If you’ve ever wondered what the French actually make at home, this Chicken Cassoulet is just the sort of thing! It is JB‘s easy take on classic French cassoulet, swapping duck confit and Toulouse sausages for chicken, and dried beans for canned. Gorgeously cosy, rustic, and hearty. I’m completely besotted!
JB’s Chicken Cassoulet
I know this might shock you, but believe it or not, the French aren’t whipping up Beef Bourguignon, Coq au Vin and fancy soufflés every night of the week! Just like us, they want delicious dinners that don’t take hours to make. And today’s Chicken Cassoulet is just the sort of thing JB tells me French families actually cook at home on Monday nights.
Inspired by the French classic cassoulet, JB has traded the duck confit and Toulouse sausages for chicken and bacon, and skipped the overnight bean soaking in favour of canned beans. But he’s kept all the things that make cassoulet so wonderful – tender meat, creamy beans, the crunchy topping (LOVE THIS!) and a beautiful tomato-based sauce that rich with wine and herbs.
Plus, he gets bonus points for making it a complete meal – protein, starch and a surprising amount of vegetables (tomato, onion and carrots!).
Ingredients In JB’s Chicken Cassoulet
Here’s what you need to make this chicken and bean casserole.
1. The chicken and bacon
Boneless chicken thighs – Using boneless chicken thighs makes the baking time so quick (just 20 minutes), putting this within reach midweek. To use chicken breast, you’ll need to cook it through on the stove, then bake the beans without the chicken (else it will overcook), then pop it back on just at the end for the grilling/broiling part.
Bacon – It’s best to use streaky bacon as the dish relies on the fat from the bacon to cook the chicken. Extra flavour! If you use lean bacon, you might need to add a bit of extra oil to brown the chicken.
2. FOR THE CASSOULET
Cannellini beans – Traditional cassoulet is made with dried Tarbais or Lingot beans which are slow cooked with the meat. For this easy version, JB uses canned cannellini beans. Much faster to just crack open cans than soaking overnight and slow cooking! 🙂 Feel free to use other beans, like kidney beans, butter beans or navy beans, though white beans are more traditional.
Cherry tomatoes – JB wants me to tell everyone, tomato isn’t strictly traditional but it’s a modern variation. He likes how they soften and burst as the casserole cooks, releasing their sweet juices into the sauce. They also add lovely little pops of freshness that balance the richness of the dish. I like how they had bright pops of colourful red into an otherwise rather brown dish!
Onions – Just regular brown onions, finely chopped.
Carrots – Medium or large ones, we peel, cut into quarters lengthways then into small pieces.
Garlic – 3 big cloves, finely minced with a knife. Actually, you could use a garlic crusher here.
Herbs – rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. The sauce of Cassoulet is perfumed with herbs and it is what makes it so delicious! So really try to use fresh if you can (all 3 are very hardy, hard-to-kill plants – if I can grow them, anyone can!). But in case you don’t have fresh herbs, we’ve included dried herb amounts too.
Chardonnay or other white wine – The French love to cook with wine, because they know it brings a wonderful depth of flavour to sauces, and that’s the role it plays in this Cassoulet. Chardonnay is JB’s favourite to cook with because it adds more flavour – he thinks sauvignon blanc is boring (😂) – but really, you can use any dry white wine. No need to use an expensive one either. I stock up on heavily discounted bottles around $5 that I use exclusively for cooking.
Cornflour / cornstarch – Thickens the sauce slightly. Traditional cassoulet cooks for hours, allowing the sauce to thicken naturally. This quicker version needs a little help, otherwise the sauce is watery.
Chicken stock – The liquid for the sauce. Use low sodium if you can, if not, skip the salt in the sauce.
3. CRUNCHY TOPPING
The crunchy topping is a signature part of Cassoulet! Here’s what you need:
Panko breadcrumbs – larger than regular breadcrumbs, for extra crunch. Find it in the Asian aisle of regular grocery stores, or cheaper in Asian stores.
Olive oil – To mix through which makes the crunchy topping brown beautifully.
Parsley – For lovely little green bits in the topping. I used chives as a substitute (because I have a thriving bunch in my garden whereas my parsley has been decimated).
