Prep
20 min
20 min
Cook
1 hr 10 min
1 hr 10 min
Total
1 hr 30 min
1 hr 30 min
Yield
4 servings
4 servings
Category
Dinner
Dinner
Cuisine
British
British
Chicken casserole is one of those dependable dinners that turns familiar ingredients into something deeply comforting. Tender chicken, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms cook together in a savoury herb sauce finished with a little cream.
It is particularly useful when you want a warming one-pot meal with very little last-minute work. Once the casserole is in the oven, there is little to do beyond giving it time to become tender and full of flavour.
This is also a practical cold-weather recipe for self-catering ski trips because the ingredients are easy to find in ordinary supermarkets. Serve it with crusty bread or green vegetables. Cool any leftovers promptly, refrigerate them and reheat thoroughly before serving.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs (about 1kg), skin-on and bone-in
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 carrots, thickly sliced
- 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, halved
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 600ml chicken stock
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 100ml double cream
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley, optional
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan, Gas 4.
- Season the chicken thighs with salt and black pepper. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium-high heat. Brown the chicken skin-side down for 4 to 5 minutes, then turn and cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and carrots to the casserole and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 1 minute so it coats the vegetables.
- Gradually pour in the chicken stock while stirring. Add the Dijon mustard, thyme and bay leaf, then bring the sauce to a gentle simmer.
- Stir in the potatoes. Return the chicken thighs to the casserole skin-side up, keeping as much of the skin above the sauce as possible.
- Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through.
- Put the casserole back over a low heat. Stir the double cream into the sauce around the chicken and simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce is glossy and slightly thickened.
- Remove the bay leaf. Taste and adjust the seasoning, scatter over the parsley if using, and serve hot.