Have you ever wondered how a dish straight from the South of France looks? Take a peek into my pot. Chicken Provençal! Beautiful golden brown chicken braised in white wine, nestled between eye catching green and black olives, plump cherry tomatoes, oh-so French shallots, tangy capers along with plenty of garlic and herbs.
Life can’t be more beautiful… Merci beaucoup!!
When you think French cooking, do you feel a little intimidated? Well you don’t have to be with this one! As much as “Chicken Provençal” sounds and looks fancy, my recipe is extremely simple and comes together in just a little over an hour.
Most of that time the oven works for me. My contribution to the dish is just 15 minutes. Sound good? Well, let’s do what the French would do… Open that bottle of wine, you are looking at a great evening meal to enjoy with your loved ones. For us, this is a celebration for our 100th post on GypsyPlate!
Provence and Provençal cuisine
Provence is a region in south eastern France, bordering Italy and the Mediterranean Sea. Sunny and warm with rolling vineyards, olive groves, pine forests and lavender fields, mother nature is abundantly generous in this part of the world.
Provençal cuisine is famous for its powerful yet simple flavors that are both complex and comforting. Fresh farm-to-table ingredients grown in Provence’s warm, Mediterranean climate influence its cuisine. It seems Provençal cuisine is obsessed with different types of native herbs, olives and garlic. And what’s the end result? Satisfyingly rich and colorful delicacies imbued with rustic characters… just like my Chicken Provençal.
What is Chicken Provençal?
It’s nothing but chicken cooked with Provençal style and flavors. This dish celebrates the bounties of Provence. Their olives… plump cherry tomatoes… loads of garlic… all braised in wine with lots of herbs. All these flavors marry with each other, creating a delicious sauce that you will love to sop up with some crusty fresh bread.
What type of chicken should I use?
I like to use skin on thighs. Any dark meat is excellent for this dish, you can try it with drumsticks or leg quarters. Bone-in chicken will be a little more flavorful, but I have made it with boneless skinless thighs and it turned out great.
I don’t recommend chicken breasts, as they tend to dry out in the oven. But if you insist on using breast keep the chicken well covered with liquids to keep it moist. Keep in mind, cooking time will vary depending upon what cut of chicken you are using.
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken
- Shallots – ‘cos it’s French. But you can use white, yellow or spanish onion if that’s what you have.
- Olives – I am using jumbo sized green olives and black olives. Again it’s flexible, use what you have available. Kalamata olives go great too.
- Capers – Compliments the olives well.
- Cherry Tomatoes – These tangy little things create a beautiful sauce along with the briny olives and capers.
- Garlic – Plenty of this.
- White wine – Anything that you are drinking that day. Dry white wines like sav blanc, pinot grigio and chardonnay go great. If happen to have some whites from Provence?? Ooh lala… Go ahead!
- Chicken stock – For more sauce.
- Herbs – Fresh rosemary and thyme for cooking, parsley for garnishing.
- Flour – To dredge the chicken lightly.
- Salt and pepper – To taste.
Chicken Provençal Recipe
I start by heating a little olive oil in a pan. I love to cook this in an ovenproof brasier, so it’s a one-pot meal. I season the chicken generously with salt and pepper and dredge it lightly in flour.
Then, I place the chicken skin side down and cook it undisturbed for 4-5 minutes, until it’s golden brown. I flip it and cook for another 2-3 minutes. It just needs a little color on it before braising. Then, I remove it to a plate and set it aside.
If needed, I add more oil to the pan. Then, I stir in shallots, garlic, and flour, sautéing for a minute. I add half of the chopped rosemary and thyme, giving it a good stir. Next, I pour in wine and chicken stock, making sure to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
I add back in the chicken, along with olives, capers, tomatoes, and the rest of the chopped herbs. I cover the pot with a lid and bake it in a preheated oven for about an hour.
Once it’s done, I garnish it with parsley and serve it with fresh warm crusty bread. It’s a must for sopping up that delicious Provençal sauce.
Serving Suggestions
My miracle no knead bread, of course… This also goes great with a side of polenta, wild rice, orzo or pearled couscous.