How To Make Chicken Cassoulet
Cornflour slurry – Make a cornflour slurry by mixing the cornflour / cornstarch with a splash of the chicken stock. This will thicken the sauce slightly so it clings to the beans.
Bacon first – Cook the bacon first, until golden. Then remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat behind in the pan.
Brown chicken – Next, we brown the chicken. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper, then brown the first side in the bacon fat for 3 minutes. Then flip and cook the other side for just 1 minute. We don’t want to cook it through, as it will finish cooking on the beans.
Sauté – Add the onion, carrots and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes until the onion has softened, then cook the tomato paste and herbs for 1 minute. Don’t skip this step of cooking off the tomato paste, it cooks out the sour edge and deepens the flavour.
Beans – Add the wine and let it reduce for 30 seconds. Add the beans, chicken stock, cornflour slurry, bacon, salt and pepper. Give it a stir, then place the chicken and cherry tomatoes across the top.
Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan-forced). Then take it out of the oven and flick to the oven grill/broiler to 240°C / 460°F (220°C fan-forced).
Crunchy topping – Sprinkle the beans with the crunchy topping (avoid the chicken and tomatoes, for visual effect). Then pop it under the oven grill / broiler for 2 to 3 minutes until browned.
Serve – Then that’s it! Ready to serve. Spoon the beans into bowls and top with chicken!
How To Serve Chicken Cassoulet
As mentioned earlier, this is a complete meal with vegetables, starch and protein so there’s no need to add sides to fill it out. If you’re wondering – what veggies? Well, there’s two onions (yes, it counts towards your veg daily intake!), two carrots and cherry tomatoes which averages out to be a reasonable amount per person, assuming 5 servings.
Finish with a slice of JB’s French Apple Cake, lightly warmed, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. What a meal! – Nagi x
FAQ – Chicken Cassoulet
No it’s not, but JB says he is sure that there are many French people making it at home because Cassoulet is such a famous dish, but not even French people consider duck confit something within reach on a Monday night!
Yes, you can use bone-in thighs, or chicken breast (though the latter won’t be as juicy as thighs). We’ve included directions in the recipe notes for both these.
Yes you can. Make the casserole ahead and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Reheat slowly in the oven covered, until piping hot. then, sprinkle with the breadcrumb topping and grill until golden and crunchy.
Watch How To Make It
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JB’s Chicken Cassoulet (French Chicken & Bean Casserole)
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 800g / 1.75lb boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets , ~6 pieces (Note 1)
- 1 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt , divided (half for table salt, 50% extra for flakes)
- 1 tsp black pepper , divided
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 200g / 7oz streaky bacon , cut into 1cm / 0.4" pieces
- 2 brown onion , finely chopped
- 2 carrots , peeled, quartered lengthways, cut into 1 cm / 0.4" thick pieces
- 3 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 thyme sprigs (substitute 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
- 2 rosemary sprigs , ~10cm / 4" long (substitute 1 tsp dried rosemary)
- 2 fresh bay leaves , or dried
- 1/4 cup chardonnay or other dry white wine , (sub low-sodium chicken stock)
- 1 1/2 cup chicken stock / broth , low-sodium (homemade if you want)
- 3 x 400g / 14oz cans cannellini beans , drained (or other beans)
- 12 cherry tomatoes
Topping
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs , substitute regular breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley , substitute 2 tsp dried parsley
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt , (half for table salt, 50% extra for flakes)
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE
- Make cornflour slurry with 1/4 cup stock. Cook bacon, remove. Brown chicken but don't cook through, remove. Sauté garlic, onion and carrot, then cook tomato paste and herbs. Deglaze with wine, add beans, stock, cornflour slurry, bacon, salt and pepper. Top with chicken and cherry tomatoes, bake 20 min at 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Sprinkle with topping, grill/broiler 2 – 3 min to brown. Serve!
FULL RECIPE
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan-forced).
- Slurry – Whisk the cornflour in a small bowl with 1/4 cup of the chicken stock until lump free. Set aside.
