Smothered Chicken Recipe (Soul Food)
I don’t play around with texture and flavor, so this one-pan smothered chicken recipe has juicy fried chicken covered in a flavorful, creamy gravy. A true soul food.
In my house, we always serve this easy chicken in gravy over mashed potatoes, since it’s the best way to catch all that delicious gravy; however, you can also enjoy it with white rice or sautéed vegetables.
To make things a little interesting, I have added a special spice that’s slightly warm and slightly sweet. You might be used to it in baked goods, but it adds subtle depth to this dish, and my readers absolutely love it!
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Reader’s Review
“You had me with the spices in this dish. I made this for dinner last night, going exactly by the recipe except I used 8 chicken thighs. My husband and I loved it and served the chicken and gravy with whipped Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. Fabulous. Thank you!”
–MARY
What is Smothered Chicken?
Smothered chicken is a classic soul food dish and a straightforward recipe. You take the chicken, coat it with seasoned flour, sear it in a hot pan, then cook it in a rich, creamy gravy.
It gets its name because the seared chicken is smothered in that mouthwatering sauce. Now, depending on who is cooking, some prefer to add only milk to the gravy, while others mix the milk with heavy cream. Some make smothered chicken with legs and thighs, and that’s my favorite; others prefer smothered chicken with wings or chicken breast.
My Smothered Chicken Encounter
I first learned about smothered chicken when I moved to the USA. It reminded me of a similar popular dish we have in the UAE called Salonat Dajaj (basically a chicken stew). But the spices and the cooking method totally surprised me. It’s truly comfort food, and I had to learn how to make it.
Of course, I had to add my touch, so I added a tiny pinch of cinnamon to enhance the flavor and bring a little cozy depth. Don’t worry, you will not taste it in this dish.
Getting the Chicken Ready
Sometimes store-bought chicken has a faint, trapped aroma from the packaging. That smell can get in the way and prevent you from getting the maximum flavor from the recipe. But here is a simple, quick method I always use when I can’t get fresh chicken.
- Rub the chicken with 2 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and the juice of one lemon. After rubbing it well and coating all sides, cover it and set aside for 5 minutes. If your kitchen is hot, refrigerate it.
- Soak the chicken by pouring enough cool water over it to cover it, then cover it and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- Lastly, rinse the chicken with cool or room-temperature water, pat it completely dry with paper towels, and use it in the recipe.
Quick Tip: If you have more time, you can use my Chicken Brine recipe; it’s super simple and helps the seasoning soak all the way to the bone.
Making Smothered Chicken with Thighs and Legs
At home, we love chicken thighs and legs, and we only choose breast when cooking Chinese dishes or soups. We also keep the skin on and the bone in; they create a flavor that you can’t get from spices alone. So if you are like me, this recipe is for you; follow it and enjoy your dinner!
Want to Use Skinless or Boneless Chicken?
Of course, keep in mind that boneless pieces cook faster and might not stay as juicy as you wish. If you lose the skin, the gravy will be a little less rich, but it will still be tasty.
Cooking Smothered Chicken with Breasts
If you want to use chicken breast to make this awesome soul food, then please follow the tips below:
- If the chicken breasts are thick, slice them in half sideways so they cook faster.
- Make sure the butter or oil you use is hot. This speeds up the cooking, gives the chicken a beautiful golden-brown color, and prevents it from sticking to the pan.
- The goal is to sear the chicken breast, not to cook it at this step. After searing, remove it from the pan and cover it to trap some juices inside.
- Chicken breast doesn’t need much time to cook in the gravy, so make the gravy first, and drop the chicken breast 5 minutes before you turn off the stove.
How to Make Smothered Chicken
The full recipe and ingredients list are in the recipe card below.
1. Pat the chicken dry, then season the flour. Coat all the chicken pieces in flour, then shake to remove excess.
2. Fry the chicken in a hot pan, searing it on both sides; your goal is not to cook at this point. Remove from the pan and keep covered.
3. Add the sliced onion to the same pan and fry until translucent and soft, then add the garlic and cook on low heat to prevent the garlic from burning.
4. Add some seasoned flour to the pan and stir until the raw smell is gone. Gradually add the chicken broth, then the milk or cream, stirring as you go.
5. Return the chicken to the gravy and simmer until fully cooked, or until it reaches 165F/74C.
Tip: The gravy should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon but loose enough to be poured over mashed potato or rice.
How to Store Smothered Chicken
- Let it cool, and then place it in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to three days.
- You can also freeze this dish for up to 3 months.
- When reheating, add a splash of water or milk to restore the gravy’s creamy consistency.
Southern Comfort Recipes
If you enjoyed this smothered chicken, here are more delicious Southern-style recipes to try:
Serve this with one of my easy rice recipes for a complete meal.
Smothered Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 chicken legs and 3 chicken thighs, with skin and bones
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 chicken bouillon, I used low sodium
- 2 ½ cups cold water
- ½ cup milk
- 3 tablespoons of the seasoned flour mentioned below
SEASONING THE FLOUR:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon allspice powder
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon heaped ginger powder
Instructions
- Mix all the flour and the seasoning together, take three tablespoons from this mix , and set aside for the gravy.
