French Onion Baked Chicken
My previous two FIY recipes were leading up to this quick and simple, family-friendly, budget-friendly French Onion Baked Chicken recipe! You can make up the French Dressing and the Onion Soup Mix days in advance so you have them ready for this recipe. You can always use commercial ingredients instead of the DIY blends but there’s something so much more delicious when you make the entire recipe from scratch.
Using your own dressing and onion soup mix allows you to reduce the salt and sugar content in this dish. The apricot jam will give it a lovely sweetness. The other ingredients balance out the savory side for a really yummy dinner.
This dish freezes well and also reheats well – either in the microwave or simmered in its sauce in a saucepan on the stove top.
As always, when you make this recipe, I would love to see your creation so please post a photo of your French Onion Baked Chicken goodness and tag my IG account #RenataCollective or leave a comment with your thoughts!
Prep Time: 10 minutes / Cook Time: 45 – 60 minutes / Serves: 4
Ingredients
6 Bone-in/Skin-on Chicken Thighs + 7 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs – this is how many were in the packages I bought - you can use less or only one type of chicken thigh as you wish
½ - 2/3 Cup French Salad Dressing – Homemade or a bottle from the grocery store
4 Tablespoons Onion Soup Spice Mix – homemade or 1 package dry onion soup mix
1 Cup Apricot Jam
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder - not in photo – oops!
Pinch of Herbed Seasoned Sea Salt – or plain sea salt
A Few Grinds of Fresh Black Pepper
How It’s Made
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Prepare your baking dish by spraying it with a bit of olive oil.
Cut excess fat off the chicken and lay it into the baking dish. Season with a pinch of seasoned sea salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Set aside for a moment.
In a medium sized bowl, mix ½ cup of the French dressing, the onion soup mix, the apricot jam and the garlic powder together. A whisk works well to make sure it’s blended together smoothly – the jam can be lumpy sometimes. If the sauce is very thick, add an tablespoon of the dressing at a time, whisking in between additions until the sauce easily pourable.
Pour this sauce over the chicken in the baking dish. The sauce should come up quite high on the chicken (see photo). Spoon sauce over each to make sure each piece of chicken has some sauce over top.
Put the baking pan, uncovered, in your preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour – depending on the size of the chicken thighs. Every 15 minutes, carefully spoon sauce over the chicken pieces.
After 45 minutes, check the chicken for doneness by using a meat thermometer – cooked chicken registers at 165°F, or if you don’t have a thermometer, remove a piece of chicken and cut in in half. If it’s still uncooked-pink, return the cut piece to the pan and the pan back to the oven and check again after 15 minutes. If it’s still not cooked after the hour, check again in 10-minute increments.
When it’s ready, place chicken pieces on each dinner plate and spoon some of the sauce over top – I like to use a slotted spoon to scoop up the thicker parts of the sauce to top the chicken.
Serve with rice, quinoa, noodles – whatever you wish – and a veggie or salad on the side.
This dish freezes well and also reheats well – either in the microwave or simmered in its sauce in a saucepan on the stove top.
Enjoy!
