cheese, throw it in the oven and let it all cook together until the cheese is deliciously melted and your chicken is cooked through.

This is seriously an outstanding dish. If you’ve got the time to whip it up on a weeknight – we find it relaxing to cook the onions – it’ll blow your family away, otherwise, you’ll be sure to impress any and all guests for whom you make it. Regardless of whether you even like onions (it’s impossible not to like these!), this dish is a certified winner, every time!

Serves 4-6

1 hour

4.5
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Rated by 589 reviewers
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Ingredients
  • 2 pounds Vidalia onions, sliced
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 cup swiss cheese, grated
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
  • kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Preparation
  1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, oven-proof pan or skillet over medium heat. Add onions, season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes, or until softened and caramelized.
  3. Add balsamic vinegar and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until darkened, but not burned.
  4. Remove onions from heat and transfer to a medium bowl.
  5. Heat remaining olive oil in skillet and raise heat to medium-high.
  6. Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, thyme and sage, then place in skillet and sear on both sides until golden brown. Remove chicken from heat and set aside.
  7. Pour beef broth into skillet and bring mixture to a boil, scraping up stuck bits from the bottom of pan.
  8. Return heat to medium-low and whisk in flour, stirring until smooth. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until mixture has thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
  9. Return chicken and onions to pan, stir together with beef gravy, then top with grated swiss cheese.
  10. Transfer skillet to oven and cook until cheese is melted and bubbly, and chicken is cooked through.
  11. Remove from oven and serve hot. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Mother Thyme