Chicken in White Wine Sauce

This flavorful chicken in white wine sauce is complemented by sweet blistered tomatoes and fresh herbs for a dish that’s balanced, delicious, and bound to impress. It is all made in one pan in under an hour!

Inspired by a recipe published in a 2013 edition of Cooking Light, this is a comforting Sunday dinner for your family or an impressive main dish for a dinner party. With browned pieces of chicken, a sauce with crisp white wine, savory chicken stock, and vibrant fresh herbs, and sweet, tangy blistered tomatoes, this is likely to become your new favorite chicken dish, alongside this lemon chicken recipe and my baked chicken marinara!  

Professional tips to make chicken in white wine

• Be sure to adequately reduce your sauce. The sauce reduction process intensifies the flavors of the dish and creates a velvety texture that coats the chicken. Be patient while the pan sauce reduces and allow it time to reach the correct consistency.
• Use high-quality ingredients. Whenever possible, use high-quality ingredients. This matters most in your choice of stock (homemade is best!) and wine. A good quality wine can significantly upgrade the taste of the finished sauce.
• Adjust seasoning to taste. Taste the sauce before baking and adjust the seasoning as needed. You know your tastes best, so feel free to add more salt and pepper or herbs to suit your personal preferences.

Ingredients

• Bone-in Chicken Thighs: You’ll remove the skin on these bone-in chicken thighs. You also have the option to use boneless chicken thighs. As a bonus, they will cook in half the time!
• Chicken Breasts: This recipe calls for bone-in chicken breasts, but if you can’t find them at your local store, boneless chicken breasts will work just as well. 
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• Canola Oil
• Onion: This recipe calls for 1 cup chopped onion, which is about 1 medium onion. You can use any variety you’d like, but I prefer sweet onion or yellow onion.
• Carrot: Be sure to thinly slice the carrot for this recipe so the flavors meld. You can peel the carrot if you like, but it is not necessary.
• Celery
• Garlic: You can use a head of fresh garlic or 1 tablespoon minced jarred garlic in water, which equals about 3 cloves garlic. You can find jarred garlic at most grocery stores.
• White Wine: Use dry white wine for this recipe for the best flavor. I recommend using Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, or a classic like chardonnay. If you have a bottle of dry red you love, you could make some red wine pasta sauce instead!
• Chicken Stock: I recommend using unsalted chicken stock. If you have the time to make it, simmer bones and vegetables for some homemade chicken stock with the best flavor. If you are using packaged chicken broth or stock, be sure to use a low-sodium variety.
• Flour: You can use regular all-purpose flour for this recipe. There is no need to use a special type, as its use is not for dredging the chicken but rather for thickening the sauce. If you’d like to make this recipe gluten-free, try using rice flour or almond flour.
• Tarragon: I like to use chopped fresh tarragon for this recipe. It adds a floral taste with notes of licorice. It is stronger in flavor than dried tarragon.
• Parsley
• Dijon Mustard: Adding whole grain Dijon mustard to the dish adds some tanginess and acidity that helps to balance the richness of the chicken and the chicken stock.
• Bay Leaf: Bay leaves are known to impart an earthy flavor, with notes of eucalyptus, mint, and pepper.
• Unsalted Butter
• Tomatoes: I like to use cherry tomatoes for this recipe, but you can also use other small tomato varieties, like grape tomatoes.
• Bacon: This ingredient is optional but adds a nice saltiness to the finished dish. Cook 2 slices of applewood-smoked bacon and crumble them ahead of time if you’d like to include them in the dish. Make some loaded mashed potatoes while you’re at it!

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations

• Creamy: To make a creamy chicken in wine sauce, add heavy cream to the sauce. I would not place this cream sauce in the oven as it can break, so cook the creamy white wine sauce separately on the stovetop.
• Different cuts of chicken: You can use a single cut of chicken in this recipe if you’d like, whether that’s boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, like you can with this Chicken Marsala recipe!
• Different herbs: Try using different herbs to see what you like best. Sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary are nice additions to this dish.

How to Make White Wine Chicken

Use these instructions to make the perfect chicken in white wine sauce every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below!

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325°F. 

Step 2: Heat a Dutch Oven or large oven-safe pan with a lid over medium heat. Pat chicken dry and sprinkle evenly with ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add oil to the skillet and swirl to coat.

Step 3: Brown chicken on both sides. In a large pan, you can brown all of the chicken at one time. In a Dutch Oven, you will need to brown the chicken in two batches. Set chicken aside. 

Step 4: Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic to the pan. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 5: Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes, scraping the pan to loosen the brown bits. Add the chicken back to the pan. 

Step 6: Combine stock and flour in a bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add stock mixture to pan.

Step 7: Stir in tarragon, 2 tablespoons parsley, mustard, and bay leaf and bring to boil. Cover. Transfer to the oven and bake at 325° for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and very tender. 

Step 8: Remove dish from oven and remove chicken from pan. Top with ¼ cup cooking liquid. Keep warm.

Step 9: Heat pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes or until the mixture is reduced to 3 cups.

Step 10: Whisk in the butter, remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper. Discard bay leaf.

Step 11: While the sauce is reducing, preheat the broiler on high. Toss tomatoes with a teaspoon of olive oil and arrange in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan. Broil for 6 minutes or until blistered. Sprinkle chicken with tomatoes, crumbled bacon, and remaining 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley.

Step 12: Serve with sauce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this professional chef-tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed chicken recipes, or switch gears and cook up some Shrimp Curry tonight!