What’s better than a one pan dish that’s cheap enough to eat weekly but elegant enough to serve to guests? My French Baked Chicken is incredibly juicy with crispy skin, flavorful potatoes, and buttery shallots all beautifully seasoned.
This dish is great for entertaining because you can prep it before your guests arrived and pop in the oven when your guests arrived. Eat the first course while the chicken is baking and I enjoy a glass of wine while the oven does all the work!
I have to say right out of the gate: this is not a French recipe. This is my Greek Baked Chicken with a French twist, but that was kind of a mouthful title-wise so I went with French Baked Chicken.
I love the Greek style of baking chicken in broth and lemon juice so much that I thought it would be fun to have some different versions for you guys. This one has Herbs de Provence, a dried herb blend usually consisting of rosemary, thyme, oregano, and lavender. I always keep it in my kitchen.
Another change to this recipe is the use of petite potatoes instead of cut potatoes. They are basically perfect: flavorful, fork-tender, a little crispy on the outside. I often make chicken for dinner because I crave potatoes cooked in chicken juice!
With the potatoes are cut shallots, once of my favorite French-y ingredients. They add a ton to the dish and are buttery soft by the end of the baking time.
Are you sick of whole chicken recipes from me? I sure hope not! It’s so cheap to buy whole chickens compared to pieces! Plus I prefer to cook chicken bone-on, skin-on and sometimes that’s hard to find at the counter. Just ask for the back bone removed to make carving your chicken easy.
I carved this into six pieces: two wings, two airline-cut breasts, and two leg/thigh pieces. I hope you love this dish as much as I do!
French Baked Chicken
4-5 pound whole chicken, back bone removed for easier carving*
1.5 lbs petite potato medley
3 shallots
3 large garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup chicken broth
French grey sea salt, black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 large lemon, 2 small lemons)
Lemon zest reserved from lemon(s)
1 Tbsp Herbs de Provence
Fresh lavender for garnish
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Cut into six pieces: two wings, two breasts, two leg/thigh pieces. Keep the skin on!
- Trim the ends off of shallots, peel shallots, and halve. Arrange potatoes, garlic cloves, and shallot halves in a 9×13 baking dish with chicken pieces. Pour chicken broth over chicken and potatoes.
- Zest a large lemon and reserve for later. Juice lemon and whisk the lemon juice (about 1/3 cup) with olive oil and Herbes de Provence. Pour over chicken pieces. Season liberally with French grey sea salt and black pepper.
- Bake uncovered for an hour and fifteen minutes or until chicken skin is crispy and potatoes are fork-tender. Baste with the sauce a few times throughout the baking process.
- Top with fresh lavender and lemon zest and serve immediately. Be sure to spoon some of the pan juices over the chicken!
*Note: the chicken photographed here was only a three pound chicken. That’s all they had at my store. You’ll want to reduce the baking time slightly for a smaller chicken. Use a thermometer and make sure the breast pieces are 165 degrees and the thighs are 180 degrees.
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