Yassa Chicken (Poulet au Yassa)- A Super Popular Senegalese succulent chicken with caramelized onions and mustard. 
If you love onions you will love this onion extravaganza of incredibly moist and flavorful Senegalese dish. It is a French inspired meal that has been adapted by the Senegalese specifically in the Casamance region of Senegal. You can either use a whole cut chicken or just use parts of it ( thighs, breast or legs).
The chicken thighs and legs were on sale at the market, and I could not resist the temptation! Those supermarkets always know how to get you. 
The chicken used to make this dish can be grilled or fried then simmered with, mustard, seasonings and fresh lemon juice until succulent and aromatic. Anytime I have to choose between fried and grilled food the latter wins.I am not usually a big fan of lemon chicken – mostly because the lemon is always overpowering, but this recipe is just right!
You can adjust the lemon to suit your taste buds. The addition of hot peppers and bay leaves gives a flavorful kick to the chicken. 
This Yassa Chicken is fantastic; it is versatile enough for a week night meal or an elegant dinner party centerpiece because you can do the prep work the day before to deepen and tenderize the chicken. . Be sure to shake off any excess marinade of the chicken before grilling
This is usually served over white rice or couscous and vegetables on the side.
Watch How To Make It
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Yassa Chicken(Poulet au Yassa)
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Ingredients
- 2 1/2 -3 pounds Chicken(thighs, legs or breast) , skin- on
- 1-2 lemon sliced, divided
- 2 Large Onions Sliced (divided)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (divided)
- 1-2 Bay leaf
- 2 cubes Maggie (1 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons Dijon or grain mustard .
- 1 Scotch bonnet pepper (replace with about 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, adjust to taste)
- 1 cup or more chicken stock or water
Instructions
- Trim chicken of excess fat and pat dry with a cloth or paper napkin ; salt and pepper
- Add , onions , 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, and Maggie to the chicken. And let it marinate in the fridge about for 2 hours , preferably overnight
- Preheat a hot barbecue, grill, griddle or frying pan.
- Place chicken on the grill coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until browned.
- If using stove top brown chicken on both sides about 5-6 minutes per side , remove and set aside.
- Heat up sauce pan on medium heat , add oil , remaining onions , remaining garlic , bay leaves, mustard and the remains of the marinade left over from the chicken. Cook for about 5 minutes .
- Add chicken to the saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat, spooning the sauce over the chicken to coat.
- Add about a cup of water or chicken stock, lightly season with salt and chicken bouillon or Maggie . cover and cook until the chicken is cooked through about 18-20 minutes .
- Adjust seasonings ; salt, pepper and Maggie to taste . Turn off heat - remove bayleaf .
- Arrange the chicken on a plate, top with the lemon and mustard sauce over it. Garnish with the remaining lemon half and serve.
Nutrition Information:
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Phebe says
Hello!
Thank you for this recipe. Could this dish be made in the slow-cooker(Crock-pot)?
Thank you!
Imma says
Yes, you sure can. The skin won’t crisp up though, so you may want to remove it first. Then add all the ingredients to the crockpot and cook it on low for about 2.5-5 hours, depending on your crockpot. Please let me know how it goes. ❤️
Kaitlyn says
So excited to try this! Question – can you put the chicken in the freezer with the marinade stuff, then defrost and continue as usual?
ImmaculateBites says
I would not recommend it. I usually let it marinate in the fridge for for about 2 days.
SANDMAN says
This recipe is FANTASTIC! I will be sharing it tomorrow with my wife’s best friend.
ImmaculateBites says
Great! Thanks for sharing
Connie says
So Yummy! Thank you!
imma africanbites says
You’re welcome. I’m so glad you like it.
E Sarr says
Hi there. I made this dish and the flavors were wonderful. Just like I’ve had in the homes of my Senegalese friends. But I do have one question. After putting all the ingredients together how to you get the skin of the chicken to not get soggy? It was crispy when I added it and then with the water and sauce got really soggy and rubbery. Thanks!
ImmaculateBites says
Hello ,
Unless you fully cook the chicken it will get somewhat soggy. So maybe grill the chicken all the way through and add to the pot just to finish it off. About 5-10 minutes .
Darshan says
Too yummy. I prepared one recipe. Taste was supperb. Thankyou for sharing good recipe
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!
Jem says
My boyfriend is from Gambia and I first tried Yassa chicken over the weekend, along with other beautiful dishes! African food has become my ultimate favourite. I’ve always been too nervous to cook African food myself as I know it will never be as good as if it were cooked by an African woman, but I’m giving this a try and I hope he likes it!
imma africanbites says
I’m rooting for you, Jem! You can do it. Please do let me know how it turns out for you. Enjoy!
