Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Chicken à la King – Only in America

Chicken à la King is one of my favorite classic, comfort foods, and in additional to being delicious, you also get to make up your own story of where the name came from. Just promise me not to use mine. You can have the recipe, but the Don King story is proprietary.

This is an easy recipe to adapt, and you can also make it thicker/thinner if you want by simply changing the amount of roux. Have a little extra stock on hand to thin if need be, and not a lot can go wrong. And don’t even get me started on how great this is for using up leftover vegetables.

As I mentioned in the video, I’ll normally make this kind of thing the day after roasting a big chicken. You can eat some, and save the rest of the meat and bones for this. Or, you can just roast two chickens. They refer to that as “have your chicken and eat it too.” I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for two large, or four small portions:
6 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
2 large shallots, minced
1 cup diced sweet bell peppers
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, depending on how thick you want it
1/4 cup dry sherry (there is no substitute, except maybe a little splash of a mild, sweeter vinegar)
3 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 tablespoon Italian parsley
1/3 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream
4 cups cubed roasted chicken
fresh chives to garnish

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

This brought a tear to my eye. (SNIFF!!)

Singleot said...

A childhood favorite. Of course since my mother didn't like cooking, the Ala King I had was from a boiling bag 'frozen', over plain Ramen noodles. Can't wait to make it. Thanks chef.

Unknown said...

Is there any way to substitute the whine for something else? I have people I cannot serve alchahol too. Yes yes I know the booze simmers off but still.

Unknown said...

Can the sherry be omitted?

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

Yumm. This is a lovely recipe to have for the cooler days coming up.

Ctrl Alt Eat said...

Is this Indian food? Seems like you have used some classic Indian ingredients here - ie Pepper, Nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Don't get me started about Apple Pie, BBQ and Worcestershire Sauce.... LOL!

Unknown said...

I'm going close encounters on this recipe after I get a new batch of creme fraiche made.

Unknown said...

This looks delicious! And i bet it would make a great pot pie filling?

Chris K. said...

I am the Billie Jean of my Chicken a la King.

Anonymous said...

Made it, love it, thanks again, I was in a rut.

Chris said...

I trained as a chef in the 1970's, in Lancashire, UK, and Chicken a la King was a common dish then, I don't know why you think it's American.

Steve said...

Hi Chef John! I have a quick question: What kind of mushrooms are those? Thanks!

p.s. you are my hero and I only make your recipes.

Unknown said...

Thanks Chef John. I made this last night and it was delicious. For my taste though, next time I'll halve the chicken and double the mushrooms.

Singleot said...

According to the Wikipedia, three out of four origin stories for Chicken ala King, have it created here in America, so I think there's a good chance it is American. Not to mention Don King was an American boxing promoter. I think your assumption is safe chef.

That's MIZZ Gypsy To You! said...

Wait...it WASN'T named for Don King? 😜

That's MIZZ Gypsy To You! said...

O.k. a more serious question. Your recipe seems more like a soup than a stew. Is that what you're accustomed to? I've always seen it as a stew. Can you suggest a way to make your delicious looking recipe more stew- like?

covrigel said...

I can see this with polenta more than mashed potatoes :)

Steve Kennedy said...

That was very tasty. But your idea of leftover chicken must mean, cook a whole chicken, don't eat any of of it and leave it in the fridge overnight. Get four cups of meat off of it, and you can eat the leftover wing :) However, I fed 3 somewhat older folks off of it, and could do the same tomorrow with what I had left. I can see where it might feed 2-17 yr old boys. But we were all stuffed.
I have to ask, the people asking for sherry substitutions, did those comments come from you tube where the substitution recommendation is not clearly printed? If you read the ingredients on food wishes it is clearly spelled out. "there is no substitution, but maybe a splash of mild sweet vinegar"

Victoria said...

Fall is here and my husband had been asking when I can make him your Pork Stew again. Has been his favorite recipe for a year now! He also asked what else we could do, and mentioned your a Beef Stroganoff. He followed that with,"is anything Chef John makes NOT delicious! When was the last time we checked his site?" And how we needed to stock up on some of your recipes. Making your Beef Stroganoff tonight and this looks yummy too! Just wanted to pass on the compliments and say how grateful I am that my husband loves your food as much as I love making it and watching your videos! Thank you!

Unknown said...

Oh man this was good. We had it over whole wheat pasta and then elbow macaroni. Ran out before I could try it over Ramen!

anstasija said...

The video is not playing right. Pleas fix it. I will watch it later and look for an inspiration to make a almost-paleo version of it ;-). Thank you!

worlds worst cook said...

Looks really good, but no celery? Also, I noticed a while back you don't use parsley in your chicken noodle soup. Any reason for that?
Just curious. Thx

Unknown said...

Hey Chef John, I've been thinking about all the things that were great about 2016. You know what came to mind? Obviously, FOODWISHES.COM!!! Thanks for making breakfast, lunch, and dinner all the better! - Alana

Unknown said...

Substitute sherry with part honey, part rice vinegar

ScienceSusan said...

Just noticed: á la precedes something feminine and usually ‘king’ isn’t. Now I must investigate ‘á la mode’.

Unknown said...

I've made this a couple of times. Both times I served it on good sourdough toast, which is such a perfect combination I can't imagine having it any other way.