Quick Weeknight French Chicken in White Wine Sauce
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Recipe for Quick Weeknight French Chicken in White Wine Sauce can be on the dinner table in under 40 minutes. Serve with egg noodles or rice.
I don’t know if this is an authentic French recipe, I am not trained in classical French cooking. I was trained in classical “tastes good” instead! Not really trained, more like self-taught.
I have been making my version of Quick Weeknight French Chicken in White Wine Sauce for over 25 years now.
I have not made any alterations to my recipe since the early days.
I do not like cream in most of my sauce recipes, so it was the first thing omitted back then.
Feel free to add a few tablespoons of heavy cream to your dish if you like. Add it at the absolute very end of cooking so that it doesn’t curdle.
The vegetables in this recipe can be increased, changed or even omitted. I find that mushrooms, greens onions, and carrots go perfectly with white wine.
There is just something about mushrooms and wine that elevates the flavors. Kind of like when sweet Marsala gets paired with mushrooms in Chicken Marsala.
Just a side note, I also keep a supply of Chianti for red sauces, a small splash adds a nice depth of flavor to pasta sauces and some meat gravies.
Quick Weeknight French Chicken in White Wine Sauce can be on the table in under 40 minutes.
If you do any preparation the evening before, like slicing mushroom and green onions, shredding carrots and cutting up the chicken the night before, you could have it on the table in 30 minutes.
But, you can do those things while you are waiting for water to boil. We all know how long that takes, especially if you are hungry and in a hurry!
This recipe is ideal for beginner cooks, it is pretty easy and the addition of wine elevates the flavor to something you would expect an experienced cook to produce.
Most of the alcohol will burn off during cooking and you will be left with a nice flavor addition. All the alcohol will not be burned off.
The reasons are far more complicated than I can explain here, as chemistry and math are both foreign languages to me!
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Guy Crosby at The Cooking Science Guy has a nice PDF available that has more information on The Science of Cooking with Wine if you are at all curious about the chemistry behind it.
He actually has quite a few interesting reads on his site.
White wine can be left out of this dish. Just add a bit more chicken broth.
Sometimes, recipes will say you can swap out apple cider vinegar. I do not do this, I don’t actually care for apple cider vinegar and replace it with regular white vinegar in any recipe I see it in.
Apple cider vinegar is great for catching fruit flies though, so I do own a small bottle of it.
If I had to find a replacement for white wine in this dish, I would go with chicken broth and then add lemon juice from half of a lemon.
1 to 2 packets of True Lemon will add just enough acidity to add a touch of brightness to this dish. Start with one, then taste it before you add another packet.
Sometimes, I do not have fresh lemons. I always have a supply of True Lemon and True Lime though.
These little packets are perfect for all those recipes that just need a little bit of tartness. I use a lot of the lemon packets in my iced tea.
More Quick Weeknight Dinner Recipes from Pear Tree Kitchen:
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French Chicken in White Wine Sauce
Ingredients
- 16 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast about 2 large or 3 small, cut into roughly 1-inch pieces
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
- 3 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 8 ounces mushrooms thinly sliced
- 10.5 ounces condensed chicken broth
- 10.5 ounces White Wine just fill the chicken broth can
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 3 large green onions thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream optional
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch optional
Instructions
- If serving over egg noodles, start boiling water now. If serving over rice, start the rice process now.
- Cube chicken now if not already done.
- In a large bowl add flour, garlic salt, and black pepper. Stir to combine.
- Add chicken pieces to flour mixture and toss to coat, making sure chicken pieces are not stuck together and all exposed sides of chicken are coated.
- Add cooking oil to large skillet, set heat to medium-high.
- Once skillet and oil are heated, add chicken and quickly brown all sides.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add butter to hot skillet.
- When butter has melted and is sizzling, add thinly sliced mushrooms to skillet and cook until slightly wilted.
- Add carrots, chicken broth, and wine to mushrooms in hot skillet.
- Begin cooking egg noodles now if using or check rice if using.
- Reduce heat to medium and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes until some of the alcohol has burned off.
- Add the cooked chicken to the sauce in the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 to 15 minutes depending on the size of chicken cubes. For a thicker sauce, see notes.
- If using heavy cream, reduce heat to low and add heavy cream. Heat only until cream is heated through.
- Remove from heat and add green onions and stir into the hot chicken to wilt.
- Serve over egg noodles or rice.
Notes
- If a thicker sauce is desired, mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and add to sauce, increase heat to high and boil for 1 minute.
- Heavy cream will produce a more authentic version, I do not use it. Add up to 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Do not boil the heavy cream to prevent the sauce from breaking.
- Calories listed do not include noodles or rice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and may vary based on exact ingredients used. For accuracy, consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
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Elizabeth (Beth) Mueller
Elizabeth (Beth) Mueller is a food journalist, CEO of Pear Tree Kitchen, and co-creator of Food Blogger Help. She also has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a registered nurse licensed in the State of Oklahoma. When she has free time between writing, blogging, and cooking, she can be found volunteering as an RN with the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps.