French Onion Chicken Skillet Recipe
This recipe takes everything you love about classic French onion soup and turns it into an easy to make, high-protein chicken dish. The sweet caramelized onions make an elegant and flavorful sauce and the gruyere parmesan cheese melted on top adds decadent and richness.
The star of this dish is the caramelized onions. The cast iron cooks the onions beautifully so you get crunchy brown bits of cooked onion to drizzle over your chicken. Get a piece of crusty bread to dip into the sauce and you’ll be in heaven!
Toss your chicken over white rice or cauliflower rice or just a simple green salad. For a fancy dinner, serve with air fryer twice baked potatoes and a rocket fennel and pear salad.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- 45g of protein per serving.
- One pan meal.
Ingredients and Substitutes:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list and instructions for French onion chicken.
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast: substitute with chicken thighs for a richer, deeper chicken flavor.
- Yellow Onions: yellow or sweet onions are the best for caramelized onions.
- Garlic
- Fresh Thyme: if using dried, only use 1/4 tsp.
- Beef Broth: I used low-sodium. Chicken broth, chicken stock or vegetable broth work but beef broth gives a deeper and richer flavor.
- Gruyere Cheese: the most authentic cheese for a classic French onion soup flavor. It can be omitted to lower the fat, but the melted cheese really makes the dish. You can also use Swiss cheese or mozzarella cheese.
- Parmesan Cheese: you can omit this to lower the fat.
Variations
- Try crockpot French onion chicken for an easy, slow cooker version.
Dietary Modifications
- This recipe is gluten-free, as is.
- To make this dairy-free either omit the cheese (still great!) or use a dairy-free cheese.
How to make this French onion chicken:
Step 1: preheat oven and prep chicken
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If not using pre-cut cutlets, prep the chicken by butterflying and cutting it in half to form cutlets. Pound with a meat pounder to be sure the chicken is even in thickness for cooking and to ensure tender chicken breasts. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and black pepper.
Step 2: cook chicken
Heat 1 tsp. of the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook until they are golden brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side. Once browned, remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
Step 3: caramelize onions
In the same skillet, heat the remaining teaspoons of olive oil. Add the sliced onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the water to the pan with the onions and using a wooden spoon scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook the onions until they are caramelized, about 15 minutes in total. Stir frequently to prevent the onions from burning.
Step 4: add spices and broth
Add the minced garlic and thyme to the skillet with the onions and cook for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Pour in the beef broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the broth has reduced by half.
Step 5: add cheese and bake
Return the chicken breasts to the skillet and place the Gruyère and Parmesan cheeses on top of the chicken. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove the skillet from the oven and let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving. Be sure to spoon some of the delicious French onion sauce over the top!
Expert Tip!
Let the onions cook low and slow for the best carlamization.
Recipe FAQs
Serve your French onion skillet over a bed of rice, cauliflower rice or noodles and a side salad.
This dish reheats well. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Check out some of our other easy meals!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
French Onion Chicken
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Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced into 4 cutlets
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tsp. olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp. water
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (or 1/4 tsp. dried)
- 1 cup low sodium beef broth (certified GF, if needed)
- 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese grated, 56g
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated, 28g
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If not using pre cut cutlets, prep the chicken by butterflying and cutting it in half to form cutlets. Pound with a meat pounder to be sure the chicken is even in thickness for cooking and to ensure tender chicken breasts. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.Step 2Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 tsp. of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook until they are golden brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side. Once browned, remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
- In the same skillet, heat the remaining teaspoons of olive oil. Add the sliced onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the water to the pan with the onions and using a wooden spoon scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook the onions until they are caramelized, about 15 minutes in total. Stir frequently to prevent the onions from burning.
- Add the minced garlic and thyme to the skillet with the onions and cook for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Pour in the beef broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the broth has reduced by half.
- Return the chicken breasts to the skillet and place the Gruyère and Parmesan cheeses on top of the chicken. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving. Be sure to spoon some of the delicious caramelized French onions over the top!
Notes
- The best way to ensure the same serving size the nutritional info reflects is to cut the chicken breasts into 6 oz cutlets prior to cooking.
- To lower the fat, omit the Gruyere cheese. However, this is the most authentic French onion cheese.
- Alternatively, use only 1 tsp of olive oil rather than 2 tsp to lower the fat.
This was super easy and delicious! Served it with some green beans and french bread. YUM!
I have made this several times. So good! I make alot of Oh Snap recipes and every single one is amazing. It almost feels sinful to eat.
Love it!!!
My husband and I loved this recipe – I thought it had a lot of flavor. It was great served with sautéed zucchini and roasted potatoes in the air fryer.
So good and toddler approved!
This was so easy to make and SO GOOD! My whole family loved it. It will definitely be in our dinner rotation!
This recipe was so easy and delicious. We served it over rice. My husbands coworkers were jealous after he heated up left overs at work! Definitely will make it again!
This was so, so good. Much more balanced and lighter than other recipes I’d seen. Kitchen smelled amazing. Picky husband couldn’t wait for leftovers. Kudos.
Woohoo!!! Love this, thank you!
This chicken was SO GOOD! We will definitely be adding this to our dinner rotation. YUM! 😋
Yum!