Variations
Though the basic idea is the same, there are tons of variations of this dish.
- Some variations of chicken Provençal are dryer, the chicken is roasted instead of braised. You can follow the same recipe, but just use 1/2 cup of wine and eliminate the stock. Some people just roast the chicken along with onions, garlic and lemon wedges, minus olives and tomatoes. This dish is very forgiving and turns up pretty good any way, but it’s ultra delicious the way we have presented above. If you do roast it, baste the chicken half way through with the pan juices.
- Some cook it with lots of canned tomatoes.
- Another little variation is to add lemon wedges. It gives a great citrusy addition to the flavor.
- If you happen to have a jar of artichoke hearts, they go beautifully in this dish.
- Some people use Herbs de Provence for this dish. It’s a dried blend of herbs like rosemary, oregano, marjoram, thyme and lavender. Some have additional herbs like mint, savory, chervil, fennel, or bay leaf. If you happen to have Herbs de Provence in your spice cabinet, you can try it instead of the fresh herbs I used.
- Most use white wine, but I can’t see why red wine won’t work… just a little different flavor, but still good. Kind of like Coq au Vin!
This is a great recipe that turns your ordinary chicken into one gorgeous gourmet dish, with less than 20 minutes of work from you!!
Perfect for those “oh, what to do with that piece of chicken?” nights, or when you want to impress company. The easiness and prettiness can swing it both ways! Any which ways you choose to cook this, you deserve that glass of wine for accomplishing this feat in your kitchen.
BTW… you might start trying out a word or two of French after a bite of this yumminess… like… J’aime le Poulet provençal. La vie est belle…!!..Merci!
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Chicken Provençal, on our Gypsy Plate… enjoy!
Looking for more great chicken recipes? Try my…
Creamy Lemon Chicken
Dominican Pollo Guisado
Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken
Chicken Masala Curry
Chicken Caldereta
Crockpot Tuscan Chicken
Brown Stew Chicken
Chicken Marbella
Chicken Tagine
Chicken Provençal (Poulet à la Provençal)
Check out my Chicken Provencal. Beautiful golden brown chicken braised in white wine, nestled between eye catching olives, plump cherry tomatoes, oh-so French shallots, tangy capers and plenty of garlic and herbs. Life can't be more beautiful!
Ingredients
- 4-5 bone in, skin on chicken thighs
- 5-6 shallots, halved or quartered
- 8-9 large garlic cloves, sliced
- ¼ cup flour, divided
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup white wine
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz red cherry tomatoes
- 8-10 jumbo green olives
- 8-10 jumbo black olives
- 2 Tbsp capers
- 9-10 sprigs of thyme, chopped
- 2 sprigs of rosemary, chopped
- 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then dredge them lightly in flour.
- Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or braiser over medium high heat. Place the chicken skin side down and cook undisturbed for 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Add more oil if needed. Stir in shallots, garlic and 1 Tbsp flour and sauté for a minute. Add half of the chopped rosemary and thyme. Give it a stir.
- Add in wine and chicken stock, scraping the brown bits on the bottom into the sauce.
- Place the chicken thighs back in the sauce along with olives, capers, cherry tomatoes and the rest of the chopped thyme and rosemary. Cover the pot with a lid and bake it in the preheated oven for about an hour.
- Garnish it with parsley and serve with fresh crusty bread.
Notes
- If the sauce gets drier than you would prefer while baking, you can stir in tad bit more chicken stock to make it saucier to your liking. Check when there are about 20 minutes left to bake.
- You can use small olives instead of jumbo size. Just double up the quantities.
- You can use 2-3 tsp of dried Herbs de Provence instead of fresh herbs.
- Leftovers: It's excellent as leftovers, the chicken gets more flavorful while sitting in that Provençal sauce. You can make a giant batch and refrigerate leftovers for 3-4 days in an airtight container. This will also freeze beautifully for a couple of months.
Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 350Total Fat 18gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 43mgSodium 435mgCarbohydrates 27gFiber 4gSugar 8gProtein 13g
Nutrition information calculated by Nutritionix.
Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.
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