French Images are for illustrative purposes only, may be inaccurate, and do not guarantee the presence or absence of specific ingredients. 
Serving Images are for illustrative purposes only, may be inaccurate, and do not guarantee the presence or absence of specific ingredients. Fricassée de Poulet
Chicken pieces gently braised in a velvety white wine cream sauce with mushrooms and tarragon — mild, comforting, and deeply satisfying.
Contains common allergens
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Good to know
- One-pot
Matched from this dish's own ingredients and timing. Browse more: one-pot dinners
Instructions
8 steps- 1
Season chicken pieces all over with salt and pepper.
- 2
Melt 2 tablespoons butter with the oil in a heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the chicken pieces on all sides, about 8 minutes total, without letting them color too deeply; remove and set aside.
- 3
Lower the heat to medium, add the remaining butter, and sweat the onion and shallots until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes; stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- 4
Add the mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and begin to brown, about 6 minutes.
- 5
Pour in the white wine, scraping up the browned bits, and simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
- 6
Return the chicken to the pot, add the stock, cover partially, and simmer gently over low heat until the chicken is cooked through and tender, 30 to 35 minutes.
- 7
Transfer the chicken to a plate, stir the cream into the sauce, and simmer uncovered until it thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes.
- 8
Stir in the tarragon, return the chicken to the sauce to warm through, and adjust seasoning before serving.
Images are for illustrative purposes only, may be inaccurate, and do not guarantee the presence or absence of specific ingredients. Listahan Family Score™
67/100
Works for many families
Score reflects how well this recipe fits a typical busy household. In the app, your Family Score is personalized to your household's allergens, kids, and pantry.
Nutrition
per serving605
Calories
46 g
Protein
4 g
Carbs
44 g
Fat
Estimated per serving. Actual values depend on the brands and portions you use.
Listahan cooking guide
Chef notes & practical guide
Technique notes, ingredient swaps, serve-alongside ideas, storage guidance, and equipment for this recipe.
Cultural context
Fricassee de poulet occupies a technical middle ground in French classical cooking between a saute (cooked in fat without liquid) and a braise (cooked submerged in liquid): the chicken is cooked in butter without browning, then finished in a cream sauce enriched with egg yolks, a combination that makes it the whitest and most delicate of the classic chicken preparations. The technique appears in Escoffier's canonical writings and in every French cooking school curriculum as a foundation of the mother-sauce tradition, yet it also has roots in home cooking where the slow, gentle cooking method was forgiving and produced a silky, elegant result from an ordinary bird.
Listahan note
This version skips the browning step deliberately so the sauce stays ivory-pale and creamy, and uses a liaison of egg yolks and cream to finish it at the last moment for a sauce that is rich without being heavy.
Technique cues
- Do not brown the chicken — this is the defining distinction of a fricassee; cook the pieces in butter over gentle heat until they turn from translucent to white and opaque on the surface without any color developing.
- Add the cream sauce enrichment (liaison of egg yolks and cream) off the heat or over the lowest possible simmer; if the sauce boils after the liaison is added it will curdle and cannot be recovered.
- The mushrooms should be cooked separately in butter until their liquid has evaporated completely before being added to the sauce; wet mushrooms dilute the cream sauce and prevent it from reducing to the right consistency.
Kitchen flow
- Parallel prep
- Saute the mushrooms while the chicken is gently cooking in the butter base; both take roughly the same amount of time.
- Make-ahead
- The dish can be made to the point of adding the cream, then refrigerated for up to 2 days; reheat gently and add the liaison just before serving.
- Leftover move
- Leftover fricassee makes an excellent pot pie filling; pour into a baking dish, top with puff pastry, and bake at 400 F until golden.
- Cleanup rhythm
- The single braising pot is the main vessel; wipe down the mushroom pan between uses rather than washing, as the brown fond adds flavor to successive additions.
Ingredient brief
Role, handling, and swap guidance for each key ingredient.
chicken pieces (bone-in thighs and breasts)
main protein
Purpose: Bone-in pieces release collagen during the gentle braise that gives the sauce its body; boneless pieces cook faster but produce a thinner sauce.
Handling: Pat dry and season just before cooking; avoid pre-salting which draws moisture and can cause undesired browning.
Adaptation: A whole cut-up chicken including the carcass produces the richest sauce; boneless pieces work for a weeknight version.
cremini or white mushrooms
garnish and earthy depth
Purpose: Mushrooms add earthiness that complements the delicate chicken without fighting the cream sauce's elegance.
Handling: Saute in butter separately until dry and golden before adding to the finished sauce.
Adaptation: Wild mushrooms like chanterelles or morels make this dish more luxurious; dried porcini reconstituted and added to the sauce base deepens the flavor considerably.
heavy cream
sauce body
Purpose: Cream provides the richness and pale color that define a fricassee; the fat content is high enough that the sauce can be reduced without curdling.
Handling: Add to the strained braising liquid and reduce to sauce consistency before adding the egg yolk liaison.
Adaptation: Creme fraiche gives a slightly tangy note and is less likely to curdle; coconut cream changes the flavor profile entirely.
egg yolks
liaison for richness and thickening
Purpose: Egg yolks whipped with cream and stirred in off the heat give the sauce a silky, almost velvety texture that no other thickener replicates.
Handling: Temper by whisking a ladleful of hot sauce into the yolks before adding back to the pot; this prevents immediate curdling from heat shock.
Adaptation: Omit for a simpler reduced cream sauce; the dish will be less rich but still excellent.
dry white wine
deglazing and acidity
Purpose: White wine added after the chicken softens deglazes any pale bits in the pan and provides acidity to balance the cream.
Handling: Add and cook down by half before adding the stock so the alcohol flavor cooks off.
Adaptation: Dry vermouth gives a more aromatic, herbal note and is a classic French kitchen substitute for wine.
Technique notes
- Taste the sauce just before the liaison stage and adjust seasoning; once the yolks are added the sauce cannot be boiled and the flavors will not concentrate further.
- The sauce should coat the back of a spoon and leave a clean line when you draw a finger across it; if it is too thin, remove the chicken, reduce, then return and add the liaison.
- A bouquet garni of thyme, bay leaf, and parsley tied in cheesecloth can be added with the wine and stock, and removed before finishing; it adds depth without visible herb fragments.
Ingredient swaps
- Dairy-free direction
- Substitute full-fat coconut cream for heavy cream and omit the egg yolk liaison; the flavor will be Southeast Asian-inflected but the technique remains.
- Lower-fat direction
- Use half-and-half instead of heavy cream; reduce the sauce a little further to compensate for the lower fat content.
- Weeknight shortcut
- Use boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into large chunks; the cooking time drops to about 20 minutes total and the result is still excellent.
Serve alongside
- Buttered egg noodles or tagliatelle
- Steamed white rice to absorb the cream sauce
- Braised leeks or steamed asparagus
- White Burgundy or a white Rhone blend (Marsanne/Roussanne)
- Unoaked Chardonnay from Macon or Chablis
Serving suggestions only — check pairings for your household's allergens.
Storage & reheating
- Keeps refrigerated for up to 3 days; reheat gently over low heat to prevent the cream sauce from breaking.
- The sauce can separate on reheating — whisk in a tablespoon of cold cream over low heat if it breaks.
Equipment
- Wide heavy-bottomed saute pan or Dutch oven with a lid
- Whisk for making the liaison without lumps
- Fine-mesh strainer for a silky, refined sauce
- Ladle for tempering the egg yolk mixture safely
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