Debra says
I made this for dinner last night, and it was delicious and easy. The lemons and seasonings were a tasty combination. I’m looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch today, and I definitely plan to make this again!
ImmaculateBites says
Yay! Thanks for letting me know.
Françoise says
Hi! Did you use Dijon Mustard or regular mustard for this recipe? Thank you
ImmaculateBites says
I used Dijon mustard.
Urban @urbanskitchen.com says
There is always the option of Baking the Chicken in the oven or on a wire rack over a tray and then simmering it after in the sauce on the stove. That’s often what I do and am used to doing.
As to Neville’s comment. If the post is several years old, it is very much buried in the archives of your blog at this point. Very few people will ever see it unless specifically roaming around deep in the archives to specifically search for it. Your very much allowed to repurpose the post, update it, make minor changes to it, fix something on it and republish it if you need to without saying it was previously posted. If you elects to say its a repeat that’s all your choice. I’m smart enough to know when a post is current vs previously published. And as much as I sometimes and often dig around in the archives of other people’s blog I’m glad to see some posts that I haven’t seen before, even though it may have been previously published way back in the day in the life of a blogs history. The vast majority of people that when they first find your blog ever go back in your archives to read whats there. So it’s sometimes good to repurpose some content or updating it and republishing it.
Neville Marques says
Mr. Urban appears to have felt that I have been rude with my request. That was not the case, The site is yours you have every right to republish whatever you deem fit. I really would appreciate republishing a recipe where modifications have been made however if it is just a reprint then I would have been happy if it were mentioned. I am a recent convert to your blog and have gone thro’ every recipe in your archives and have enjoyed making a number of your dishes. Incidentally I am not as smart as Mr. Urban to know if an item were published in 2017 that it was a reprint from 2013.Thanks
Neville says
I am an ardent follower of your site and have cooked many recipes all of which been a hit. I have however a small request, if you are repeating a recipe please mention that it is repeat . Yassa chicken was first published on 10th January 2013. Thanks
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Neville! Thanks for trying out my recipes ! Will do so moving forward .
KATHRYN B says
THANK YOU FOREVER for your sharing all these surreally delicious dishes! I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas and there, the best food traditions of several cultures have always been heavily entwined [just like coastal Loiusiana]. I always wondered WHY [once I was grown & had to move to a cooler climate], the foods from the Irish/English/Italian cultures were so terribly LACKING in flavor. NOW I KNOW! Here, there’s little interest [outside of NYC ] in spicy “adventurous” African or French-African or even Afro-Italian food. Since I’m from the South (gasp!) folks here are reluctant even to eat foods I cook! Their Loss, lol! 😀
ImmaculateBites says
Yes!their Loss. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us
Didina Gnagnide Angorinie says
Just to defend my cuisine’s honor lol…the ‘Italian’ food you can get in the US often doesn’t have much in common with the real stuff. And the French definitely know how to cook, and I even like the real Alpine cuisine which is the basis for most of the US’s “meat and potatoes” ‘white’ food (wurst, potato patties, dumplings, etc) – the original things taste rich and much better and are perfectly suited to the harsh and hair-thin climate (and Austro-ungaric patisserie is to die for). Many of the Louisiana cooking techniques and spice mixes take much of their origin from French cuisine (one old lady asked me “Is this French” when I made gumbo).
But I do generally agree on British food…despite being rich in butter it often lacks flavor.
KATHRYN B says
Oh, Oops! I meant to say the Cuisines I found once HERE, in upstate NY, being called “authentic,” Irish/English/Italian, had nowhere near the COMPLEXITY of flavor found in the foods we grew up with in Texas. And yes, even the German (every Texas potluck dinner had at LEAST five very different & tasty potato salads), Slavic (learned to make Kolatches from Granny Kovar, next door) and Biscuits-with-Sausage-Gravy meals came to the table proudly, and carefully tasted beforehand. The early knowledge of spices & herbs as preservatives, so important in the hot swampy climate of the western Gulf Coast of the USA, was mainly brought there by the knowledge and expertise of African, Spanish and French cooks. In Louisiana & Texas there was little influence from British cooking, as they were, early on, territories of France and Spain.
Which is why, once more, I am SO grateful for for this website! Very difficult to find a good, knowledgable African cookbook, yes? Only last week I was wondering about how to make that West African CornChaff [aka Adalu], because it was mentioned in an article about the benefits of Resistant Starch [from cooked-then-cooled corn, beans or potatoes]. It seems the smaller the world becomes, the more we cherish what has brought us together – and food becomes so amazing in that capacity.
