This Paleo French Onion Chicken is made all in one skillet and has become a family favorite! The chicken is pan fried and loaded with caramelized onions, a savory gravy and an addicting dairy free cheese sauce. This easy, flavor-packed dinner is quick enough for weeknights and the leftovers are delicious too! Whole30 compliant and keto friendly.
I’m definitely into chicken skillets lately! From one-skillet greek chicken to chicken caprese and creamy mustard chicken with kale and so many more, they’re some of my favorite meals.
I took a break from my regular bone–in chicken thighs and went with boneless to make this paleo and Whole30 French onion chicken. It’s soooo good!
We have deliciously seasoned, pan seared chicken with caramelized onions and beef gravy, topped baked with a dairy-free cheese sauce that’s out of this world tasty.
Plus, it’s made all in one skillet and the leftovers are awesome reheated, so you have lunch the next day!
What You Need to Make French Onion Chicken
Cashew Cheese:
- cashews, soaked in hot water for 2 hours
- garlic powder
- nutritional yeast
- sea salt
- fresh lemon juice
- warm water or plain almond milk
Chicken:
- onions
- ghee or refined coconut oil
- beef bone broth
- boneless chicken thighs (or breasts – pounded to 1/2” thickness)
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- Italian seasoning blend
- tapioca flour
- Cashew Cheese (above)
- fresh thyme and/or parsley
How to Make French Onion Chicken
In a large oven proof skillet, over medium heat, melt the ghee. Add the onions and saute onions 3-4 minutes until translucent then sprinkle with salt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally so the onions don’t burn, for about 15 minutes longer until browned and very tender. Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm.
While the onions are cooking, prepare the chicken by seasoning with salt and pepper (to taste) and Italian herbs. Once onions have finished cooking and are removed from the pan, cook chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side (don’t clean out the pan between the onions and chicken) until browned on both sides. The chicken may not be fully cooked through.
Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm and return the onions to the pan. Sprinkle the tapioca flour over the onions and stir for 1 minute over medium heat. Add beef broth and continue to cook, stirring throughout, until mixture comes to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Return chicken to pan and spoon some of the sauce over each piece of chicken.
Top the chicken with the cashew cheese (see below) and transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. Bake for about 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through completely.
Spoon some of the onions and gravy over the top of the chicken, garnish with thyme and/or parsley and serve right away.
How to Make Cashew Cheese Sauce
Making cashew cheese is super simple and so rewarding if you miss cheese!
I like to soak my cashews for at least 2 hours in hot water. This helps soften them to make blending easier. If you’re short on time, soak in boiling water for 30-60 minutes.
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender (I used a smaller one – Nutribullet) and blend/pulse until very creamy. You will need to stop blending to scrape down the sides and incorporate all the cashews. Once it’s nice and smooth, set aside until ready to use.
I hope you’re ready for a seriously tasty chicken recipe that’s sure to become a favorite! Grab your skillet and your ingredients because it’s time to cook – let’s go!
Paleo French Onion Chicken {Whole30, Keto}
Paleo French Onion Chicken {Whole30, Keto}
Ingredients
Cashew Cheese:
- 1 cup cashews soaked in hot water for 2 hours, then drained
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup warm water or almond milk
Chicken:
-
2
yellow onions
thinly sliced
- 3 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp ghee or refined coconut oil divided
-
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning blend OR 1/4 teaspoon dried basil + 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme + 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken thighs or breasts - pounded to 1/2” thickness
- 2 Tbsp tapioca flour
- 1 1/4 cups beef bone broth
- Cashew Cheese see above
- fresh thyme or parsley for topping
Instructions
Cashew Cheese:
-
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender (I used a smaller one - Nutribullet) and blend/pulse until very creamy. You will need to stop blending to scrape down the sides and incorporate all the cashews. Once done, set aside until ready to use.
