Chicken Fricassee is a traditional French stew. In a nutshell, browned chicken pieces are braised in a mushroom cream sauce. This is one of our favorite dishes!
This version of Chicken Fricassee is beautiful, easy, and, like everything on my blog, relatively healthy.
The secret to the easy part is that I prepare this dish in the slow cooker, which makes it not only ultra-tender, but totally stress-free, too.
The secret to the healthy part is that I use chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs, olive oil instead of butter, and just a small serving of milk instead of heavy cream. We love our version – light and still loaded with flavor. You can also make this dairy free by using almond milk or any dairy free milk of your choice.
I like to cut the chicken breasts into thick strips as this allows the sauce to seep in and add flavor to more surface area of the chicken.
This is a great stew to prepare when entertaining, because you prep everything hours before your guests arrive. All you need to do when they arrive is serve up the chicken and pour the wine!
The Bouquet Garni
Traditional recipes for Chicken Fricassee call for a Bouquet Garni. First, I’ll explain what that is, and then I’ll tell you about my evolution on the herbs for this dish.
A Bouquet Garni is a gathered bundle of herbs that is a classic French flavoring used in many soups, stews and sauces. It usually is comprised of a culinary bay leaf, parsley, thyme and rosemary. You can either tie the stems together with twine or put them in a small bundle of cheesecloth.
Interestingly, while fresh herbs are almost always considered superior, for most slow cooker dishes dried herbs are often better. Delicate fresh leaves lose their pungency with long cooking, whereas dried herbs release flavor more slowly.
The exception is rosemary, which holds up well in the slow cooker. Additionally, this dish only needs to be in the slow cooker for about 3 hours, which is short by comparison to many all-day slow cooker recipes.
Rosemary pairs so amazingly well with chicken and pulls such a robust flavor along with the garlic, you will fall in love with this one for the flavor alone!
Ingredients List for Chicken Fricassee
- 2 breasts of chicken, cut into strips
- One half cup white wine
- One cup chicken broth
- 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, diced or smashed
- 3 stems of rosemary from your garden
- 3 – 4 large mushrooms, sliced. Brown Crimini look beautiful with their dark edges, and hold their shape in the stew.
- Half of a small onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons of flour (you can substitute gluten free flour, but do not omit. This is where the sauce gets its structure!)
- Sea salt to taste
- Diced pancetta
- Olive oil (for sautéing)
- Splash of milk (or cream if you prefer)
Instructions for Chicken Fricassee
- Pull or scrape the needles off of the rosemary stems and discard the stems. Roughly chop the needles into pieces.
- Season the chicken breasts with salt. Brown the chicken breasts on all sides in a sauté pan with a little olive oil
- Transfer the breasts to a preheated slow cooker with tongs or a fork.
- Do not wash the pan; save the chicken juices. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir until thick.
- Once the sauce has thickened, add the white wine and the chicken broth to the chicken juices and bring to a boil. Add the rosemary. Allow the sauce to thicken again. Stir until smooth.
- Transfer the sauce to the the slow cooker; it is not necessary for the sauce to completely cover the chicken.
- Using the same pan, sauté the garlic, onion, pancetta and mushrooms with a little olive oil.
- Transfer the mushroom mixture to the slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 3 – 4 hours or on low for 6 hours.
- When the chicken is tender and cooked through, turn off the slow cooker and splash in your milk or cream to taste; blend well.
- Serve over a bed of garlicky mashed potatoes or couscous
