Coq au Vin Blanc

This Coq au Vin Blanc recipe is a lighter take on the classic French dish, Coq au Vin, which is traditionally made with red wine.

This version is made with white wine, spring vegetables, and fresh parsley. It’s perfect for easy entertaining or a cozy weeknight meal.

Ingredients

Chicken Legs Traditionally, Coq au Vin is made from a rooster, the literal translation is “Rooster in Wine”. But today, it’s easily made with chicken. I prefer skin-on, bone-in chicken for the best flavor and texture. You can either use the full chicken leg, or just the thighs and drumsticks separately. I like to use a braiser to serve oven-to-table, and I can fit six whole legs in this Staub Braiser. Yes, it’s pricey, but a great investment! I also use it in the winter to make my Hunter’s Chicken, another classic French dish.
Salt, Pepper, Herbs de Provence I use these seasonings to season the chicken legs before searing and roasting.
Bacon/Lardons In France, we use lardons, a type of thick-cut bacon. But in the States, you can use sliced bacon and cut it into large chunks.
Leeks You’ll use just the white parts, sliced into half moons. I like the use of the leeks for a lighter coq au vin, over onion.
Shallots. These will also add a nice springtime flavor. You’ll cut them into a small dice.
Carrots cut into a large dice.
Celery cut into a slightly larger dice then the carrots. I think it looks pretty once the dish is done to have all the vegetables cut into slightly different variations. Makes the sauce more visually interesting when spooned on top.
Butter: For the mushrooms, you have two choices. My preferred method is to sauté them in butter in a separate pan until brown and caramelized. The flavor is better this way. Alternatively, you can toss them in after the celery and saute them with the rest of the vegetables after they have started to soften a bit.
Mushrooms, you can use white or brown mushrooms, sliced.
White Wine For Coq au Vin Blanc, a lighter white wine works best. A dry sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio would be a good choice.
Chicken broth will be added after the wine is reduced.
Garlic Use fresh garlic over anything pre-crushed or in a jar. The flavor will be better that way.
Worcestershire Sauce Just a few dashes added to the sauce will give it more depth of flavor.
Cornstarch + Water will be combined to thicken the sauce.
Heavy Cream Just a few tablespoons to make the sauce a bit creamier.
Lemon Zest No one will taste the “lemon” flavor, it will just taste fresh, and brighten the flavors for spring.
Fresh Parsley complements the wine and lighter flavors in this dish.

Searing the Chicken Legs

I prefer a two-step process to cook the chicken.
First, I cook the bacon until it is crispy. Then I sear the chicken in the bacon fat to add more flavor to the chicken. The rendered fat from the chicken serves as the fat for cooking the vegetables in the next step.
I don’t cook the chicken through at this stage, just enough for a nice sear.
Then I place the legs on a sheet pan and roast them in the oven. This method allows for two benefits.
First, it will allow you to “multi-task” by making the sauce while the chicken cooks through in the oven. Secondly, it will allow the chicken skin to become crispy on all sides, which is hard to achieve on the cooktop.
Once the sauce and the chicken are done, you place the legs in the pan and pour over the sauce, et voila!

Serving and Pairing Suggestions

This dish serves beautifully “oven-to-table” in a braiser, allowing guests to serve themselves.
Or you can plate each dish with one chicken leg, and spoon the sauce and the vegetables over the top.
As a side dish you could continue the French theme and serve Potatoes Anna on the side or Gratin Dauphinois. Or mashed potatoes or smashed potatoes would be equally good!
Or if you wanted to keep it easy, buttered egg noodles or Parmesan polenta would also be good too!