Chicken:
-
Preheat your oven to 375° F. In a large oven proof skillet, over medium heat, melt the ghee or coconut oil. Add the onions and saute onions 3-4 minutes until translucent then sprinkle with salt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally so the onions don't burn, for about 15 minutes longer until browned and very tender. Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm.
-
While onions are cooking, prepare the chicken by seasoning with salt and pepper to taste and Italian herbs. Once onions have finished cooking and are removed from the pan, raise the heat to medium-high and add the additional ghee. Cook chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side (don't clean out the pan between the onions and chicken) until browned on both sides. (Chicken may not be fully cooked through)
-
Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm and return the onions to the pan. Sprinkle tapioca flour over the onions and stir for 1 minute over medium heat. Add beef broth and continue to cook, stirring throughout, until mixture comes to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Return chicken to pan and spoon some of the sauce over each piece of chicken.
-
Top the chicken with the cashew cheese and transfer skillet to the preheated oven. Bake for about 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through completely.
-
Spoon some of the onions and gravy over the top of the chicken, garnish with thyme and/or parsley and serve right away.
Nutrition
Shop Products and Ingredients:
Want More One Skillet Paleo Meals? Try One of These!
Mexican Cauliflower Fried Rice
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This recipe was so dang tasty & easy! Will definitely be going into our regular meal rotation.
Wait, preheat the oven to what?
Sorry! It’s 375°F
I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees and that was perfect! This chicken turned out so tender and juicy! I actually doubled the chicken since I made this meal for a larger group. Paired it with roated asparagus and it was heavenly. I love that it is dairy free and so easy to make! I live for Michelle’s recipes!
What’s the oven temperature set to?
Sorry about this omission! It’s 375°F.
OMG this was out of this world YUMMY!! My entire family devoured our and kept saying what a winner this one was and to be sure it keeps in the dinner rotation! Thanks for yet another amazing dish we love!! Highly recommend!
I don’t have almond milk, could I substitute it for coconut milk? Thanks!
SO good! I added mushrooms just because I had them. Served with green beans
Wow! Really delicious. It was perfect and going straight to the hall of fame recipe book! Thanks for this great recipe!
This was one of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever made. So good and hard to believe it’s whole 30. Thank you!
This was absolutely delicious! I served it with whole30 mashed potatoes and air fried green beans and my family gobbled it all up.
This was amazing! It will be on the monthly rotation!
This dish was amazing! I’m allergic to cashews so topped the chicken with a little bit of grated gruyere cheese. I love your recipes!
Oh my! This was one of the most delicious chicken recipes I have ever had! Even better is that my husband cooked it. 🙂 One tweak we made was lessening the ghee to try to lower the far content. Next time also we are lowering the salt. The sauce was too salty, but fabulous! He said he’d salt the onions, and lower the salt in the sauce to 1/2 tsp and not salt the chicken.
The 11yr old and 4 yr old even gobbled it right up!
What an easy and impressive dinner! Made this recipe for my husband and brother, both of whom are total dairy maniacs. Both were absolutely raving about how rich and delicious the meal was. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!
Do you have the macros just for the cheese?
Amazing. My husband couldn’t believe how much it reminded him of French onion soup. This is definitely a repeat recipe for my whole family.
This was very good and tasty, though I *DO NOT* Recommend putting Cashew Cheese into a *Nutribullet* to mix as mine blew the top with blades off and hit the refrigerator the mixture flew everywhere and just missed my husband which would have cut him up.
This was so delicious! Whole family loved it!
I’m currently on my fifth Whole30 & I’ve only ever left about one review on a recipe—my advice, MAKE THIS!!! You won’t regret it! Seriously, this is in the top five most flavorful Whole30 dishes I have made. 100/10
Everyone loved it! One of the best chicken dishes I’ve made.
This was excellent! Takes a bit of time to make with having to cook down the onions first and then I sautéed mushrooms too (needed to use up). They added some extra veg and filled it out, I think. Not a weeknight dish in my house but will make again!
Very very good post …