Pan-Roasted Chicken in Cream Sauce Recipe (2024)

I have a quibble with recipes that call for browning of the chicken then cooking the chicken in liquid, in a covered pot on the stove.The crispy, delicious chicken skin becomes soft-ish and less appealing.Am I cooking it wrong? Does anybody have tips about how to avoid this phenomenon?I prefer to put chicken in dish, uncovered, in oven at 450 for about 15 minutes, then lower to 375 until cooked (another half hour plus)...Please advise

Sounds great, but I have a quibble. Do you mean a dry Madeira, such as Sercial, Verdelho, or rainwater, or a sweet one such as Bual or Malvasia? I assume you mean a dry one, but using a Bual would not be that different from using Marsala.I have a similar quibble when one says "sherry".

Agree with reviewer who dislikes the flabby skin on chicken that has been browned and then cooked in liquid covered. Yuck! Using the technique for Roasted Chicken Provencal - Sifton- avoids this and results in crispy skin yet the liquid in the pan avoids the dry meat effect of an all dry technique . Try it!

Crisp skin is wonderful. If you cook uncovered, then keep some extra stock warm and replenish the level in the pan once or twice as needed to maintain the moisture level without covering the pieces and this will avoid drying out the chicken. You are going to be reducing the sauce in the next step, so no harm done.Need a larger pan than one in picture.If you want the best crispy skin, cut chicken, salt and pepper, dry herbs, then on a rack in the fridge uncovered for 48 hrs (dry brining)

This is the grown-up new century version of my childhood fav: a cup up whole chicken baked with sauce of cream of mushroom soup plus an added can of mushrooms, with a cup of sour cream and a cup of dry sherry, served with white rice. Oh so splendid, for all my birthday dinners. In the 1960s and early 70s.

Delicious, and easier than it looks at first. Tip for keeping skin crispy: 1. After you turn the chicken (I used bone-in thighs) cook it longer on the non-skin side (there's no reason to just "kiss it with heat!). 2. When you add the chicken broth, add the chicken back in, but don't cover it! Just do the entire reduction process with the chicken in the pan. I used Marsala cooking wine, a cup of cream, no yogurt or creme fraiche. It was awesome, now on our Favorites list.

This was absolutely fantastic. The sauce was beyond divine. I was out of chicken so I used a ham hock and.....Just kidding! Followed the recipe exactly and adored the results.

You really got me with the "ham hock" joke. I actually shouted aloud...."Whaaaat!!!!!!" Then, laughed. Thank you.

I'd go with the Creme Fraiche, rather the the Greek Yoghurt. GY is best eaten from the container with the refrig door open, but even the full fat version seems grainy to me when cooked.

When a recipe states Madeira, it presumes a dry or dryish wine. Same with sherry. Dry or medium. It’s there for flavour not sweetness. Summer or winter savory? There is so little in the recipe I doubt that it would make much difference. I would use summer savory. But take your choice.

Would work just as well with rabbit. I'm not sure that 45 minutes is enough to cook all that chicken, I'd probably go an hour especially with bone-in pieces. Fresh chopped tarragon at the end is essential, served over fresh papardelle. Divine!

Apparently, (and this is just from my observations online as well as some personal experience) acid, lack of fat, and too much heat upfront is what causes curdling. I've noticed this when making Holandaise when I've added too much lemon too soon. So, in this case, make sure you use heavy cream as stated, and not to boil the sauce and avoid addition of lemon or other acid.

I hope you get an answer, and I hope someone addressed the sherry question too. Madeira keeps better than sherry so I always use it in recipes that call for sherry, which RARELY specify what kind of sherry.

What is savory exactly? Is it an herb?

Yes, it is an herb, or rather two. Summer savory, the more common variety, is an annual. Winter savory is a perennial. They are pretty much interchangeable and can be used with or instead of thyme and oregano. Note, however, that some people find the taste and smell objectionable, reminiscent of kerosine.

The sauce for this dish was amazing. Made it just as the recipe called for and it was awesome. Could see using this sauce for other dishes. Definitely a keeper.

I can't count the number of wonderful recipes I've enjoyed from NYTCooking, but this one may be the most amazing yet! Worthy of the most elegant dinner party. Prepared as written but I reduced the stock in Step 4 with the chicken in the pan (per comments). I very much appreciate cooks sharing their notes...what we've created here, perhaps unwittingly, is our own test kitchen within this cooking community. Thanks to all!

Someone please make suggestions for side dishes. This is my favorite chicken recipe and company worthy but, with company, it needs something colorful.

Added a bit of chili flakes & minced garlic & rosemary. Subbed red wine for Madeira.

I think I took the "salt aggressively" too far. Thankfully I served it with mashed potatoes, which I undersalted to compensate, which made it edible. I think I will try it again with this knowledge lol!

Totally agree with comments about the flabby chicken skin - if you fry chicken off then boil it in stock you destroy the crisp skin! I added about 1/4 cup tarragon - definitely recommend that if you like tarragon. Sauce was still lacking strength of flavors. Needs a lot more mushrooms which need butter not chicken fat to cook them. Overall a bit of a miss on this one.

Agree with the flabby skin crowd. Also, the dish was blander than it needed to be. I think it definitely needed ground pepper, and then an acid (vinegar, lemon juice, whatever).

This recipe was definitely missing onion and garlic. I found it bland. Sorry NYT, you have very few misses but this is one of them

This is a very underrated recipe. Not sure what the consistency of the cream should be and I’m pretty sure I messed it up, but used white wine instead and was delicious.

This was excellent! It was a perfect Valentine's dinner. It requires some tending to, but we enjoyed our champagne and followed the directions exactly and loved every bite! So flavorful, be sure to have some rice or noodles or bread on the side to soak up the incredible sauce.

This was a great dish. I served it with NYT Green Mashed Potatoes and Fall Salad w/Apples, Cheddar and Crispy Sage. I had to make a couple of adjustments because it's what I had on hand, like dry herbs, sour cream instead of creme fresh, and a mix of mushrooms. Still came out awesome.

A good weeknight meal, albeit a little sweeter than I anticipated. Next time I'd use earthier mushrooms (I did sh*take). I took the skins off the chicken thighs before putting them back in the pan with the braising liquid and kept them warm in the toaster so they stayed crispy. A little time-consuming, but totally worth it.

It’s a good recipe, which I’ve been making for thirty years, but credit to the original author please: This is in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

There seem to be a lot of comments about tips to keep the skin crispy. What I’ve done lately is use boned in, skinned chicken thighs and remove the skin before browning. I season the skins lightly with salt and roast them on a baking sheet and serve them as skin chips on the side. My family and friends love this.

Where does one find morels? I remember a few places in NY But don’t live there anymore. Some years ago my local WF carried them but no more