French Onion Chicken

Every now and then I make something that is a winner with everyone. This chicken, knocked it out of the park, through the parking lot, and into the neighboring house living room window. Seconds were gotten and tummies were happily filled. 

While cooking is something I am very passionate about, I often go through phases with it. Sometimes, I desire to make everything from scratch, and get incredibly creative in the kitchen. Then there are times when I wish I wasn't so worried about my family's health and had a readymade TV dinner in the freezer to throw in the microwave. Remember those Kid Cuisine TV dinners in the blue box from when we were kids? I can still taste the corn and that chocolate brownie that I wasn't allowed to eat until I finished the soggy chicken nuggets. Maybe even a box of frozen Salsbury steaks smothered in gravy. I don't know about you, but that was a good dinner with a side of instant mashed potatoes! I am, however, worried about my family's health so we typically don't have food like that in the house. I need to figure out ways to make quick meals from whole foods. This meal falls somewhere in between the made from scratch and throw together quick meals. 

For this recipe you need very few ingredients, most of which I'm sure you already have on hand. You could easily pair this with roasted or mashed potatoes, egg noodles would also be incredibly delicious. 

I generally do most of my cooking in a cast iron skillet. My mother gifted me one of my late grandmothers 14-inch skillets, and it is by far one of my most favorite things to cook in. The secret to successful cooking in cast iron is to heat your pan before you add your food. This ensures that nonstick cooking we all love, without using pans with toxic coatings.

I started with getting my skillet nice and hot, then I added my cooking oil/fat. I used lard, but you can use whichever cooking oil you'd like. While the pan was heating, I chopped my onions and prepped my chicken. I used Costco's organic chicken thighs, all three packs. I patted the chicken dry with a towel and seasoned both sides with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Once the pan was heated and the oil was hot I added my onions. I let those cook for just a minute before adding the chicken to the skillet. 

I let the chicken and onions cook on medium heat until the chicken had become nicely browned before flipping. After the chicken had finished cooking, I removed it from the pan and placed it on a separate plate. I poured a pint of our canned chicken broth into the pan and stirred, getting all the browned bottom bits mixed in with the liquid. I season this with more salt, pepper, and thyme. I added maybe a tablespoon of flour and kept stirring until the sauce had thickened. Finally, I added my chicken back in with the sauce, spooning generous amounts to coat the chicken, smothering it in all its goodness. 

French Onion Chicken

• Boneless chicken thighs

• Two onions sliced

• Chicken or Beef Broth

• Italian Seasoning

• Thyme

• Flour

• Salt & Pepper

Please let me know if you give this a try! I think next time I will definitely be serving with noodles and may even add some red wine to the sauce.