Sprinkle dry onion soup mix over raw chicken cutlets, together with 2 ingredients, into a baking dish for a comforting treat that I plan meals around

This oven baked 4-ingredient French onion chicken is the kind of comforting, low-effort dinner I happily plan a whole week around. It leans on a Midwestern pantry classic: dry onion soup mix. When you sprinkle it over raw chicken cutlets in a baking dish, then add just two more simple ingredients—creamy condensed soup and a splash of broth—you get tender, savory chicken tucked into a rich, onion-forward sauce. It’s a shortcut riff on French onion flavors without the time-consuming step of caramelizing onions on the stovetop, and it rewards you with a deeply satisfying, weeknight-friendly meal.

Serve this French onion chicken over a bed of mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice to soak up all that savory sauce. I like to add a simple green vegetable on the side—steamed green beans, roasted broccoli, or a crisp salad with a tangy vinaigrette—to balance the richness. Warm dinner rolls or a crusty baguette are ideal for swiping through the pan juices, and a glass of light red wine or a dry cider pairs nicely with the oniony, roasted flavors.

Servings: 4

1 1/2 pounds thin chicken cutlets (about 4–6 pieces)

Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish (about 9x13 inches) with the oil or butter to help prevent sticking and make cleanup easier.

Pat the chicken cutlets dry with paper towels. This helps them brown slightly and keeps the sauce from getting watery. Arrange the raw chicken cutlets in a single layer in the prepared baking dish; a bit of overlapping at the edges is fine if needed.

If you’re concerned about saltiness, lightly season the chicken with a small pinch of black pepper only. Most dry onion soup mixes are salty enough that you won’t need extra salt.

Open the packet of dry onion soup mix and evenly sprinkle it over the raw chicken cutlets, making sure each piece gets a good coating. This is where most of the flavor comes from, so don’t worry if some falls into the bottom of the dish—that will season the sauce.

In a small bowl, whisk together the condensed cream soup and the chicken broth until mostly smooth. It will still be fairly thick, but pourable. This mixture is your simple two-ingredient sauce that will bake up creamy and rich.

Pour the soup-and-broth mixture evenly over the chicken and onion soup mix in the baking dish. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to gently nudge the sauce around so most of the chicken is nestled into it, but leave some of the onion soup mix visible on top for texture and color.

Cover the baking dish tightly with foil to keep the chicken moist during the first part of baking. Place the dish on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, carefully remove the foil (watch for steam) and continue baking, uncovered, for another 10–15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through (an instant-read thermometer should read 165°F/74°C in the thickest part) and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

If you’d like a slightly more browned top, you can move the dish to the upper third of the oven for the last 3–5 minutes of baking. Keep an eye on it so the onion soup mix doesn’t burn.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken slightly as it cools. Taste a spoonful of the sauce and adjust with a small pinch of salt or pepper only if needed. Serve the chicken cutlets with plenty of the French onion sauce spooned over the top.

To keep the spirit of this recipe—sprinkling dry onion soup mix over raw chicken cutlets with just two more ingredients—focus on swapping within those same roles. For a creamier, richer version, use condensed cream of onion or cream of celery soup instead of cream of chicken or mushroom. For a slightly lighter sauce, replace half of the condensed soup with plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, stirring it in after the dish comes out of the oven so it doesn’t curdle. If you prefer dark meat, boneless, skinless chicken thighs work beautifully; add 5–10 minutes to the baking time, checking for doneness with a thermometer. For extra onion-forward flavor without adding more ingredients, choose a “French onion” style dry soup mix rather than basic onion, or use a low-sodium version if you’re salt-sensitive. You can also adjust texture by cutting the broth back to 1/3 cup for a thicker, clingier sauce, or increasing it to 3/4 cup for a looser, gravy-like consistency that’s perfect over rice or noodles. Leftovers reheat well in a covered skillet over low heat with a splash of broth or water to loosen the sauce.