Serve the most delicious chicken casserole ever, thanks to herbs and seasoning. Mary Berry revealed her go-to seasoning for chicken casserole, including thyme and bay leaves. Not only that, like a true professional, the chef recommends first marinating the chicken in a flavourful wine mixture.

For the best results, make sure to follow Mary's recipe step-by-step and to have all the ingredients to hand, including mash and greens to serve on the side. Ready within the hour (minus the time for marinating the chicken), it's a simple dish to recreate time and time again.

Chicken casserole

• Serves: six people
• Prep: less than 30 minutes
• Cooks in: 30 minutes to one hour

Ingredients

• 400g baby shallots, peeled
• Three garlic cloves, crushed
• One small bunch of fresh thyme
• Four bay leaves
• 600ml red wine
• Six small skinless and boneless chicken breasts
• Two tbsp olive oil
• 75g butter
• Three tbsp plain flour
• 350g smoked streaky bacon, chopped into pieces
• One tbsp tomato purée
• One tbsp light muscovado sugar
• 400g button mushrooms, halved
• Salt and black pepper

Method

Marinating the chicken
Mix the peeled shallots, garlic, herbs and wine in a large bowl, then add the chicken, season with salt and black pepper, then leave for an hour.

Cooking
Preheat the oven to 160C (140C fan/gas three). Sit a colander over a large saucepan, strain the marinated chicken and the mixture. Reserve the shallots, bay leaves and thyme to set aside.

Then heat oil and 50g of butter in a casserole dish, add the chicken and fry on a medium-high heat for five to 10 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Now heat up the saucepan that has the wine marinade, put on a high heat, and boil for five to 20 minutes, until the liquid is reduced.

Add the plain four to a bowl with 150ml of water, whisk until smooth, then stir in a little of the hot wine marinade and then transfer all into the saucepan with the wine marinade. Keep hot.

Now add the bacon to the casserole dish, fry on a high heat for about 10 minutes, the add the reserved shallots and cook for 10 minutes more.

Then add the hot wine marinade to the casserole dish, as well as the tomato purée, sugar, and reserved bay leaves, thymes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, stir, then cover with a lid for 20 to 25 minutes.

In the last 10 minutes, melt butter in a saucepan and fry the mushrooms. Add to the chicken casserole before serving, and remove the bay leaves and thyme. Serve the casserole alongside mash and shredded cabbage.