Ree Drummond’s Cozy French Onion Chicken Casserole Is a Warming, ‘Pioneer Woman’ Version of the Classic Soup

Ree Drummond has made a culinary career of creating rib-sticking, cozy versions of traditional family favorites. She has said that these ideas come to her to satisfy her hungry family members after a day of working cattle on her family’s Oklahoma ranch. Ree Drummond’s French Onion Chicken Casserole recipe is one of those delicious dishes that came out of a love for the soup classic with a Pioneer Woman twist.

This cozy, warming casserole combines chicken and the best flavors of the delicious soup

The recipe for French Onion Chicken Casserole could not be more straightforward. It even uses a shortcut–a store-bought rotisserie chicken to skip the step of roasting your own.

The ingredients include butter, mushrooms, thinly sliced onions, thyme, salt, pepper, flour, wine, beef broth, a hard, crusty loaf of bread gruyère, and parmesan cheese.

You can also substitute Swiss and Muenster cheese if they are easier to find at your local grocer.

Cut up the bread into slices to be used as part of the final dish.

How to make French Onion Chicken Casserole

First, preheat the oven to 425 ̊degrees.

While it is heating, grease a baking dish deep and wide enough to hold the tasty ingredients.

Melt one tablespoon butter in the pot and add mushrooms until a deep brown color is achieved. Remove from the pot.

Add more butter to the pan and add sliced onions. Saute until they have achieved a soft consistency and a golden brown color. It could take some time. Therefore, keep the heat on low and keep stirring to prevent sticking.

Add the mushrooms back to the pot, followed by the thyme, salt, and pepper to taste.

Next, add the four and keep stirring to coat the vegetables. This mixture will be the base of the sauce and will thicken the final dish.

Once coated, add the wine, followed by the broth and the chicken you have pulled off of the bone.

Cook until the sauce has finished thickening.

The French Onion Chicken Casserole ingredients are layered like a lasagna

First, add one-third of the onion-chicken mixture is to the bottom of the dish. The sliced break comes next, followed by some of the cheeses.

Follow the same method of layering each ingredient until topped with cheese that will brown and bubble while it cooks.

Cover with foil and bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or so. Then, take the foil off and allow the top to brown.

As with any casserole, it should rest for about 10 minutes or so before serving.

Ree Drummond admits this dish is even better the next day

“Don’t worry if you can’t finish this whole casserole in one sitting. It will taste just as good the next day, too!” she admitted.

The Pioneer Woman airs Saturdays at 10 a.m. EST on the Food Network.

The full recipe and video are available on the Food Network website.