Chicken a la King – Creamy chicken cooked with peas, mushrooms, and pimentos, served in a puff pastry shell.
Today’s recipe is for Chicken a la King, which is a creamy, stew-like recipe served in a puff pastry shell or over noodles/rice. I personally like the fancy flair you get from serving it in pastry so that’s my accompaniment of choice. The heartiness of the creamy sauce it perfectly balanced with all the veggies – peas, mushrooms, onions, and
This recipe comes to you on the week of Thanksgiving. Originally, I intended for this to be a fun, new weeknight meal or even a holiday dinner party option. But you can easily use leftover turkey in this recipe. Simply skip the first step where we cook the raw chicken and, instead, add in the cooked turkey leftovers at the end of the recipe.
Here is my Chicken a la King!
Tips & Tricks
- Add the liquid to the roux SLOWLY. To ensure your mixture stays creamy and thick, you don’t want the roux to break. It will break if you add all the liquid immediately. Instead, you want to add it slowly as you whisk into the roux, allowing it to warm up as it’s whisked in.
- Use a big pot. For this recipe, I used my wide braising dish, but you can also use a Ditch oven to make this recipe. Do not use a skillet or other shallow dish. This recipe makes a lot of food so you want to make sure the pot can hold everything.
- Frozen peas vs canned peas. Frozen peas are absolutely necessary in this dish. Canned peas are mushy and lack the vibrant green color so they won’t be good in this dish.
Chicken a la King
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ pounds chicken breasts
- ½ cup sherry wine
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms sliced
- ½ large onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 5 tablespoons butter
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground sage
- ⅛ teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 cups half and half
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cube chicken boullion
- ¾ cup frozen peas
- 4 ounces jarred pimentos drained and diced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 frozen puff pastry shells
Instructions
- Season all chciken breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Preheat a large braising dish or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil. When oil is hot, add chicken breasts and cook until browned on both sides, but not cooked-through, about 3 minutes each sides. Remove chicken from pan and set aside until later.
- Reduce heat to medium and add sherry wine to scrape up the brown bits from the pan. Add onions and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add the butter and let it melt before adding the flour. Mix together to form the roux. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium-low. Mix half and half, chicken broth, seasonings, and Worcestershire sauce together in a large measuring cup. Slowly whisk liquid into roux, ensuring the roux doesn't break and stays thick. Add the chicken bouillon cube.
- Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Chop the cooked chicken into cubes and add back to the pan. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake frozen pastry shells as indicated on the packaging. Remove from oven. Remove the center rounds from each pastry shell and set aside.
- Add the peas and diced pimentos to the pan. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Let cool for 5 more minutes. Spoon into baked pastry shells and top with pastry rounds. Serve immediately.
Notes
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More recipes you’ll love:
Chicken and Dumplings
Parmesan & Thyme Potatoes au Gratin
Biscuits and Gravy Casserole
I love how Chicken a la King can be a versatile dish, perfect for weeknight meals or special occasions like Thanksgiving. The tip about adding liquid slowly to the roux is so helpful for maintaining that creamy texture!
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I use rotisserie chicken instead of leftover turkey or chicken breasts. It tasted excellent in the pastry shells, but it was also very nice with rice. I prepared a large quantity, so we had it for two meals! If you want more, take a look at yacine live!
This chicken a la king is so flavorful and delicious! Definitely reminds me of something my grandmother used to make.
This came out so good! The flavorful creamy chicken filling goes perfectly with that flaky puff pastry. The entire family loved it! Made me look like a better cook than I actually am 😉
Your chicken ala king reminded me of my mom’s recipe. It was delicious!
I made this chicken for Thanksgiving for something different. Everyone loved it! Thanks.
This has been saved for my winter cooking. A perfect, comforting meal to try on a snowy day…I know my family will absolutely love this!
Instead of leftover turkey or chicken breasts I use rotisserie chicken. It was so good in the pastry shells but also very nice with rice. I made so much we had it for two meals!
Using leftover turkey is a great idea! We already had thanksgiving a while ago here in Canada so we made this for a regular dinner tonight haha. It was delicious and we’ll definitely make it again soon!
This is like a portable chicken pot pie and it was so delicious. Comfort food at it’s finest.
Followed the recipe to a t and it turned out so good that my husband went for seconds! Thank you for another delicious recipe!
The whole family loved the rich flavor of this chicken dish!
This looks so elegant and beautiful!! I can’t wait to make it for my family who’s visiting in town this weekend – they will absolutely love it!
The creamy sauce, tender chicken, and assortment of vegetables create a flavor explosion in every bite. It’s the perfect comfort food that will leave you wanting more!
This was a beautiful presentation of a classic favorite! I loved the texture of the puff pastry combined with the creamy chicken. Thanks for the great idea.
This dish is so nostalgic for me. My mom used to make it and we had it over noodles. So of course I had to make this as soon as I saw it. Loved it, thank you!
This is similar to the chicken pot pie but way better! It turns out great, and everyone loves it. Thank you for sharing.