I recently made pimento cheese spread but now I have pimentos left. I thought about what recipe I could use them in. I decided to make a dish my dad liked. He often ate at cafeterias, and this was a staple dish served. To me, it is a comfort food that takes me back to dinner with my family. Chicken ala King.
Chicken a la king brings back memories of the innumerable church covered-dish dinners I experienced as a child in the 1970’s.
Chicken ala king or King Style chicken is a dish of diced chicken in a cream gravy with mushrooms, pimentos, and vegetables served over rice, noodles, or bread. The history of Chicken a la king goes back to the 1880’s. There were several American chefs that claimed to have created this recipe. It became popular in the mid to late 20th century as it was easy to make large amounts to serve luncheon groups. It is said to have been President Lyndon B. Johnson’s favorite dish.
There are mentions of French creamy chicken dishes “à la reine” (referring to the queen), going back centuries, but even the modern version of chicken à la king is over a century old. The dish first appeared sometime in the late 1800s but, while recipes were appearing in cookbooks by the 1890s, nobody knows for sure who created the dish or even why it’s named “à la king.” The most repeated story is that it was created at the Brighton Beach Hotel in New York and named after the hotel’s owner, but that’s just one of at least four different disputed origins for the chicken dish.
Chicken a la King was extremely popular in the 50s and 60s. So popular that you would think it was created during that time period but it was created in the late 19th century. It was such a prevalent dish during the mid-century that it used to be everywhere from club dinners to weddings and almost every restaurant. Open almost any cookbook from that time and you will find a version of Chicken a la King.
The exact origin of the dish is disputed, with several stories dating back to the late 19th or early 20th century. Chicken ala king is often credited to William King a cook at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia in the 1890’s.
Another account suggests chef George Greenwald created it in 1898 for patron E. Clarke King II at the Brighton Beach Hotel in New York.
Some sources link it to the famous New York restaurant Delmonico’s, potentially named after a patron or foxhunter named Foxhall P. Keene (originally “Chicken à la Keene”).
Chicken a la King has similar flavors to a chicken pot pie. The difference is in the way it’s all put together. A chicken pot pie has a crust that is cooked along with the filling. For chicken a la king, all the “filling” is cooked together. Then that’s served over a starch to soak up the sauce; pastry or biscuits, toasted white bread triangles or English muffins, steamed rice or egg noodles, mashed potatoes or a baked potato.
Here are two recipes for chicken ala King- one uses canned condensed soup for an easy version. I use rotisserie chicken and frozen peas in mine. Toast points make it fancy and biscuits make it homey.
Chicken a la King
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
1 package (8 oz) sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream (half and half or milk can be used as well)
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped in bite size pieces
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons pimentos
2 tablespoons sherry (optional)
chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Sauté the sliced mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of butter on medium heat until lightly browned. Set aside. Melt the remaining butter on medium heat and whisk in flour. Stir in slowly the chicken broth and heavy cream stirring constantly until it thickens. If using add in the sherry. Stir in the chicken, mushrooms, peas and pimentos. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. Ladle onto whatever starch is calling your name and garnish with some chopped parsley if you want to make it look fancy!
Quick Chicken a la King
Ingredients
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey
2 tablespoons diced pimiento
Dash pepper
Directions
Cook onion and green pepper in butter until tender. Blend in soup and milk; add chicken, pimento, and pepper. Heat slowly; stir often. Serve over toast. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.