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour and set aside.
- In a pan, heat the oil and add the chicken. When the bottom of the chicken turns golden flip to the other side and cook until golden.
- Remove the chicken from the oil when both sides are golden. At this point, the chicken is not fully cooked. Set aside and cover.
- Keep around 4 tablespoons of oil in the pan, add the chopped onion, and fry until light brown.
- Add three tablespoons of the seasoned flour to the onion and stir over medium heat for at least two minutes.
- Pour the cold water over the onion and flour mixture all at once and keep on stirring. Add the chicken bouillon and continue stirring.
- Now add the milk and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the chicken to the sauce.
- Cover the pan and let the chicken cook for 20 – 25 minutes or until completely cooked. Stir occasionally.
- Serve with rice or mashed potato.
Notes
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- It is best to brine the chicken if it is large.
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- Cut the onion into thin slices, it will caramelize faster.
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- When using chicken breast, it is better not to cut it into cubes, as it will dry quickly.
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- Adding cold liquid like water or milk to the flour in the pan while whisking, will prevent it from forming lumps.
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- Keep the heat on medium when cooking the chicken in the gravy. Increasing the heat will dry the gravy and the chicken will overcook.
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- Nothing beats smothered chicken with gravy served with creamy mashed potato, so make sure to follow my recipe for mashed potatoes to enjoy the ultimate dinner.
Nutrition
🍽️Complete Your Meal
Complete your meal with these delicious side dishes.
That sauce looks really great!
Thanks Angie!
You put a hurting on that chicken dinner I love it the smothered chicken and soul food.
This came out so delicious!!
Thanks Ria 🙂
I am cook I loved the ease of the directions it came out yummy I
Thank you so much, Tracy, I appreciate your feedback 😊
Some of the best chicken I personally made. Thank you.
It won’t let me leave 5 stars but it’s a 5 star recipe. Thanks for letting a housewife make a wonderful meal for her family !
You are most welcome 😊
I’ve gained five pounds just scrolling down through these photos. I want every single thing. Your smothered chicken is calling me – it looks rich and delicious.
LOL! You are so sweet Maureen and I think I heard the Smothered Chicken calling you too 😉
This chicken looks so very good. I think I love smothered southern chicken.
Thanks Tania 🙂
Ahh! I can feel my stomach filling up just looking at this post. Thank you so much for sharing SO MUCH NOM NOMS!
Thanks for stopping by Staci, glad that you liked what you see 🙂
Oh my goodness I definitely know what I’m making for dinner tonight. This looks so good I wish I could eat right off of the screen.
LOL! Wish I could send you some 🙂
OMG, I made this for dinner tonight and my family cleaned their plates. I’m keeping this recipe. thank you for sharing this amazing meal.
Hi Melissa, you are most welcome.
Well, now I’m SUPER hungry! Everything you’ve shown here is so amazing looking. I will be starting with that smothered chicken for sure!
Thank you Jennifer!
I love smothered chicken. This food looks so good. The sweet potatoes looks delish.
This looks absolutely yummy. I can’t wait to give it a try.
That smothered chicken looks great. I have never cooked soul food but my kids say my food is bland they may like this.
Hope your family enjoy it Melissa 🙂
What a delicious recipe! We eat a lot of chicken in our house so I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Thanks Olivia, I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Great looking chicken. I need to make this soon.
Yum, this chicken looks amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like this but you have my mouth watering now. Might have to try making it soon.
This looks so freaking amazing. I am going to have to make this sometime.
Everything looks so delicious. I can’t wait to try your smothered chicken.
I’m drooling over that chicken – yum! I’ve been cooking chicken at least twice a week lately and this is going on the menu!
I’ve made this recipe for my family and now their hooked, absolutely delicious.
Thanks for letting me know, I love when people like my recipe hope you enjoy making more recipes from my blog 🙂
I made this tonight. At first I was a little skeptical about some of the spices as I am a southern girl and typically cinnamon, allspice, and ginger aren’t in chicken gravy or fried chicken! I went ahead made it exactly by directions with two exceptions. I used boneless skinless breasts (cause that was what I had on hand) and I added mushrooms. I cooked the mushrooms with the onions. It was absolutely amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe and expanding my palate. 🙂
Thank you Erica, I love the changes you made and I can’t wait to try the recipe your way 🙂
Made this recipe tonight as directed( well I used wings instead) and it was absolutely delicious..
Thanks
Thanks for you feedback Tracy! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Made this tonight. Followed the directions and made no alterations. It was absolutely delicious. My son and I loved it.
Thank you for this recipe.
You are most welcome 🙂
Absolutely amazing smothered chicken!!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you 🙂
That looks so tasty! comfort food 🙂
That sounds so yummy! Thanks so much for sharing. Pinned.
