Roasted Chicken Provençal
Updated July 20, 2025
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
4 chicken legs or 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ to ¾ cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons herbes de Provence
1 lemon, quartered
8 to 10 cloves garlic, peeled
4 to 6 medium-size shallots, peeled and halved
⅓ cup dry vermouth
4 sprigs of thyme, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
35 grams carbs; 189 milligrams cholesterol; 682 calories; 21 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 43 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 814 milligrams sodium; 37 grams protein; 7 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Put the flour in a shallow pan, and lightly dredge the chicken in it, shaking the pieces to remove excess flour.
- Step 2
Swirl the oil in a large roasting pan, and place the floured chicken in it. Season the chicken with the herbes de Provence. Arrange the lemon, garlic cloves and shallots around the chicken, then add the vermouth to the pan.
- Step 3
Put the pan in the oven, and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, then baste it with the pan juices. Continue roasting for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken is very crisp and the meat cooked through.
- Step 4
Serve in the pan or on a warmed platter, garnished with the thyme.
Private Notes
Comments
I've made this about 5 times now, and it’s not much work relative to the super pay-off. I use a lot more garlic and shallots - like about 20 cloves of garlic and about 1.5 cups of shallots. I found a really good vermouth recently that blows the traditional Martini & Rossi away. The name is Dolin, and it's their blanc style. Found that it tastes great over ice too!
Brands of herbes de Provence that have a good amount of fennel seem to flavor this dish the best.
Did you bake with chicken skin side down or up? It's not clear in the recipe.
These are some marvelous and helpful notes. They recall a couple of truisms about the kitchen. First, "a large roasting pan" means different things to different people. One with relatively high sides will yield more "juice" than one with low. Second, oven temperatures vary. Roasting chicken in a 400-degree oven for an hour should almost by definition yield crisp skin. No? Maybe 425 on your oven will yield true 400. Love the idea of adding some knobs of butter! Cook on!
Have been making this for years. With a nice rice pilaf and vinaigrette green salad, it is the perfect company dinner. You can use any white wine in place of the vermouth, and since it is done in the oven, you have time to visit with your guests.
My go-to dinner when I want to serve chicken. Delicious exactly as is, but I have varied it and added some halved cherry tomatoes. Used Italian seasoning instead of herbs de provence. Added sauteed mushrooms or artichoke hearts. Even added cooked italian sausage sliced into rounds. It's great because thighs don't easily dry out so the timing isn't critical.
I'm confused about what you do with everything at the end. The chicken, of course, comes out of the pan and gets served as-is. And then what? The shallots and garlic cloves get scooped out onto dishes? To... eat? Smush onto pieces of bread? (Yum.) And the juice... gets reduced, perhaps? Or it's already reduced? You spoon it over the chicken? (Nah.) Put it on the plates and then put the chicken atop? (Hmm.) Hope you've got some worthy starch? Sorry to over-think; I yam wud I yam.