Meals · Skillet & sheet-pan mains
Poulet à la moutarde (French chicken in mustard cream)
Chicken thighs browned in butter, then simmered with shallots, mushrooms and white wine and finished with a sharp sauce of Dijon and wholegrain mustard and crème fraîche, reduced until it coats the chicken. Serve it with boiled potatoes or rice.
- Time
- 65 min (15 prep + 50 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 535 kcal
- Protein
- 42 g
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 lb chicken thigh, boneless, skinless, each cut in half
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp butter
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 3 medium shallots, finely chopped
- 10 1/2 oz mushrooms, white button mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cup white wine, dry
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
Mustard cream
- 3 tbsp Dijon mustard, strong French Dijon
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard, moutarde à l'ancienne
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp creme fraiche, full-fat
- 1 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped, or parsley
Steps
- Pat the chicken dry and season with the salt and pepper. Heat the butter and oil in a wide, deep skillet over medium-high heat and brown the chicken for 3–4 minutes a side, in two batches if needed. Lift onto a plate.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the shallots and mushrooms to the same pan and cook for 8 minutes, scraping up the brown bits, until the mushrooms have given up their water and started to colour. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the broth and thyme, return the chicken and its juices, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the chicken is tender and 165°F inside.
- Lift the chicken onto a warm plate and pick out the thyme stems. Boil the sauce for 5–6 minutes until reduced by about half, then turn the heat to low and stir in both mustards and the crème fraîche. Do not let it boil again, or the mustard turns bitter and the sauce can split.
- Return the chicken to the sauce, turn to coat and warm through for 1 minute. Scatter with the tarragon and serve with boiled potatoes, rice or green beans. It keeps 4 days in the fridge; reheat gently and stir in a splash of water.
Good to know
Can I use chicken breast?
Yes, at about 56 instead of 47. Cut each breast in two and simmer for only 12 minutes, because breast dries out faster than thigh.
Can I use half-fat crème fraîche?
Yes, at about 56 instead of 47. Stir it in off the heat, since half-fat crème fraîche splits more easily than full-fat.
Per
- Calories
- 167
- Protein
- (33%)
- 13 g
- Fat
- (60%)
- 11 g
- Carbohydrates
- (8%)
- 3 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 336 mg
About 35% of the alcohol remains after cooking; the label counts only that.
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2141 kcal goes into the pot and 1741 g of ingredients comes out as about 1280 g of food: 167 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.