Country French Chicken is a healthy, easy, recipe that the whole family will love. Naturally gluten-free, filled with healthy veggies, and only uses one pot.
The Story Behind Country French Chicken
I've been making my recipe for Country French Chicken forever and ever. It's a great mid-week meal, chock full of healthy veggies, with a flavorful broth...and it can be made with any kind of potato or root vegetable, so it's an easy pantry meal.
Why do I call it Country French Chicken? Well, my grandmother made something similar to this, and she was French, so it must be as well. My grandmother didn't cook too many things well...sorry grandma, but you really weren't a good cook, but she did cook this well. It's really hard to screw up. And everyone loves it.
"My grandmother was French, and she wasn't known as an excellent cook. But when she cooked this, even she couldn't screw it up"
As I said, it's really an easy dinner to put together. I've always used chicken leg/thigh combos, but you could use either, or, or even a chicken breast ( although I would do bone-in if I were to do a breast ). Brown that up, add some potato, carrot, parsnip, squash, whatever root veggie you desire, a little white wine, herbs, add chicken stock, and let it simmer until the veggies are tender and the chicken is cooked through; plate it and then pat yourself on the back for putting another, no stress, healthy meal, on the table in just slightly under an hour.
And most of that hour is hands-free.
Plus it's done in one pan.
And it's GLUTEN FREE!
Buzzword! Yep, there is no gluten in chicken, potatoes, carrots, squash, parsnips, no nada none. There are however carbs and we all know that carbs and gluten are different things...right?
Right.
It's really simple to make...really.
If you want, you can use pre-cut butternut squash. (wink wink)
And then you have a delicious, nutritious, dinner. Enjoy with a glass of white burgundy, or chardonnay, if desired.
Of course, I desire...
Now, just to be honest here, I cook my chicken with the skin on and then I remove it. Why? Well, I find the chicken stays moist when cooked with the skin on, BUT chicken is only lean with the skin off. 75% of all the fat and calories in chicken comes from the skin. So this dinner cooked and eaten with the chicken skin on would be around 832 calories with 44g of fat. Take the skin off and it's only 505 calories and only 16g Fat. For me, it's worth it to take the skin off.
How about you?
LindySez: I made this recipe for two if you have more people than that, then just increase the amounts. I figure one leg/thigh combo per person unless they are little, then one leg or one thigh would be fine. One and a half potatoes per, or more or less, to your liking. One large carrot and a half a cup of cubed butternut squash per person should do it. A little more wine, a little more stock, and probably a bigger skillet ...
Easy One Pot Country French Chicken with Vegetables
Ingredients
- 4 leg/thigh combo chicken pieces
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3 potatoes you can use any kind you like, I like Yukon gold or red bliss, but russet or white potatoes will work too, even a sweet potato will work
- 2 large carrots cut in half or quarters then sliced into ½ inch slices
- 1 cup diced butternut squash (optional)
- ½ cup dry white wine or white vermouth I use vermouth as it is always consistent in flavor
- 11/2 cups approximately homemade or low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence*
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (optional) if you have it, add it, if you don't give it a little more of the herbs de Provence
- Freshly chopped parsley for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Heat a skillet large enough to hold all of the chicken pieces in a single layer over medium-high heat; season the chicken on both sides with salt and freshly ground pepper. Once the pan is hot, add the oil and butter, when the butter has melted, add the chicken pieces, skin side down, and brown well; turn and brown the other side.
- While the chicken is browning prepare your vegetables. After the chicken is browned, add the vegetables to the skillet, settling them in between the chicken pieces as best you can; sprinkle the herbs de Provence over the top along with a good pinch of salt; add the wine and reduce by half, then add enough chicken stock to come up half way on the chicken pieces. Add the bay leaf and thyme sprig. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Warm wide bowls in the oven. Place the chicken and vegetables into the bowl and spoon the sauce over. Sprinkle with fresh parsley, if desired.
anonymous says
I love cooking with thyme, and was glad to come across a recipe that used this wonderful herb! I am wondering if you would be able to recommend a brand of herbs de Provence?
LindySez says
I LoVE Thyme. It's a great all purpose herb. As far as herbs de Provence...I get mine at Cost Plus World Market, in the bag and transfer it to a glass jar. Those little bottles are so expensive, and I don't think they are any better, at least not as far as I can tell. When buying herbs I usually go for the bag LOL
Cher says
Sounds really fabulous! I love the descriptive photos with the captions - perfect!
LindySez says
Thanks Cher. I'm trying to be more blog like 🙂 Hope you try it...Cheers ~ Lindy