Champagne Chicken

Name: Champagne Chicken
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Fusion
Ingredients: chicken breasts; olive oil; butter; champagne; heavy whipping cream; tarragon leaves; salt and black pepper; prosciutto; shallots; butter

Submitted by visualsagett

Sautéed chicken breasts deglazed with dry champagne and finished in a silky tarragon cream sauce. Quick, elegant, and ready in under 45 minutes. Optional prosciutto-stuffed variation takes it over the top.

YIELD

6 servings

PREP

35 min

COOK

10 min

READY

45 min

This is date night chicken. The kind where the kitchen smells like a French bistro and dinner looks like you spent hours, even though you didn’t.

Sliced chicken breasts get a quick sear in butter and olive oil, then the pan gets deglazed with dry champagne. The bubbly lifts all those caramelized bits off the bottom.

Add heavy cream and fresh tarragon, let it reduce into a velvety sauce, and nestle the chicken back in.

Serve it over rice, pasta, or alongside roasted vegetables and watch the compliments roll in.

Variations

Prosciutto-Stuffed: Pound the breasts thin, layer with sautéed shallots and a slice of prosciutto, fold, secure with toothpicks, and sear. Same champagne cream sauce, twice the wow factor.

Chef Tips

Slice the chicken thin (about ¼ inch) for the basic version so it cooks fast and stays juicy.
Deglaze while the pan is still hot. That’s where all the flavor lives, stuck to the bottom.
Fresh tarragon is non-negotiable here. Dried tarragon tastes like a completely different herb and won’t deliver the same anise-like brightness.

Ingredients

EACH CHICKEN BREAST
boned, skinned

TABLESPOONS OLIVE OIL

TABLESPOONS BUTTER

CUP CHAMPAGNE
dry *

CUP HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM

TABLESPOONS TARRAGON LEAVES
fresh

SALT AND BLACK PEPPER
to taste *

SLICES PROSCIUTTO
thinly sliced, optional *

EACH SHALLOT
finely chopped, optional *

TABLESPOON BUTTER
or margarine, optional

Directions

Cut chicken into ¼ inch wide slices.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet.

Sauté the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken and keep warm.

Deglaze the pan with the champagne.

Add the cream to the pan.

Add the tarragon and reduce the sauce for two minutes.

Put the chicken back into the pan and bring just to a simmer.

Remove to serving platter.

Serve hot with fresh vegetables or over rice or pasta.

If using optional ingredients: Cut chicken breasts in half only. Place each half between sheets of waxed paper and pound with a meat tenderizer until about ⅛” thick.

Sauté shallots in butter until tender.

Divide shallots equally between the breast halves, spreading evenly over each.

Place one slice of prosciutto on each breast half, fold in half, and secure with toothpicks.

Sauté about 4 to 5 minutes on each side in the butter and olive oil listed in the original ingredients.

Chicken is done when it springs back when lightly pressed with finger.

Follow the balance of the instructions listed above for the sauce.