French Onion Chicken

You don’t need a deep fryer to get crispy coated chicken. The magic happens in the oven. Or the air fryer. Either way, this unbelievably easy chicken breast recipe with a very short list of ingredients will be a favourite with kids of all ages.

So where does the French Onion come into play? Twice actually. French onion chip dip and dried fried onions called Crunchy Toppers. Made by a company called French’s ironically. The dip coats the chicken to help the crushed dried onions stick. And together they form a coating that helps keep the chicken from drying out.

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French Onion Chicken is so easy to make, it’s a great way to introduce kids to cooking. The prep is fun, the ingredients are fun and there are even a few cooking skills and safety lessons included. And if you have picky eaters, kids are more likely to eat something they’ve made themselves. If you happen to choose the “Heluva” brand dip, your kids will probably giggle about saying “hell.”

If you have your ingredients and baking sheet prepared, the oven might not even be preheated before the chicken is ready to go in. I told you this is fast.

You’ll need:

• a baking sheet covered with foil
• a roasting rack over the baking sheet
• a wide bowl or pie plate
• a brush or spoon
• a small bowl for chip dip
• a rolling pin and a freezer bag to crush the french onions
• paper towel

Once you have everything above assembled, preheat the oven and make sure you have a rack in the lower part of the oven. Then add the dried onions to a freezer bag, press all the air out, then zip closed. If you have too much air the bag might burst. Roll gently with a rolling pin until the larger pieces are broken up, then pour the crumbs into a wide bowl or plate.

In order to get the chip dip to stick to the chicken, make sure to pat the pieces dry with paper towel first. And season with a bit of salt and pepper. Not too much because the coating ingredients have salt in them but a little is ok. Then spoon the amount of dip in the recipe into a bowl. First cooking lesson – cross contamination. You don’t want to dip the brush into the dip, brush the chicken, then put the brush back into the dip container. Because of the raw meat. And mostly because you don’t need the entire container of French Onion Dip so you’ll have some left for chips. Great excuse to have chips and dip!

Now press each chicken breast into the crumbs. Flip and press the other side. You can also roll the chicken around to get the sides coated. Then lay the pieces on the rack without touching each other. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts. It’s surprising how the sizes of chicken pieces can vary. Bake on a rack over a baking sheet so the air can circulate all around the chicken pieces. Use the lower part of the oven to help the bottom get crispy too. Why the foil? To reflect heat back onto the bottom of the chicken. And best of all, easy clean up!

A few notes about this recipe:

If the stores near you don’t carry dried french onions you can also use plain potato chips for the coating. Then your recipe will be called Chip and Dip Chicken.

If a full chicken breast is too large of a serving for your kids, instead of cutting a piece in half after cooking, slice the chicken breast horizontally into 2 pieces before coating and baking. Because they’re thinner, they won’t take as long to bake so adjust the cooking time, otherwise you’ll have dry chicken.

An instant read thermometer is a very helpful tool to have in the kitchen. They’re very affordable and they take the guesswork out of cooking meat. When I say affordable, I mean less than $20. I will tell you that the CDC, WHO, scientists and chefs don’t agree on a safe temperature for cooked meat. A very safe temperature for chicken is 165. So find a temp that you’re comfortable with that doesn’t result in dry meat. And most importantly, let the chicken rest at least 5 minutes before serving. In that time the juices from the meat will move back into the centre instead of leaking out if you cut into them too soon.

You can make French Onion Chicken in the air fryer if yours is large enough to hold 4 pieces without crowding. The cooking time is reduced to about 25 minutes and you don’t have to turn the oven on. Good idea for a hot day. But then again, if you’re turning the oven on anyway, you could make Baked Macaroni and Cheese as a side dish.

If you get some kids to try this recipe, feel free to tell everyone how it went in the comments section below!

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