- Season chicken – Sprinkle both sides of the chicken using 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Cook bacon – Heat the oil in a shallow 30cm / 12" ovenproof casserole dish over medium-high heat. (Note 2 for baking dish) Cook the bacon until golden (about 4 minutes), then transfer into a small bowl using a slotted spoon, leaving all the fat in the pan.
- Brown chicken – Turn the heat up to high. Add more oil if the pan is looking dry (eg if you used lean bacon). Place the chicken into the pan, smooth side down and cook for 3 minutes until golden brown, flip then cook the other side for 1 minute. Remove onto a plate and set aside.
- Sauté aromatics – Add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes until the onion has softened. Add the tomato paste, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. Stir for 1 minute.
- Deglaze – Add the wine and simmer for 30 seconds, scraping the base of the dish.
- Add the rest of the stock, cornflour slurry (give it a quick stir to redistribute the cornflour), beans, cooked bacon and remaining salt and pepper. Stir until combined, place the chicken on top (pour over any juices pooled on the plate), smooth side up. Press the chicken down slightly. Scatter over the cherry tomatoes.
- Bake – Bring it to a simmer, then place into the oven for 20 minutes, uncovered.
- Topping – While the chicken is cooking, mix the topping ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Brown topping – Turn the oven grill/broiler on to 240°C / 460°F (220°C fan-forced). Pull the dish out and sprinkle the panko topping on top, avoiding the chicken and tomatoes. Place the dish back into the oven (15cm / 6" away from the grill) and leave for 2 to 3 minutes to allow the surface to brown.
- Serve – Remove from the oven and serve hot!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life Of Jaffle
He really wants to do a face plant in that!!! 🤣
Looking forward to making this recipe, but have a question… the last step to turn on the “oven grill” doesn’t quite translate to the US. On stoves that have one, a grill would be on top next to the burners. A broiler doesn’t have specific temperature controls (just high/low). Since this step is from browning the breadcrumbs, I assume you mean the broiler, correct?
Yes, in Australia and Britain the grill is the broiler 😊
I think I can help on this one Sharon. The “oven grill” she’s referring to is the heating element at the top of the oven that gets red hot, which those in the US call a broiler. I’m not sure what the average temperature is for a US oven broiler, but I would try it on low to be safe or, if you’re feeling brave, you can try it on high.
I don’t think it makes too much of a difference which setting you use aside from the different times they’ll require to make the bread crumbs crunchy and the higher risk of burning them with a hotter temperature. If you judge it by eye and keep tabs on it I’m sure it’ll turn out wonderfully
Nagi, quite a few of these recipes use bacon. What do you suggest for a non bacon eater (nor any 4 legged variety meat).
Hi Sharon, yes it is. thank you for pointing that out. I have updated the recipe card.
In loving these French recipes. Any chance of a master class in authentic baguette making. I don’t have a really good bolangerie near me so a great baguette is not available.
Hi Lynn, that is something we actually have worked on in the past and is still on our list. Soon hopefully!
Oh Jaffle!!
😂
Can’t wait to try JB’s tweak. Looks scrumptious!!,
You are good Nagi. Jaffle probably gave you 1 maybe 2 seconds for that shot 🐾
Thanks Nancy! he was actually very good, or very full! Because he didn’t go for it. 🙂
This looks simple and divine. About scaling down….we love leftovers in our house and bet it is even better leftover. Maybe a different question is, does it freeze well. Jaffle looks so reserved….he is too cute. Growing up to0 fast.
Hi Karen, yes it freezes very well. Up to 3 months.
French Chili, yum.
Can I make this in the slow cooker?
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried it and it would actually be quite a different recipe. So I can’t give advice to adapt for a slow-cooker version. Please if you try making it, let us know how you go. 🙂
The only wine I have is sherry. Can i use this? (Please tell me i don’t have to go to the shops)
Hi Megsy! I’m not JB but I think sherry would be a great substitute, I’d just dial it down to 2 tablespoons as the flavour is a bit stronger 🙂 – N x
So glad I spotted this reply, thankyou! Be great to have this in the notes.
Do you have vermouth? That’s a fortified wine too, like sherry, and it has good herby flavor for cooking.
I’ve been watching and hoping for this recipe JB. Thank you and Nagi.
