🍗 Oven-Baked 3-Ingredient Church Supper Chicken
This is the kind of simple, comforting, old-fashioned chicken dinner that works beautifully for a church supper: tender baked chicken with a rich, savory coating and very little fuss.
đź›’ Ingredients
- 4 lb (1.8 kg) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or drumsticks
- 1 packet (about 1 oz / 28 g) dry onion soup mix
- 1 cup (240 ml) mayonnaise
That’s it—just 3 ingredients.
If you’re cooking for a large church supper, simply multiply the recipe. One 4-lb batch serves about 6–8 people, depending on the other dishes being served.
🔥 Step 1: Preheat the Oven
Preheat your oven to:
375°F (190°C)
Lightly grease a large baking dish or roasting pan.
Arrange the chicken pieces in the dish with the skin facing upward.
Try not to overlap the pieces.
🥣 Step 2: Make the Chicken Coating
Place the mayonnaise in a bowl.
Add the entire packet of dry onion soup mix.
Stir thoroughly until you have a smooth, evenly seasoned mixture.
The onion soup mix provides the salt, onion flavor, herbs, and seasoning, while the mayonnaise helps the chicken stay moist and develops a beautifully browned coating.
🍗 Step 3: Coat the Chicken
Using a spoon or clean hands, spread the mayonnaise mixture generously over each piece of chicken.
Make sure the chicken is well coated, particularly on the top.
If you’re using skin-on chicken, leave the skin facing upward after coating.
🔥 Step 4: Bake
Place the chicken in the preheated oven.
Bake uncovered for approximately:
45–60 minutes
The exact time will depend on the size of your chicken pieces.
The coating should become:
- Golden brown
- Slightly crisp around the edges
- Rich and savory
- Beautifully caramelized
🌡️ Step 5: Check the Chicken
Use a meat thermometer to check the thickest part of the chicken without touching the bone.
The chicken should reach at least:
165°F (74°C)
For bone-in thighs, I often prefer cooking them a little longer, around 175–185°F (79–85°C), because the dark meat becomes especially tender.
✨ Step 6: Rest Before Serving
Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for 5–10 minutes.
This gives the juices time to redistribute and makes the chicken easier to serve.
Spoon some of the flavorful pan juices over the chicken before bringing it to the table.
🍽️ Church Supper Serving Ideas
For a classic church-supper plate, serve the chicken with:
- 🥔 Mashed potatoes
- 🥕 Glazed or buttered carrots
- 🥬 Green beans
- 🌽 Buttered corn
- 🥖 Dinner rolls
- 🥗 Coleslaw
- 🍎 Apple salad
- 🍰 A simple sheet cake or cobbler
The savory pan juices are especially good spooned over mashed potatoes.
👩‍🍳 Tips for a Big Supper
For extra-crispy chicken
Place the chicken on a rack set over a baking sheet rather than directly in a deep casserole dish. This allows hot air to circulate around the chicken.
For a softer, more casserole-style result
Bake the chicken directly in a baking dish. The juices collect underneath and create a wonderfully rich sauce.
Cooking for 20+ people
Use multiple baking pans rather than putting all the chicken into one overcrowded pan. Crowding can cause the chicken to steam instead of brown.
Make it ahead
You can coat the chicken several hours ahead and keep it refrigerated until you’re ready to bake it.
For food safety, don’t leave raw chicken sitting at room temperature.
🧊 Leftovers
Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container within 2 hours of serving.
They’ll keep in the refrigerator for about 3–4 days.
Reheat in a covered baking dish at 325°F (165°C) until heated through. Add a small splash of water or broth if the chicken seems dry.
❤️ The 3-Ingredient Secret
Chicken + mayonnaise + onion soup mix.
The mayonnaise isn’t there to make the chicken taste like mayonnaise—it creates a rich, golden coating while helping keep the meat moist. The onion soup mix supplies almost all the seasoning.
It’s inexpensive, easy to multiply for a crowd, and exactly the sort of no-fuss comfort food that works well for a church supper.
