Oven-fried chicken breasts are coated in a crispy onion breading and baked until golden brown! Perfect on busy weeknights, this French Fried Onion Chicken is ready in just 30 minutes. Serve it with honey mustard for dipping, plus a side of rice and broccoli for an easy dinner that the whole family will love!
French's Fried Onion Chicken Recipe
This particular dish is very similar to the old-fashioned French's Fried Onion Chicken recipe -- with a few tweaks and tips to make the meat even crispier and more flavorful! It’s a perfect family-friendly, easy dinner when you’re ready for classic comfort food and minimal effort.
What are French Fried Onions made of?
This recipe uses French's Crispy Fried Onions as a breading for oven-fried chicken breast cutlets. If you're not familiar with the little gems, they're made with real onions that are coated and seasoned with salt, wheat flour and dextrose, then fried in palm oil. That's it! No other ingredients, artificial flavors, or GMOs. In addition to the crispy chicken coating, we keep a can of the fried onions in our pantry and use them as toppings on dishes like my favorite Green Bean Casserole or a Smoked Sausage Pasta Bake. They're also delicious on salads (in lieu of croutons), on bowls of chili, or on hamburgers.
The Chicken
I find that chicken cutlets (or thinly-sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts) work well for this recipe. The thin chicken cutlets cook quickly in the oven, which means that the coating doesn't burn or get too dark.
Chicken cutlets are really just thin pieces of boneless chicken that have been cut from a thick breast or pounded flat. I typically purchase thinly-sliced chicken breasts or "chicken cutlets" at the grocery store to save some time on the prep work. If you prefer, you can make your own chicken cutlets by slicing two larger boneless, skinless chicken breasts in half lengthwise. Pound the halved chicken breasts with a meat mallet or rolling pin to an even thickness and use in the recipe as instructed.
How to Make French Fried Onion Chicken
Baked instead of fried, the chicken breasts coated with French fried onions are crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, and so incredibly flavorful. Best of all, you only need 6 ingredients and about 10 minutes of prep to get this meal on the table!
Ingredients for Baked Chicken with French Fried Onions
- Chicken cutlets
- Lawry's seasoned salt
- French's crispy fried onions
- All-purpose flour
- Garlic powder
- Eggs
Step 1: Season Chicken
Pat the chicken dry and then sprinkle both sides with seasoned salt.
Step 2: Prepare Fried Onion Coating
Place crushed fried onions, flour and garlic powder in a shallow dish. The eggs go in a separate shallow dish.
Step 3: Bread Chicken
Dip the chicken in the egg and then coat with the onion mixture. Place on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.
Step 4: Bake
Bake the chicken in a 350 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes.
What to Serve with Chicken Breast Coated with French Fried Onions
I've shown the chicken with a simple side of rice and steamed broccoli. Here are a few more easy options that go well with the oven-fried chicken:
- Buttermilk Biscuits or Drop Biscuits
- Cowboy Baked Beans
- Crock Pot Mac and Cheese or Creamy Stovetop Mac and Cheese
- Skillet Cornbread or Corn Muffins
- Pumpkin Bread or Pumpkin Muffins
- Southern Macaroni Salad
- Coleslaw
- Southern Collard Greens
- Baked Potato Wedges
- Easy Potato Salad
- Arkansas Green Beans with Bacon
- Broccoli Salad
- Fried Apples
- Southern Succotash, Fried Corn or corn on the cob
Storage
This chicken is best when served warm, straight from the oven. If you have leftovers, package them in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. The coating will become slightly soggy as it sits.
How to Reheat
Place chicken pieces on a wire rack on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 300 degrees just until heated through (about 10 minutes).
How to Freeze the Chicken Before Baking
After the chicken is coated in the fried onion mixture, arrange the raw chicken on a parchment-covered baking sheet and place in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until frozen solid. Then transfer the frozen chicken pieces to a freezer safe Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 2 months. When ready to enjoy, you can bake the cutlets directly from the freezer -- just increase the baking time until cooked through (about 40 minutes). You will likely need to tent the chicken with foil during the second half of baking to prevent the coating from burning.
