Slow cooker French onion chicken
Everything you love about French onion soup, jammy sweet onions and melted swiss, on tender chicken over buttery egg noodles.
- 320 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $3.35 a serving
- 720 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
- 2 lb boneless chicken thighs, about 8 thighs
- ½ cup beef broth
- 4 slices Swiss cheese
- 8 oz egg noodles
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Each serving has about 720 calories, 61 g protein, 56 g carbs and 27 g fat, and costs about $3.35 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No boneless chicken thighs? Chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins work.
- No beef broth? Bone broth works.
- No egg noodles? Fettuccine or penne works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onions, garlic, butter, brown sugar, thyme and ½ teaspoon of salt in the slow cooker.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
the chicken with the remaining salt and the pepper, lay it on the onions, and pour the broth and vinegar around it.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours, until the onions are soft and and the chicken reads 165°F.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 300 min
Dolly’s tip: The onions won’t brown like they would on the stove, but they turn sweet and jammy.Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Lay the swiss slices over the chicken, cover, and cook on HIGH 10 minutes, until .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Timer: 10 min
Meanwhile, cook the noodles in a pot of salted water over high heat for about 7 minutes, until tender. .
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 7 min
Serve the chicken, cheese and onions over the noodles with plenty of the oniony juices and a sprinkle of parsley.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
