The Best Chicken à la King

An absolute classic dish, chicken à la king, is a simple chicken in a cream sauce that is perfect as a weeknight dinner or can be fancied up a little bit for a formal get-together.

For some more great chicken dishes, why not make some Chicken Paprikash, or maybe some tasty Lemon Pepper Chicken?

The Best Chicken à la King

Chicken à la king has a bit of a reputation of a pseudo fancy dish, the kind of thing that someone might make if they were trying to be fancy but didn’t really know-how.

However, despite its somewhat made-with-soup 1950’s reputation, chicken à la king is an incredibly old yet simple and delicious recipe that deserves a place in any home cook’s kitchen.

With a few simple ingredients that would go into any chicken pot pie recipe, alongside a big helping of puff pastry, you can make something that is not only delicious but surprisingly elegant as well.          

Chicken à la King Ingredients

Don’t forget to look at the recipe card at the bottom of the page for all of the ingredient amounts needed here.

• Butter

• White onion

• Sliced button mushrooms                                                                                                                                                

• Diced carrots

• Minced garlic

• Chicken broth

• White wine

• Celery salt

• Dried thyme

• Heavy cream

• Cornstarch

• Chopped cooked chicken breast

• Frozen green peas defrosted

•Chopped jarred pimentos

• Salt & pepper

• Vol au vent puff pastry shells

How To Make Chicken à la King

• In a large, deep-sided skillet with a tight-fitting lid, melt the butter and sauté the onions, mushrooms, and carrots until the onions are soft

• Add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes

• Pour in the chicken stock, wine, celery salt, and thyme

• Simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on top until the carrots are tender

• Whisk together the cream and cornstarch, and then whisk into the skillet, whisking until there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth

• Mix in the chicken, peas, and pimentos, as well as the seasoning, and simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes

• While simmering, prepare the Vol au vent pastry according to the package instructions

• to serve, place the pastry on a plate, remove the pre-cut center circle and then ladle a large scoop of the chicken ala king into the center of the pastry, and then top with the reserved pastry circle

• Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve

What Is Vol au vent Pastry?

Vol-au-vent, or “windblown” in its original French, is basically just a puff pastry that has been formed into a small, hollow case, almost making a standing bread bowl out of puff pastry.

Homemade Vol au Vent Pastry

You can usually find some Vol au vent in the frozen aisle at the supermarket, but if you want to make it yourself, you can simply get some puff pastry and cut two circles into a fully rolled out sheet of puff pastry. From there, cut another hole in one of them and then stack the ring-shaped piece on top of the disc-shaped piece.

Use as directed in the recipe.

Th Kind Of Wine to Use

Most chicken à la king recipes you find online use some kind of sherry as part of the liquid for this recipe, but this one uses white wine.

While sherry would definitely be a great substitute for the wine if you happen to have it, the average person is a lot more likely to have some white wine on hand rather than sherry.

The key is to add a little bit of acidity and depth of flavor, so the precise choice of alcohol doesn’t particularly matter.

In fact, if you wanted to avoid alcohol in general, you could just a little bit of your preferred vinegar and maybe a little more chicken broth to add a little more depth of flavor as well.

Looking for more delicious Chicken recipes? Try these out:

• Bisquick™ Chicken and Dumplings

• Lemon Cilantro Roast Chicken Recipe

• BBQ Five-Spice Rotisserie Chicken

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