Didina says
I don’t know…I don’t have much abroad experience but every ‘Italian’ restaurant I have tried abroad was ‘off’, so now I wouldn’t even try anymore (and why would I? I’d rather sample the local cuisine). Tomato quality is a big factor, but it’s not just that (as not all Italian regions introduced tomatoes early, like mine where the most famous sauce ‘pesto’ has none, traditional Ligurian cuisine has no tomatoes but lots of herbs, olives, soft and hard cheese and anchovies/mushrooms. We even used chickpea flour before it became a hip thing). The herbs are off and the doughs are weird in the restaurants I have sampled.
Texas definitely has an interesting and flavorful medley of cuisines, so I can understand your disappointment at more puritanical fare.
KATHRYN B says
Thanks, Didina, for the lead-in to exploring traditional Ligurian cuisine~ That region must be so lovely! I found a Ligurian recipe for creamed salt-cod, with olives, herbs & potatoes o0. Yum! And it was interesting to find out that Pesto Sauce originated there. I’ve been putting anchovies in with my olives – any olives – for a while now, but didn’t realize that was a Ligurian tradition. Yes, it must be strange for you also, to find the regional tomato-garlic-bread-based cuisine, presented as simply “Italian,”here in the ‘States. 😀
Didina Gnagnide Angorinie says
To Katie below (it turns out I can’t reply directly under your post, sorry): haha, well nowadays even we Ligurians use tomatoes, and we have always used lots of garlic. My great-grandma made her pesto using one garlic clove per person. So Southern Italian cuisine (which I love) is still not that foreign, tomatoes and onion/garlic is pretty much everywhere . The most underrepresented Italian cuisine in the world is the alpine one, there are wonderful dishes like pizzoccheri (a kind of pasta made with buckwheat flour, mountain cheese, garlic and kale and usually potatoes) that I can only find in certain remote regions: too bad. And now due to the kale epidemic spread by hipster US health bimbos I feel bad when I say kale, like it’s a dirty and embarrassing word XD.
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Therese! Thanks for the feedback ! Not a big fan either so glad you enjoyed it!
Didina Gnagnide Angorinie says
Succulent dish. I have one question: what did West African people use instead of Maggi before it was invented? Crayfish and similar? Maggi is now such an important part of West African cooking but I am not fond of using msg regularly since most doctors are not fond of it, so I’d like to know if there are other ways of adding flavor that don’t clash with the dish’s regionality. There is meat extract but that’s very expensive. Do you think anchovy paste would work? Thank you, Didi~
Urban @urbanskitchen.com says
I don’t know either what they used in West Africa which is very much accestral for a huge part of Caribbean cooking, and there Maggi cubes is very much normally used. I think it’s partly a regional thing as i can even remember seeing my family use Maggi allot to add flavor as a child in the caribbean. Buying Stock in Cans or Cartons is expensive for people in those regions, Maggi Cubes is far more affordable.
There were’t always a ton of options that was cheap to use. Sometimes we used Sazon which add flavor as well coloring. In the U.S it’s much a different culture with food and cooking and many people in different parts of country may not be used to using Maggi or have food particulars. With reasonable good cooking skills one can often elect to add low sodium Stock or Chicken Stock or reduced Stock with concentrated flavor to the dish instead of always adding water. Whether you buy the Stock or you make it yourself, which isn’t hard either. All serves to add flavor to any dish and you can choose not to use the Maggi cubes which is a personal choice and you can worry less about msg if that’s a worry. Just make sure your stock don’t have too much sodium so you have a bit more control of salt in your dishes.
Anna says
In Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, you can use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumbala to add flavor.
In Ivory Coast, in the south, you can use https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akpi. In Senegal, there’s also Yet and Guenj. Sorry, feeling to lazy too explain in English what all of these are: just google them and use google translate if the pages are in French.
ImmaculateBites says
That’s a good question . There are plenty of spices that are still being used to lend flavor to lots of African meals , without the use of Maggi .I know most recipes call for it but it’s really optional and you can cook tasty meals without it. Though I must admit it’s a an inexpensive way of adding flavor.
Didina Gnagnide Angorinie says
Thank you everyone, it is very interesting for me to discover some cuisine history, in this case I think I would use some concentrated chicken broth as Urban said.
Kelly Wesemann says
Chicken bouillon can also be an inexpensive way to replace Maggi. Also, you can broil the chicken to get crispy skin, if you don’t have a grill handy. I have made this for many people since returning from Mauritania in 1988. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t love it! However, one single habenero pepper is not enough, even for a person who doesn’t like spicy food! LOL! Use the cooked pepper to dab onto rice to get additional spiciness for those who like it.
imma africanbites says
Thanks for stopping by, Kelly. I had to add just one pepper since I’m serving it for my kiddo. But yes, feel free to add more, especially if you’re a heat seeker.
Therese says
Made this and really liked it . I am not a big fan of lemon so I cut it down to 1 lemon.