Upscale Chicken à La King Recipe

While chicken à la King has multiple origin stories, the old-school dish always relies on pieces of chicken, veggies, and a savory, creamy sauce. "Some recipes use cream soups for the creamy sauce, but in this version you are making the sauce from scratch and using all fresh ingredients," recipe developer Jessica Morone explains of her chicken à la King that's just a bit fancier than your average fare. "Shallots have a milder sweeter flavor than using onions, and while they do tend to cost more they are definitely worth it," Morone describes. "Using wine and sherry rather than just all chicken broth also gives the dish a more upscale flavor, but if you don't want to use alcohol in the dish you could just use all chicken broth." 

And while it may be an impressive, luxurious dish, Morone says you can "easily cook this on a weekday night," mainly because "everything is cooked in just one pan. You don't even have to remove things before you start cooking other things, it all just ends up cooking together and that makes it so simple." It's also a great way to use up leftover chicken, if you've got some kicking around your fridge.

This recipe revolves around boneless skinless chicken breasts that get combined with sliced mushrooms, peas (the frozen kind are easiest), and chopped carrot and shallot in a sauce made from heavy cream, butter, lemon juice, chicken broth, dry white wine, sherry wine, pepper, salt, and flour. You'll also need cooking oil and chipped parsley for garnishing. "I like to use baby bella mushrooms, because I like the flavor. But you can use any kind of mushroom that you like in this recipe," Morone says.

Once you've cut up your chicken breasts, place them in a large bag alongside the lemon juice, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Seal the bag and refrigerate it for at least half an hour.

When your chicken is just about marinated, heat your oil in a skillet. Sauté your mushrooms and carrots, and after a few minutes of that, melt the butter over everything and add the shallots. Keep cooking until everything's nice and softened.

You're almost done! Once your veggies are cooked, add the flour and briefly cook, then bring in the wine, broth, sherry, and additional heavy cream. Once that starts boiling and looking like a sauce, the chicken and frozen peas get to join the party. Bring things to a simmer and let it all cook until the chicken is done.

Once your one-pot upscale chicken a la king is done, take it off the heat and scatter chopped parsley over the top. This dish is typically served with rice, biscuits, or pasta such as egg noodles, but you can eat it however you like. "Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can reheat them in the microwave or in a pan on the stove," Morone says.