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An absolute classic! I’ve been making this chicken ala king for years. The recipe was handed down to me from my mum, who used to make it for me when I was growing up. It’s a great way to use up leftover chicken (or you can use rotisserie chicken).
I’ve always loved the way the sauce sinks into the rice, making every bite taste creamy, savoury and delicious.
“A quick and easy recipe that uses simple ingredients. The outcome was wonderful. Clean up was hassle free. Will make this again.”
Sherry? with Milk?
Chicken a la king is one of those meals I’ve been eating since I was a kid. I managed to get the recipe off my mum in my 20’s, and I was SHOCKED to learn the secret ingredients were sherry and milk.
I mean eugh!
As far as I was concerned, sherry belonged in my Nana’s trifle (<- I’ve got that too) and that’s it.
But actually……
Mixing the sherry in the milk-based sauce causes multiple things to happen:
- It lifts the flavour, adding depth and enhancing the flavours of the other ingredients.
- It adds a bit of complexity – balancing out the creaminess of the milk with acidity and umami.
- It introduces a savoury aroma that makes it feel more luxurious – and we all know smell affects how you perceive flavour.
You don’t need much sherry (in fact too much is horrible) but you do need it, so please don’t leave it out.
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients
***Full recipe with detailed quantities in the recipe card below***
- Chicken – I use 2 large cooked chicken breasts to serve 4 people. You can use any of the leftover chicken from cooking a roast chicken, or you can use rotisserie chicken if you like.
- Mushrooms – I use baby chestnut mushrooms, but you can use cremini, baby portobello or white mushrooms. I find white mushrooms have the least flavour, so use brown mushrooms if you can.
- Chicken stock – homemade is good, but hot water and a couple of stock cubes works great too.
- Milk – you can use full-fat or semi-skimmed.
- Dry sherry – you only need 2 tablespoons for plenty of flavour.
Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
Fry mushrooms, remove from pan, then fry onions. Stir in flour, then slowly stir in hot stock, followed by milk and thyme. Heat and stir until thickened. Add sherry, salt & pepper, cooked chicken and mushrooms and simmer gently for a couple of minutes until everything is hot.
Recipe Tips
- Fry the mushrooms first! It might seem unusual to fry the mushrooms first in this dish, but frying them, then adding at the end (rather than letting them simmer in the sauce) gives them a more concentrated flavour.
- Full-fat milk gives a more creamy flavour. Semi-skimmed works, it will just result in a sauce that is a touch less rich.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It🍽️ What to serve it with
- Over fluffy boiled rice – my favourite way to serve it!
- With crispy roast potatoes or Sauteed Potatoes
- On top of pasta – try my fresh pasta recipe
📺 Watch how to make it
Chicken ala King
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 12 baby chestnut mushrooms sliced in half (you can swap for button mushrooms, or 5-6 regular-sized sliced mushrooms)
- 1 large onion peeled and sliced
- 2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- 280 ml (1 cup + 3 tbsp) hot chicken stock hot water and a couple of stock cubes is fine
- 200 ml (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) semi-skimmed or full-fat milk
- ½ tsp dried thyme or a tsp of fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp dry sherry *carefully measured (too much will make the sauce taste of sherry)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 large cooked chicken breasts chopped into bite sized chunks (about 250g/9oz)
To Serve:
- chopped fresh parsley
- boiled rice or pasta
Instructions
- Heat 1 1/2 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan/skillet over a medium-high heat.3 tbsp olive oil
- Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for about 3-4 minutes until the mushrooms are golden brown. Scoop out of the pan, and put in a bowl.12 baby chestnut mushrooms
- Heat the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp of oil in the pan and add the onion. Fry for 5-6 minutes on a medium-high heat until the edges of the onion wedges start to brown slightly. Move the onions around the pan to ensure they don’t burn.1 large onion
- Stir in the flour and cook whilst stirring for one minute.2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- Add in a splash of the hot stock and mix into the onion/flour with a whisk. It should form a thick paste. Add the rest of the stock a large splash at a time, keep stirring with the whisk to ensure your sauce doesn’t go lumpy.280 ml (1 cup + 3 tbsp) hot chicken stock
- Once all the stock is incorporated, add in the milk and the thyme. Keep stirring and the sauce will thicken as it heats up.200 ml (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) semi-skimmed or full-fat milk, ½ tsp dried thyme
- Once thickened, add the sherry, salt, and pepper. Give it a taste and add a little more seasoning if needed.2 tbsp dry sherry, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Add the cooked chicken and mushrooms and stir. Cook for a couple of minutes to ensure the chicken is hot throughout.2 large cooked chicken breasts
- Serve on top of some fluffy white rice and finish with a sprinkling of parsley.chopped fresh parsley, boiled rice or pasta
Video
Notes
Ingredient swaps
You can swap out the shredded chicken breast for cooked thigh meat.Try adding peas or chopped green peppers to the dish (fry them up with the mushrooms, then add them back into the sauce with the mushrooms at the end).
How to scale up and scale down this recipe
You can halve or double this recipe using the same ingredient ratios.Nutritional information is approximate, per serving, not including rice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This chicken a la king recipe was first posted in January 2015. Updated since with recipe improvements, new photos, video and for housekeeping reasons.
? Frequently Asked Questions
Not really. Sherry is integral to the flavour of the sauce. If you’re looking for a creamy chicken dish without alcohol
I don’t recommend making this recipe ahead. The recipe uses cooked chicken that is essentially being reheated in the ala king sauce. It’s not recommended to reheat food more than once.
🍲 More recipes with rotisserie chicken
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Needed a recipe for my leftover rotisserie chicken and this was perfect. I added some green beans and cook them with the mushrooms. Loved how on the instructions it said the amount of ingredients to use so you didn’t have to scroll back to the top. Tasted delicious
Can I use cream as well? Can you freeze leftovers
Hi J, Yes you can add a little cream if you like. You can freeze it, but I would go with full fat milk (it freezes better). Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and reheat very slowly. Milk can change texture and sometimes separate when it’s been frozen – especially when lower fat. So it’s needs to be reheated slowly. You can add a little stock or water when reheating to loosen up the sauce a little.