Easy French Onion Soup Chicken recipe with chicken breast cooked topped with caramelized onions and melted Fontina in savory French Onion Soup chicken broth. So delicious and comforting chicken dinner two-in-one; 1) a complete one pan dinner as everything starting from chicken to soup cook in one pan 2) a bone-warming soup to savor with your favorite crusty bread.
Oh, this recipe is gluten free. Serve with crusty bread or low-carb greens salad as per your diet preference.
French Onion Soup Chicken
French Onion Soup Chicken is low-carb and healthy marriage of French Onion Soup and Chicken to make delicious main-course dinner dish.
Frist time I had French Onion Soup in Utah while attending a Blog Conference. It was so cold that a cup of French Onion Soup felt like heaven sent. Prior to eating soup, I checked for the ingredients with chef because I don't eat beef. I wonder if recipe uses beef stock. The delicious amber color of soup confused me but chef said it is made with a good quality chicken broth. With every sip, I fell in love with the comforting savory broth.
On a chili night such as today,the Chicken Breast cooked with French Onion soup brings both to dinner table; a comforting soup and an a no-mess one pan dinner.
Honestly, because of one pan cooking, this recipe offers multiple layers of bold flavor with very less effort as all ingredients help each other pick more flavor.
What Do You Need To Make French Onion Chicken?
The two main ingredients for French Onion Chicken are in the name i.e. caramelized sweet onions, and chicken. The soup part of this recipe is as good as French Onion Soup. Chicken cooked on top comes out moist and juicy. This recipe is a great way to flavor boring chicken breast to an amazing restaurant quality meal.
Here is the complete list of what you need to make French Onion Soup Chicken:
- Chicken
- Yellow Onion
- Chicken Broth (good quality or use homemade)
- Garlic
- Thyme
- Cheese such as Fontina or Mozzarella
- Worcestershire
- Salt, peeper and oil
To speed up and even cooking of chicken breast, I use halved, boneless and skinless chicken breasts for this recipe. i.e. one chicken breast yields two pieces. This also help in right portion size. You can serve one or 2 pieces per serving.
Chicken breast halves cook very quickly (about 3-4 minutes each side). If using whole breast, adjust the cooking time accordingly. Or increase liquid in the soup and simmer chicken with soup before finishing with the cheese.
French Onion Soup Sauce
To make the French Onion Soup sauce, I caramelizeonions in the same skillet in which chicken was seared. Onions pick up all flavor bits of chicken from the skillet and become very delicious. It takes a little time to get onion caramelizeand sweet. To speed up the process I use little help of sugar. Sugar also enhances the flavor of caramelized onions.
To prevent onions from sticking to the bottom, add a tbsp water at a time and cook scarpingthe brownbits.
Once onions are caramelized, I make sauce in same pan with little bit garlic, thyme, chicken stock and Worcestershire. The flavor marriage of these ingredients with flavor bit in the skillet make deliciousFrench onion sauce. You will love how amber colored soup comes together in no time.
As soup sauce starts coming together, I add cooked chicken back in to warm up in the sauce. That's it. Top chicken with reserved onion and cheese. Melt cheese under broiler until bubbling. French Onion Chicken is ready to serve. Yum!
This Onion Chicken recipe is extra flavorful because:
- Everything cooks in the same skillet helping each layer pick up the flavor of the other. Onions pick up all of the flavor from the caramelized bits of cooked chicken. French Onion Sauce picks flavor from the sweet onions cooked in the same skillet.
- Worcestershire my secret to a deep flavor and rich colored French Onion Soup as if simmer for hours to develop flavor.
- Fontina Cheese ties togetherthe flavor of onion sauce with chicken. (moist, juicy, YUM)
What to Serve with French Onion Chicken Breast?
The best way to enjoy French Onion Chicken is with crusty French bread and/or a lite green salad. I recommend a lite seasoned Romaine Salad on the side.
To serve low-carb, try zoodles made of zucchini, or cauliflower rice.
Substitutes and Tips forSuccess
- Fontina cheese melts like mozzarella but it is more flavorful than mozzarella. I recommend using fontina for this recipe. However, if can't find fontina, you can use grated mozzarella instead.
- If don't have access to broiler then use skillet with a lid. Cover the skillet after placing cheese and simmer on low until cheese is melted (3-4 minutes).
- Chicken breast halves cook very quickly (about 3-4 minutes each side). If using whole breast, adjust the cooking time accordingly.
Friends, cook something different for the dinner tonight. This delicious French Onion Chicken is perfect for a cozy soup-as-main-for-dinner. The flavor of French Onion soup complements the moist chicken breast; sweet caramelized onion and salted fontina cheese brings everything together. It's like enjoying low-carb and high-protein bowl of French Onion Soup with Chicken Breast. You will love the flavors. Happy Cooking.
