Chicken Provencal is a recipe that we cook at home a couple of times a month. It’s a weeknight meal for us, since it’s super easy, tastes excellent, and the ingredients hold up pretty well in the pantry or the refrigerator.
With the ease of cooking and stability of the ingredients, we figured that, with some minor adjustments, this would make for an excellent camping dutch oven recipe.
We’ve rated this recipe as EASY due to the ingredients just being layered in the dutch oven and cooked. You will need to dredge the chicken in flour before adding it though.
What makes it so unique are the ‘herbes de Provence‘ that are sprinkled on top of the chicken while it cooks. Herbes de Provence are a special combination of herbs that originated from the Provence region of France.
They add a mild floral tone to whatever you’re cooking. Since they are so mild, you shouldn’t be put off by the amount that is added to the dish. You could probably even add a little more if you want the flavor to be more pronounced.
Related: Learn More About the Dutch Oven Equipment We Use
Herbes de Provence are traditionally a combination of marjoram, savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage, and lavender, although it can vary depending on who you’re talking to.
Another thing that might seem a bit different about this recipe is the quantity of onions and garlic in it. Don’t worry, braising them in the vermouth and chicken juices mellows them out nicely.
We originally used to make this with white wine, but we gave dry vermouth a try as suggested by Sam Sifton in The New York Times Cooking. It was far better than the regular white wine.
The white wine made it taste a bit tart. The dry vermouth gives it an almost creamy flavor and helps bring out some of the floral notes of the herb mix.
An important thing to be careful of when cooking Chicken Provencal is that when you go to baste the chicken halfway through the cook, be certain to fully wet the tops of the chicken. If you don’t, you could end up with some patches of dry flour.
Other than that, this is one of the easiest recipes that you can cook in a cast iron dutch oven.
As with any chicken dish you cook at your campsite, you should verify the internal temperature of the meat with an instant-read thermometer. Your thermometer is the most important tool you can have as the camp cook.
Don’t take a risk of food poisoning out in the boonies.
Explore more dutch oven camping recipes.
Dutch Oven Chicken Provencal
Ingredients
- 4 large Bone-in Skin-on chicken thighs
- 2 tsp. Morton's Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp. Black pepper
- 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
- 2 tbs. Olive oil
- 2 tbs. Herbes de Provence
- 10 Garlic cloves – (peeled, whole)
- 6 medium Shallots – (peeled, halved)
- 1 lg. Lemon – (cut into 1/8th sized wedges)
- 1/2 cup Cherry tomatoes – (halved)
- 1/2 cup Black olives – (pitted)
- 1 cup Dry vermouth
Instructions
Before You Leave Home
- Cut the shallots and garlic. Store in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator.
- Place flour in a small container.
At the Campsite
- Set your dutch oven up for baking at 400 degrees (for a 12" dutch oven, 7 coals underneath, and 21 on top).
- Trim chicken thighs of excess skin and fat.
- Slice cherry tomatoes in half and cut the lemon into eight wedges.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, then very lightly dredge in the flour. Shake off excess.
- Add oil to the dutch oven, swirling around with a wooden spatula.
- Add chicken and sprinkle with the herbes de Provence. Place the lemon wedges, garlic cloves, shallots, tomato halves, and black olives around the chicken. Ensure that the garlic cloves are tucked down toward the bottom of the pot.
- Add the vermouth to the dutch oven.
- Cover and cook for 30 minutes, then baste the chicken with the pan juices, being careful to fully wet the tops of the chicken so that all of the flour is moistened.
- Cover and continue cooking for an additional 20-25 minutes, until the internal temperature of the chicken hits 165° F.
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