Chicken Fricassee (One-Pan Recipe)

My husband loves chicken breasts so much that he asks me to make them every day. This is probably why I have so many easy chicken recipes on this blog.

Because of his love for chicken breasts, I’ve learned to make chicken breasts a regular in my daily cooking and built a repertoire of go-to recipes that uses them as the star ingredient. Today’s recipe, this Easy Chicken Fricassee Recipe is one of those recipes that is incredibly flavorful with a delicious creamy sauce. Not to mention, it is a one-pan meal you can make in under an hour.

What is Chicken Fricassee – Fricassee Definition

Fricassee is a French cooking method in which meat is braised and served with a white sauce made from its own juices. (source)

While you can use any type of meat, fish, and even vegetables to make fricassee, one of the most popular recipes is chicken fricassee due to the availability and affordability of chicken.

Traditional French Fricassee became very popular in the American tables after Julia Child authored it in her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In this book, it is listed as one of the original comfort food recipes made with humble ingredients. If you were to read her version of this recipe, you’d see that hers is quite lengthy and requires a lot of time to make.

My version of the hearty dish that you see here is an adaptation from America’s Test Kitchen’s website. I have been making it for years and it has been one of the main dishes that I frequent often, especially if I am entertaining.

This version, compared to Julia Child’s version is rather quick and easy to make. The whole thing happens in a single pot, and once you have mise-en-place ready, it comes together in 30 minutes (a total of 50 minutes with prep time). To me, that is French cuisine at its best!

How to make this recipe?

The process of making this Quick Chicken Fricassee has 4 parts.

First, before you brown chicken, pat-dry the meat with paper towels and season it well with kosher salt and black pepper.

Second, heat oil and butter in a heavy large skillet. Sear the boneless skinless chicken breasts over medium heat until lightly browned, 3-4 minutes on each side.

At this stage, the chicken breasts will not be fully cooked. Once browned, remove them from the pan, cover with foil, and set them aside.

Third, cook the vegetables with a little bit of white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanch) in the same deep skillet making sure to scrape the brown bits at the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon as you cook. While you can use any vegetables, this quick chicken fricassee recipe uses mushrooms, onions, and garlic.

Once the vegetables are softened add in a tablespoon of all purpose flour to thicken the sauce. Cook it for 30-45 seconds, stirring constantly.

Next, you add in chicken broth (I used my homemade chicken stock), return chicken pieces back in the pot, put the lid on, bring to a boil, turn it down to medium low heat, and let it simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked thoroughly. I always check the doneness of chicken breasts by using an instant meat thermometer. It is considered cooked when chicken breasts register over 160 degrees.

If you need an instant thermometer, this is the one (affiliate link) I have been using for years. I think it is a rather inexpensive investment for a very important job.

How to make the creamy white sauce

The last part of the recipe is making the white wine cream sauce. In my opinion, this sauce is what makes this creamy chicken fricassee recipe out of this world.

To make the fricassee sauce, you whisk together sour cream with one egg yolk and temper it with some of the liquid from the simmering sauce. Here it is important that you continue to whisk as you add the hot liquid into the sour cream mixture to prevent.

Then you add the mixture back into the pot and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce is thickened to your liking. It should be a silky sauce with chunks of mushrooms.

Final Steps:

At this stage, this chicken mushroom fricassee is a good recipe. However, it gets a next-level recipe when you add fresh chopped tarragon, ground nutmeg, and lemon juice. In my opinion, the addition of these last ingredients (tarragon being the star of the show) takes this recipe from good to great.

One of my best friends is a chef. She always tells me that chicken and tarragon are made for each other. This Tarragon Chicken Fricassee is a recipe where you can see why.

The licorice-like taste of tarragon paired with earthy flavors of mushrooms and meaty chicken produces an incredibly flavorful chicken dish.

With that being said, you can use a few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves if you can’t get your hands on tarragon.

When ready to serve, simply place a chicken breast on a bed of rice (or bulgur) pilaf and spoon a generous amount of the sauce over the chicken. If preferred, sprinkle it with more chopped fresh tarragon.

What to serve with this recipe

Most recipes you find in books and online serve chicken fricassee with rice. While that is a great option, I served mine with bulgur pilaf and blanched green peas. I am a huge fan of bulgur pilaf with meat dishes and cannot recommend it enough if you have never tried it.

Another great side dish to serve is my lemon quinoa or any of my Quinoa Salad Recipes. It comes together in just around 20-25 minutes and goes so well with this fricasseed chicken.

With that being said, this dish can also be served with various vegetable side dishes, steamed vegetables (like green peas, asparagus, or green beans), roasted asparagus, baked butternut squash, mashed potatoes, or a crisp green salad like my Butter Lettuce Salad.

And if all else fails, serve it with crusty bread like my No-Knead Bread or continue with the French theme and serve it with sliced Homemade Brioche Bread.