In this video, join Nicole as she recreates a nostalgic family classic: Chicken A La King, inspired by her mother’s beloved recipe. This creamy, comforting dish features tender chicken, fresh mushrooms, and peas in a rich sherry cream sauce — perfect for a cozy dinner at home. While Nicole stays true to the heart of her mom’s recipe, she updates a few details to make it even tastier.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm takin' it back for another vintage classic,
00:02Chicken a la King.
00:03This is at my mom's request, so I'm gonna deliver.
00:06♪♪
00:10Chicken a la King is an easy, creamy,
00:13yet elegant chicken dish.
00:15I am, of course, going to make
00:17just a couple small upgrades.
00:19I'm gonna start with about half of a white onion
00:21and some red bell pepper.
00:23Now, in the old-school OG version,
00:27it uses a jar of pimentos.
00:29I'm just not a huge fan, and all a pimento is is a pepper.
00:33This dish was not named after a king.
00:36The most popular theory is that it was named after
00:39the owner of a hotel in which the chef first prepared it.
00:42It does point to being named after someone
00:45with the last name of king
00:47versus an actual person in royalty.
00:49What is iconic in the dish, besides the pimento or pepper,
00:53are mushrooms in our throwback recipe
00:57and in a lot of the vintage recipes.
00:59It calls for canned mushrooms.
01:02We're not gonna do that, okay.
01:04We are going to do baby portabellos.
01:06You could just do button mushrooms,
01:07but I think these have a little bit more flavor,
01:10a little bit of a meatier flavor,
01:11and we're just gonna slice them,
01:13or you can buy them already sliced.
01:15All of the ingredients are pretty affordable,
01:17so this is a good meal for entertaining on a budget.
01:20It's also a good use for any leftover chicken
01:23or rotisserie chicken that you might have.
01:25This is a good meal to do with that.
01:26I cooked off some chicken,
01:28kinda dice it up or cut it into big shreds.
01:31I kinda like chunky shreds.
01:33Just like to get a good bite of chicken
01:35instead of having big shreds throughout.
01:38Into the pan we go.
01:40Start with six tablespoons of butter.
01:42You just wanna melt that.
01:43Once the butter's melted,
01:45in goes the onion and the bell pepper.
01:46Give your onion and bell pepper a little head start,
01:48and then in go the mushrooms.
01:52Once all your veggies are softened,
01:54then we're going in with some flour.
01:56We are creating a roux, that's our own cream sauce.
01:59I love this recipe,
02:00because we don't have to use any can of cream or anything.
02:04Okay, then in goes our liquid.
02:05I'm doing a combination of chicken broth or stock
02:08and heavy cream.
02:14Key ingredient in the vintage is some dry sherry.
02:17A good little splash of that.
02:21Cream goes in.
02:25All right, so I'm gonna bring that to a simmer,
02:27and then I'll season it up.
02:29Some salt and pepper,
02:30and then add in my chicken and frozen peas.
02:33That sherry adds a lot of flavor.
02:35You see how easy and quick that is.
02:37The final step, and this is not in all of the recipes,
02:40but it's in a lot of the vintage ones,
02:42is to kind of richen it up with some egg yolks.
02:44You wanna start with two egg yolks,
02:46and I'm gonna whisk the egg yolks together
02:48with about a quarter cup of this cream mixture.
02:51This will temper the yolks
02:52so that we don't end up with scrambled eggs.
02:56I probably could've taken that out
02:57before I added the peas and the chicken.
02:59Okay, and then you're going to stir this into this.
03:03And this is just gonna take it to another level,
03:06to royalty status, if you will.
03:09Oh yeah, it's just like a velvety, thick,
03:12creamy, delicious experience.
03:17Let's see how it tastes.
03:23Mm.
03:26Mm.
03:28My mom knows a good thing, y'all.
03:30This is ready.
03:30It just simmers for about five minutes,
03:33and we can dish it up.
03:35A vintage meal wouldn't be complete without some parsley.
03:38Who needs fancy scallops or foie gras
03:40when you can have chicken a la king?
03:46Mm.
03:48It is like a fancied up, leveled up chicken pot pie
03:52experience, but served over rice.
03:55I don't know how you could improve this.
03:56This is like a 12 out of 10.
03:59I also think crusty bread is a great vessel for this.
04:03This is probably the way I would stand over my stove
04:05and eat it.
04:09Mm.
04:10Mm-hmm.
04:11It's making me feel fancy,
04:13and it's making me feel like I lived back then,
04:16that I wanna drink a vintage cocktail to go with it.
04:20Let's make a side car.
04:23Or might just sound fancy.
04:25I'm a barefoot contestant.
04:26I have a side car.
04:29Nice.
04:30A side car is a vintage cocktail,
04:32just equal parts fresh lemon juice with some brandy
04:36and a little bit of orange liqueur.
04:39Sounds delightful.
04:41Gets a little sugar on the rim.
04:51Voila.
04:51Cheers to a classic.
04:52We're celebrating the chicken holiday.