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Any night of the week is a perfect night for Chicken à la King. This old-fashioned recipe has tender chicken with vegetables in a luscious cream sauce and is ready in under an hour.
Chicken à la King is officially an antique recipe enjoyed by enthusiastic eaters for over one hundred years. If you’ve never tried it, get ready to fall in love with how easy it is to make and how quickly it disappears off the plate.
This recipe uses boneless chicken breasts, but you can use cooked chicken too: leftover rotisserie chicken, roasted chicken, or even leftover holiday turkey.
Ingredient notes:
- White wine: Choose a light-bodied dry white (such as sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio) that you enjoy drinking. Use more broth instead of the wine, if you prefer.
- Chicken broth: Make your own chicken broth or use store-bought.
Step-by-step instructions:
- Marinate the raw chicken pieces in the cream (holding some cream back to use later), salt and lemon juice. You can put everything in a zipper-top plastic bag, or use a shallow glass baking dish for marinating. Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for half an hour.
- In a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until shimmering. Add onion, carrots, and celery and sauté for several minutes until softened, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the flour and cook for about a minute. Pour in the wine and cook until the mixture thickens, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. .
- Pour in the chicken broth and the remaining cream. Cook for 5 minutes, until the sauce is very thick. Then stir in the chicken mixture, cream and all. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Stir in the frozen peas, and cook for another minute. Remove the pan from the heat and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
Recipe tips and variations:
- Rotisserie chicken: Shred up a grocery store chicken (or make your own rotisserie chicken) and use the leftovers to make the recipe. No need to pre-marinate with cooked chicken; just stir in the lemon juice when you add the peas.
- Slow cooker: In the bottom of a slow cooker, add cream, wine, chicken broth, flour, and 1 teaspoon salt and stir until smooth. Stir in chicken, celery, carrots and onion. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 7 to 8 hours. Stir in peas and lemon juice, then cook 30 minutes longer or until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.
- Make ahead: The recipe comes together in almost no time, but if you need to make it ahead of time, add the peas when you reheat the dish, to keep them bright.
- Freezing: The cream sauce freezes well. Let the recipe cool, then portion, label, and date. Before reheating, let the dish thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
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Chicken à la King
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 (6 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1 celery rib finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (see note 1)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (see note 2)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley minced
- Biscuits or toasted bread, for serving
Instructions
- In a large zipper-lock back, combine ½ cup cream, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the chicken and mash until evenly coated. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add wine and cook until thickened, scraping up any browned bits, about 1 minute. Stir in the broth and the remaining ¼ cup of cream. Cook until the sauce is very thick, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in chicken mixture and peas. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with parsley. Serve on toasted bread or biscuits.
Notes
- White wine: Choose a light-bodied dry white (such as sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio) that you enjoy drinking. Use more broth instead of the wine, if you prefer.
- Chicken broth: Make your own chicken broth or use store-bought.
- Rotisserie chicken: Shred up a grocery store chicken (or make your own rotisserie chicken) and use the leftovers to make the recipe. No need to pre-marinate with cooked chicken; just stir in the lemon juice when you add the peas.
- Slow cooker: In the bottom of a slow cooker, add cream, wine, chicken broth, flour, and 1 teaspoon salt and stir until smooth. Stir in chicken, celery, carrots and onion. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 7 to 8 hours. Stir in peas and lemon juice, then cook 30 minutes longer or until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.
- Make ahead: The recipe comes together in almost no time, but if you need to make it ahead of time, add the peas when you reheat the dish, to keep them bright.
- Freezing: The cream sauce freezes well. Let the recipe cool, then portion, label, and date. Before reheating, let the dish thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
This is awesome! My family can’t get enough of this…which makes me happy and look like an awesome cook!
Yes, yes, SO. MUCH. YES. I am seriously in love with this recipe- MUST try!