Recipe Variations
- Seasoned salt is a combination of salt, sugar and other spices like paprika, onion and garlic. If you don't have any seasoned salt in your pantry, you can make your own seasoning blend, use my all-purpose seasoning blend, or just season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Instead of the French's original crispy fried onions, try a different flavor variety like caramelized crispy fried onions or crispy jalapenos (which are very spicy).
- Chicken Nuggets: Yes, you can make French's French Onion Chicken into nuggets! Cut chicken tenderloins or breasts into 2-inch pieces and bread with the egg and fried onions as directed in the recipe. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes.
- French Fried Onion Chicken Tenders: Use chicken tenderloins instead of cutlets. The oven-fried chicken tenders will bake in approximately the same amount of time.
- Chicken Thighs: If using a thicker cut of meat (like chicken thighs), you will need to increase the baking time. I recommend tenting the chicken loosely with foil about halfway through baking to prevent the coating from burning.
- Without Egg: Instead of dipping the chicken in eggs, you can brush mayonnaise onto the meat before dredging in the onion coating.
Tips for the Best Frenchs Fried Onion Chicken
- Shake off any extra egg before dredging the chicken in the coating. This will prevent a soggy coating.
- Place the chicken on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. This will prevent the bottom of the chicken from getting soggy in the oven. I like to line the baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup!
- Cooking times will vary depending on your oven, on the size and thickness of your meat, and on the temperature of the chicken when it goes into the oven. Use a meat thermometer to know when your chicken is cooked through -- it should register an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. The inside will no longer be pink and the juices will run clear.
- Offer a side of honey mustard for dipping with the sweet onion chicken.
- Double the recipe to feed a larger family, or cut all of the ingredients in half to serve just two!
More Easy Chicken Recipes That You'll Love
French Fried Onion Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken cutlets (or 2 large chicken breasts halved lengthwise) (about 1 – 1 ½ lbs. total)
- Lawry’s seasoned salt, to taste
- 2 cups fried onions
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top. Spray the wire rack with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Pat chicken dry with paper towel; sprinkle with seasoned salt on both sides.
- In a large Ziploc bag, combine fried onions, flour and garlic powder. Use a rolling pin or meat mallet to coarsely crush the fried onions. Transfer to a shallow dish.
- Place the eggs in a separate shallow dish.
- Working with one piece of chicken at a time, dip the chicken in the egg and then dredge in the onion mixture, gently pressing to make sure that both sides are evenly coated. Place the chicken on the prepared wire rack; repeat with remaining chicken.
- Bake chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F – about 20-25 minutes.
Notes
- Shake off any extra egg before dredging the chicken in the coating. This will prevent a soggy coating.
- Place the chicken on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. This will prevent the bottom of the chicken from getting soggy in the oven. I like to line the baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup!
- Cooking times will vary, depending on your oven, on the size and thickness of your meat, and on the temperature of the chicken when it goes into the oven. Use a meat thermometer to know when your chicken is cooked through -- it should register an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. The inside will no longer be pink and the juices will run clear.
- Offer a side of honey mustard for dipping with the sweet onion chicken.
- Double the recipe to feed a larger family, or cut all of the ingredients in half to serve just two!
Adela Reinke
I made this tonight and it was delicious!!
Blair
Thanks, Adela! I'm so glad that it was a hit!
Natalie
Can I use skinless chicken breasts?
Blair
Yes, absolutely! Just cut the chicken breast in half to make it a thinner cutlet. The cutlets will cook much faster, which prevents the coating from burning. 🙂
Donna Dodge
do you mean onions that I chop myself and fry, or the can of fried onions?
Blair Lonergan
Hi, Donna! You just need the can of fried onions. No extra work for you! 🙂 I showed a picture of the onions that I use towards the top of the blog post. Hope that helps!