Known in French as “Poulet à la forestière”, this dish of chicken nestled in a creamy mushroom sauce is an Autumn staple in French kitchens. Chicken pieces are pan-fried, braised in white wine and finally garnished with a creamy “Forestière sauce” – a typical French sauce of mushrooms and crème fraiche. This is an easy recipe that is cozy and incredibly flavorful.
Cooking notes:
- I recommend you salt your chicken beforehand (2 to 3 hours before), to allow the salt to penetrate the meat. If you’re interested in knowing more about how salt is used to build and enhance flavor in food (especially for meats), I recommend the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat.
- Leaving the skin on the chicken is essential to this recipe. The chicken will be first cooked, skin-side down, in the pan. The fat from the skin will melt and render into the pan, and be used later to caramelize the shallots and garlic, and as a base for the sauce. It will contribute greatly to building flavors in this dish. You can choose to remove the skin later on – in your plate, once the dish is served.
- Instead of 2 chicken quarters, you can substitute for 4 skin-on chicken legs or thighs.
- Cremini mushrooms are traditionally used for making a classic “Forestière sauce”, but you can opt for other seasonal mushrooms if you want, such as porcini or chanterelles
- For the white wine, I recommend you choose one that is dry and crisp, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc.
- Although it wasn’t easy to find up until a few years ago, Crème fraiche has now become common in grocery stores in Canada and the US. You can usually find it next to sour creams. Two of my favorite brands I recommend are Liberte and Maison Riviera.
I hope you enjoy this Chicken in Creamy Mushroom Sauce (Poulet à la Forestière) as much as I do! It is a perfect weeknight dinner or weekend lunch, served on top of pasta, white rice or green beans. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.
You may also like:
- Pork Chops in Grainy Mustard Sauce
- Braised Chicken Thighs with Garlic and Onion
- Bacon-wrapped Chicken breasts in grape sauce
- Chicken Marengo
- Coq Au Vin Blanc
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to know how it turned out! Please let me know by leaving a comment below, rate the recipe and/or share a photo on Instagram: tag @pardonyourfrench and hashtag it #pardonyourfrench. This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Privacy Policy & Disclosure page for more details.
31 comments
This was an fantastic recipe – great fall/winter meal. My whole family loved it and it will be added into the “rotation”. I used chicken legs which is my go to cut and they worked perfectly. I also added some pancetta along with the mushrooms and would definitely do that again or I’d use some bacon (i just like the added flavour). One trick I learned when pan frying chicken is to start with a cold pan which reduces the chance of the skin sticking and forms an even crisper result. Thank you for this great meal and I will definitely use your site for more further inspiration as French cooking is one of my favourite cuisines.
Thank you so much for your feedback Leona. I love the pancetta you added in there!
I entered the ingredients I had on hand in Google and it landed here. However, I only had chicken breasts and Chinese Shaoxing wine. It was amazing. I served it with cheesy grits and steamed broccolini. People thought I was a star. Thank you for your recipe to act as a guide.
Thank you for your feedback Stephen!
Amazing! I used chanterelles that I’d sauteed and frozen last season. This dish was truly a delight. The ingredients are simple but the result is such complex and deep flavor. The chicken was perfectly browned and succulent. Thank you! Excellent!
Fantastic, thank you for your feedback Courtney!
Audrey, I made this for dinner tonight. Turned out very well. Served it with buttery green beans on the side. Thank you for posting!
Thank you Jenny! I love it served with greens beans as well.
Amazing recipe! This is a simple marinade with lots of flavor. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your feedback! Happy you enjoyed it.
