Retro Recipes - Chicken a la King


For me this evokes strong memories of boxed dinners and cream of whatever canned soup-based casserole type dishes. It also resembles a pot pie filling, just served over a starch instead of stuffed in a crust and baked.

I didn’t go by an exact recipe, but here’s the rough outline of what I did. Quantities are largely approximate. Just go by what seems right proportionately and suits your own tastes. Always taste & season as you go. If the sauce is too thick, add more stock, if it’s too thin, simmer more to reduce (but remember the cream at the end will add body/richness too - and a splash of acid at the end will brighten the flavors if they seem too dull).

1.5# chicken breast or thigh meat, cooked & cubed or shredded* 1 package white mushrooms, trimmed & sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced bay leaf fresh ground nutmeg 3 ribs celery, finely diced 1/2 onion, finely diced 1 red bell pepper, finely diced 1c frozen peas 2c chicken stock 1/4c heavy cream 1/4c flour butter olive oil egg noodles

  • I use sous vide boneless/skinless chicken breast - just salt & pepper, cooked @ 150F for2 hrs & cut into cubes, liquid reserved. Any pre-cooked/leftover chicken would work - rotisserie, poached, baked, etc.
  1. saute mushrooms in oil & butter, salt until moisture cooked off & browned (10-15 minutes)
  2. reserve mushrooms, add more oil & butter, saute celery, onion, bell pepper until softened, salt
  3. add garlic, cook until fragrant
  4. add flour to make a thick roux, stirring often to cook out raw flour
  5. stir in chicken stock, reserved chicken juices, bay leaf, fresh grated nutmeg, bring to simmer
  6. add mushrooms, cubed chicken, return to simmer
  7. reduce heat, stir in heavy cream, frozen peas
  8. stir in a splash of acid of choice (lemon juice/sherry vinegar/red wine vinegar/apple cider vinegar), adjust salt & pepper to taste
  9. serve over egg noodles, biscuits, mashed potatoes, starch of choice and top with chopped parsley

For a vegetarian version, simply replace chicken stock w/ vegetable stock, omit chicken (obvs). You can also include any other assorted vegetables you want - e.g. fine diced carrots, frozen corn.




Mushrooms, all of the liquid cooked out and just starting to brown. Browning == flavor. This step can very easily take at least 10-15 minutes on its own. Anyone that tells you it only takes two or five minutes should be banned from your kitchen until they come to their senses. All of the water from the mushrooms needs to evaporate before they can even start to brown. A pinch of salt helps draw out moisture here too (remember to salt at each step as you go).



A thick gravy coming together. The color will lighten up a bit once the cream is stirred in.