This smothered chicken sounds delicious. I like the seasoning that you added. I think that I need to try this. Thank you for sharing at Sugar and Spice Link Party.
This looks absolutely heavenly!!! Thanks for sharing on Friday Frenzy!!!
This dish has me drooling! It looks delicious. I’ll be Pinning this post, I can’t wait to make this dish. Thanks for sharing on Sunday’s Best.
Thank you, Rhonda 🙂
What a great recipe! The chicken sounds amazing, and I can’t wait to give this tasty sounding recipe a try! Thanks so much for sharing on Celebrate It! Your recipe is one of the featured links from last week. Hope to see you at the party again! We open at 7pm tonight!
Wow, this looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing at Best of the Weekend!
Thanks for sharing at Friday Frenzy link party! I hope you link up again this week 🙂 PINNED!
This looks delicious! I’ve been looking for new chicken recipes so I’m glad I came across this post.
I thought it was kinda of weird with those spices but once I tasted the gravy. WOW. I’m cooking this on a Saturday (10/6/18)night for our Sunday after church meal. I’m going to enjoy this chicken. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m happy that you gave it a try 🙂
I cooked for my family tonight and it was delicious. I was nervous about the allspice and cinnamon but wow the flavor! Thank you for this recipe! Saving for another time…
Thank you so much for the feedback and I’m happy that you gave my recipe a try 🙂
This is good and easy.. it was my first time making this. It will be made alot.. thank you for this recipe!
Glad that you have enjoyed it 🙂
Oh my goodness this is so good,the spices compliment each other will be making more often so quock and easy..
Hi Mona, thanks for trying this recipe, and I hope you give my other recipes a try 🙂
My family tore it up!!! Really good gravy recipe.
Thank you Durante 🙂
This recipe looks so good! I have to pin this to try for Sunday dinner. Thanks for sharing, I think I’ll be using this gravy in a few dishes lol
Glad that you liked my recipe, I hope you like it as much as we did 🙂
That looks absolutely delicious. I love creamy chicken dishes like this. They’re so satisfying. I can’t wait to make it.
Smothered chicken is awesome for dinner and parties, you can’t go wrong with this recipe!
I am so glad I read this before heading to the store!
Thank you Deanna 🙂
This recipe looks really good and tasty, to be honest seeing this makes me so hungry. I will try this, thank you!
You are welcome 🙂
That’s my chicken really like looks good. I’m gonna print recipe.
This looks amazing! It’s the perfect comfort food, especially if you add mashed potatoes.
I agree! Mashed potato makes it heavenly indeed.
this looks like a delicious chicken recipe. thanks so much for sharing.
You are most welcome, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Baked Sweet Potato With Honey Butter Sauce sounds so yummy! I hope to try it soon. Nomnomnom!
Yes, it is a great side dish and goes well with smothered chicken!
This looks perfect, was thinking what to make tonight I guess I’ve got the idea…
Everything you served looks delicious that I could almost taste each dish from the photos. Invite me for lunch sometime. Haha
You had me with the spices in this dish. I made this for dinner last night going exactly by the recipe except I used 8 chicken thighs. My husband and I loved it and served the chicken and gravy with whipped Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. Fabulous. Thank you!
Awesome! I’m glad that you have enjoyed it 🙂
This was a great dinner and I have served it with mashed potato. I will make it again, thank you 🙂
You are welcome, Ruth!
I used chicken legs and this was a big hit that night for dinner. Very delicious!
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, and I appreciate the feedback 🙂
Found this by accident and making this tonight!!! Im salivating just thinking about it!
Hi Anna, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Recipe looks good, but there is no reason to ever wash raw chicken. It does nothing but spread salmonella around your kitchen.
Made this twice and was thoroughly enjoyed. The 2nd time I added fresh sliced mushrooms and sweated them with the onion. I also liked a thicker gravy so added a bit more flour when making the gravy. Served over rice and mustard greens made the plate look nice. Thank you for bringing a bit of the south to Arizona.
Hi Scott, Thanks a lot for your feedback, and the additions you made sound delicious ☺
Made This Tonight & It Was So Easy & Delicious. My Man Wants Me To Make It Again But With Jerk Seasoning, How Would You Recommend I Incorporate It? Dry Or Wet Seasoning? & Should I Put In On The Chicken Or In The Gravy?
Thanks for your feedback 😊. If you want to use Jerk seasoning, I recommend that you go for the dry seasoning and season the chicken with it. I hope this helped.
This recipe came out perfect! Thank you for sharing. It’s a new family favorite for us!
Thanks for your feed back Melissa, I appreciate it!
Was looking for a different chicken recipe and came across this one. I’m glad I tried it. It worked out really well. I added corn starch to thicken gravy, but other than that, it worked out well
l haven’t tried this recipe yet… BUT, when I saw the seasoned flour AND the seasonings, I knew it would be a winner! Can’t wait to make. We usually slice up green bell pepper and use as a “rack” to smother the chicken on. Yum! Great recipe.