Braised French Onion Chicken Thighs

These French onion chicken thighs feature fall-apart tender braised chicken thighs in a rich French onion soup broth that’s amazing over mashed potatoes or served with bread for dipping!

We love our French onion soup around here so it was really only a matter of time before it made its way into these killer chicken thighs.

Basically all we’re doing here today is making a base of French onion soup, braising chicken thighs in the soup until fall-apart tender, covering the whole deal with cheese, and finally grabbing the biggest loaf of French bread you can find for dipping.

It’s seriously the most perfect combo of comfort food and definitely hits the spot on these cold February days.

It’s also SO incredibly easy to pull off, yet still feels fancy! Minimal ingredients and most of the cook time is inactive anyways since the chicken gets a nice long braise in the oven.

This French Onion Chicken feature…

• Perfectly tender chicken thighs that fall easily off the bone.
• A deeply flavorful French onion soup base with caramelized onions and beef broth.
• A layer of melted swiss cheese and lots of fresh thyme.

Making the French Onion Chicken Thighs

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• Sweet onion
• Unsalted butter
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• White wine
• Chicken thighs
• Beef broth
• Thyme
• Shredded swiss
• French bread

Choosing Your Chicken

We recommend using bone-in chicken thighs for this recipe because we found that this particular cut of chicken with the bone inside helps the chicken cook up extra tender.

If you don’t have bone-in thighs on hand, no worries you can still make this recipe! Boneless chicken thighs or breasts will work, you just may have to adjust the cook time slightly. Start checking the chicken around the 1-hour mark and add additional time as needed until the chicken pulls apart easily with a fork.

Tips for Perfect French Onion Chicken Thighs

1. Slowly caramelize onions – cook the onions over medium-low heat 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are a deep golden brown. Don’t be tempted to bump up the heat! – Caramelized onions need time to slowly caramelize the sugars.
2. Deglaze pan with white wine – use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits – you want all this flavor in your onions!
3. Pan sear chicken thighs – this builds a very flavorful base for the beef broth the chicken will be braised in.
4. Braise chicken 1 to 1-1/2 hours – cover the pan with a lid or a double-layer of tin foil and allow the chicken to braise in a 325F oven until the chicken pulls easily off of the bone.
5. Crisp up chicken skin – optionally, you can remove the chicken from the pan and sear skin-side down in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until chicken skin is crispy again.
6. Broil cheese on top – top the chicken with shredded swiss or provolone cheese and broil until lightly browned.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on this recipe!

• Add mushrooms – shiitake or button mushrooms would be a great addition to this chicken. Add them in during the last 5 minutes of caramelizing the onions and proceed with recipe.
• Skip the wine – simply add an equal amount of beef broth for an alcohol-free version.
• Try a different cheese – grated Parmesan, asiago, or gouda would be great replacements for the swiss.

Make Ahead Instructions

Follow these instructions if you would like to make some components of this dish ahead of time.

• Caramelize onions – the caramelized onions may be made and stored in fridge up to 6 days.
• Make it crockpot – instead of braising the chicken in the oven, you can transfer everything to a crockpot and cook on high 3-5 hours or on low 6-8 hours.

Leftovers of this chicken store well in the fridge up to 6 days. Be aware the broth will solidify slightly after its chilled, but it will return to liquid state after heating.

This chicken is seriously SO loaded with flavors and I’m just gonna say it, it has a SLIGHT edge up on the classic soup.

For a full meal, pair it with some creamy mashed potatoes and a thick slice of French bread and there’s really no going wrong.

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

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