It’s here now Edie! 🙂 I hope you like it!
This looks great but recipes with 5 portions are so much harder to scale down to 2 for example. If you do it for 4 it can be scaled up or down evenly for 1,2,3,4,6,8 (etc) people. We don’t all cook for a whole family so easily scable recipes are important to many of us.
Mike, Nagi has a scale on all her recipes that I use very successfully for 2 people
Mike, if you choose the Print icon for the Recipe (jump to Recipe, choose the print icon) you’ll see the scaling options, and the recipe automatically updates. It’s a great tool and I use it a lot
Thanks but I know there’s a scale slider, what I’m saying is that for 5 people it does not scale nicely to any other portion size – 0.8 of a carrot, 0.4 of something else is just silly, whereas 4 scales up or down perfectly. That was my point.
It’s a free recipe.
And thank you, Laurella and Jo…
Just wing it! If you scale to 4 servings and something shows as 1.6c, 1.5 c will likely do the trick. Likewise if something says .7 t use 3/4 t. This isn’t difficult Mike. Recipes are guidelines only, not written in stone!
Just freeze the extra portions.
Sometimes they do make recipes that serve 4 by default. I’m thinking they choose the serving size depending on what works out naturally during recipe testing. I don’t think they intentionally set out to make recipes for x number of people (I could be wrong tho).
For this specific recipe, if you want to scale it to 2, just round up/down the wonky numbers. For ex:
0.8 carrot > 1 carrot
1.2 garlic > 1 garlic
4.8 cherry tomatoes > 5 cherry tomatoes
1.2 x 160g / 5.6oz cans > 1 can of 14 oz beans
0.1 tsp salt for topping > 1/8 tsp or just sprinkle.
I don’t have a grill I can use. How long do I cook it if it’s all done in the oven?
Hi Kathy, if you use the oven instead of the grill, that would risk overcooking the chicken. Instead, toast the breadcrumbs separately in a pan until golden, then sprinkle them over the cassoulet just before serving.
Hi Kathy, a grill is what an Aussie/Brit call a broiler. Over here in Canada/US a grill usually refers to a bbq. Hope that helps! 🙂
Love the Jaffle photo. You even gave him a glass of wine!
Haha, I know! He needed the full experience!
Just what we needed ! Easy and perfect for any occasion ! We ´ve just moved back to mainland France after 26 years in overseas territories… we need nice and tasty dishes such as this to reconnect with winter time! Jaffle… a gentleman, yes indeed
Back to France Adeline? That’s amazing! I hope you’ll enjoy this one 🙂
Can I adapt
This to slow cooker?
Hi Bernadette, I haven’t tried it and it would actually be quite a different recipe. So I can’t give advice to adapt for a slow-cooker version. Please if you try making it, let us know how you go. 🙂
Can’t wait to make it Nagi… Thank you for your recipes… I love your books… You are going to have to do another one with Jaffles’ help…xxx…
Great idea! Thanks for the compliment Judy ♥️
poor Jaffle i cannot believe you have trained him already to NOT faceplant into that luscious smelling dish!!!!
I have to say, he behaved very well this time! And got rewarded with a treat at the end 🙂
Jaffle, I’m ashamed you’re still sitting there with the wretched bib on. Take the leap, rip it off & do that Swan dive & make us proud
BA HA HA!! Swan dive is a VERY generous descriptiion!!!
Yeh you’re right Nagi. Maybe Jaffle just a bloody big belly flop will go down nicely He’s gorgeous Nagi.
Jaffle, you have beautiful manners, go you gorgeous boy. Nagi, you are a wonderful mother🐾♥️
Thank you for the compliments Anne!
I love Cassoulet and have only ever had the traditional one with sausages and duck etc. This looks more approachable for a home cook so will definitely be giving it a try soon!
Jaffle is quite the gentleman with his good table manners😁
Thanks Michele, that was the idea behind it. Similar flavours but much more approachable.
This recipe is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. The one change I’ll make is to add celery to the onions and carrots and cook it as a mirepoix – trying to increase my five a day.
Thank you for the comment Anne-marie, good idea, adding celery is a great way to increase your vegetable daily intake 🙂