I don’t have Creme Fraiche, so I am going to try some greek yogurt instead. I hope it turns out ok. I Love creme fraiche, just didn’t plan ahead to purchase some for this dish. Will report back after we dine 🙂
Hi Danielle, you can use heavy cream as a substitute for crème fraiche. Greek yogurt (if it doesn’t have a high fat content) may curdle when being heated up – so make sure you take it out of the fridge before so it warms up to room temperature and avoid bringing the sauce to a simmer once the yogurt is in. I hope this helps, bon appetit! 🙂
Hi Audrey,
Pardon your French was my lock down challenge, trying to cook as many of your recipes as possible. Many hits and also a few failures (pâte brisée is not easy to bake !) I am an expat as well, in the UK, and cooking all of that fabulous food reminds me so much of home.
So far our favourite is Poulet à la Provençal, but I am cooking A la forestière tonight and I am sure it is gonna our top 1.
Merci pour ces super recettes !
Thank you so much Audrey!
Amazing recipe! I made it for the first time last Thursday, and it was such a hit in my house, that I’m making it again tonight! 🙂
Amazing, thank you for your review Jacquelyn!
This recipe was perfect, exactly how you presented it. It was also one of the most delicious things I’ve made, and I am Julia Child’s biographer. Thanks very much.
Amazing, thank you for your feedback Bob!
Hi Audrey!
Can’t wait to prepare this. When you write “one garlic” in Ingredients, I’m presuming you mean one garlic clove — am I right?
Thanks!
Hi Dawn! Yes, 1 clove 🙂 I edited the recipe, thank you for catching that!
This is a delicious recipe. I’ve made it several times. I did make some changes but it’s because I worked with what I had on hand. I ended up using sour cream instead of creme fraiche, and I used a very dry white vermouth instead of white wine. One time I used leeks instead of shallots. It was fine that way but the shallots make it a far tastier dish. I also add more garlic and a tablespoon or so of thyme. I look forward to trying some of your other recipes. Thanks so much for posting your work!
Thank you for your feedback!
I’ve made this before and placed this excellent recipe over rice. Tonight I have fresh baby spinach from our local Farmer’s Market. As written, it’s perfect, but I may shake a wee bit of Granulated Garlic and Granulated Onion onto the chicken before I dust and it in flour and rest it. It’s a particular favorite in our home. I wish there was a way to capture and send the aromatic essences this offers up. Thank you! Wonderful discovery!
Adding a little extra garlic (and onion) is never a bad thing if that’s what you enjoy!
Thank you so much for the comment, and you’re absolutely right… The aroma from this dish makes the entire home smell so comforting. A real favourite.
This recipe is fantastic! I’ve made several of the chicken dishes from Audrey’s site – fricasse, chasseur, Normandy,.. – (sorry about the spelling) and they are all show stoppers. The chicken à la Forestière was different in that it didn’t have something else to lean on – no brandy, fruit, or herb that sang out as the dish. One would think okay, so it will be good. But no! It’s so much more. It was SO basically satisfying. No flavor dominated but they all worked to create a truly wonderful dish. I – and my darling wife the gourmand – love the peaches, apples, herbs, etc., but she specifically told me this was a keeper. Thank you for this.
Thanks again, Mike… You really have a way with words. I am so happy you’re enjoying so many of the recipes and hope that will continue!
I really enjoy trying your recipes. When I made this chicken forestiére , following your recipe precisely, this is what happened. My husband took a bite, closed his eyes and literally made a m,m,m,m sound of pleasure. My daughters had similar reactions of delight. They said it was the best chicken they ever ate, anywhere. I next made it for my uncle who said “oh my God” after one bite.
Thank you so much. I’m a huge fan! Hope your holidays ahead are joyous.
Kind regards,
Andrea Steele
NY, NY, USA
Wow, Andrea. Compliments to the chef! So glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. I hope they’ll continue to enjoy them as you try more and more things.
And of course, a happy holidays to you and yours as well!
I am not a fan of dark meat so could I substitute chicken breasts?
Absolutely, Gayle! Always make a recipe to suit your tastes, is my motto! Dark meat tends to be more forgiving, but my suggestiong would be to cook the chicken breasts at the final step for 10min instead of 15 (just check for doneness)… Should be perfect!
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