This One Pan Smothered Chicken has a creamy, rich sauce with chunks of bacon and tender seared chicken breasts, making it so satisfying!
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Making Smothered Chicken is easy and so flavorful. If you want more tasty dishes, try these Slow Cooker Smothered Chicken Burritos or these fantastic Smothered Pork Chops.
Why this chicken dish works
It's an easy chicken dish that is ready in just over an hour. Nothing overly complicated about it and uses simple pantry ingredients like my Chicken Broccoli Bake. You can easily double or triple this recipe to have leftovers for the next few days.
Ingredients needed
- Bacon: I like to use smoky bacon.
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breast
- Flour: All purpose flour
- Breadcrumbs: Plain breadcrumbs
- Herbs and spices: salt, black pepper, minced garlic cloves, onion powder, garlic powder, fresh chopped thyme, fresh chopped rosemary, and fresh chopped parsley.
- Butter
- Boullion: chicken bouillon cube.
- Onion: medium diced onion.
- Oil: vegetable oil for frying the chicken.
- Stock: low sodium chicken stock.
- Half and half: Half milk and half heavy cream.
- Worcestershire sauce
How to Make One Pan Smothered Chicken
- Step 1: Heat a large skillet and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and then remove and let drain on some paper towels.
- Step 2: Slice the chicken breasts in half, lengthwise. You should have 4 thin chicken breasts. Lay them on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Use a cooking mallet or rolling pin to pound on chicken until they're about ¾-inch in thickness.
- Step 3: In a shallow bowl, use a fork to mix flour, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper together.
- Step 4: Use tongs to dredge each piece of chicken through the mixture and coat both sides of the chicken breast before setting the seasoned chicken aside.
- Step 5: Using the same skillet as before, heat it back up and add the vegetable oil. Once oil is hot, add chicken and let the chicken cook, flipping to fry on both sides.
- Step 6: Place cooked chicken pieces on a plate, drain the skillet and wipe the bottom of the pan. Add butter, onion, garlic, and cook. Add flour and whisk together.
- Step 7: Add chicken stock, and whisk until smooth. Add half and half and let simmer.
- Step 8: Add bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce, onion, garlic powder, thyme and rosemary. Whisk together. Add the chicken back to the sauce along with the bacon and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Recipe Tips
- Make sure the internal temperature of your chicken reaches 165F for food safety purposes before consuming.
- Be sure to shake off any excess flour coating on the chicken before adding to the hot oil.
- Add some heat and extra flavor to your chicken by adding some cayenne pepper to the coating and/or the homemade chicken gravy.
- Change the consistency of your delicious gravy. Thicken up the homemade gravy by letting it simmer longer, thin it out by adding a splash more of half and half or heavy cream.
- Change up the flavor profile of the coating by adding some Italian seasoning, creole seasoning, chili powder, poultry seasoning, or a combination of any of these.
Recipe Faq's
A chicken bouillon cube is a great way to add an extra layer of flavor and depth to the dish while giving it more complexity. Using a bouillon cube can upgrade the flavor profile of any recipe, they're relatively affordable and great for leveling up your favorite comfort food recipe.
Yes, you can make this great recipe with other cuts of chicken like bone-in chicken legs or boneless chicken thighs. You will need to adjust the cooking time depending on your choice of chicken. Bone in chicken requires more total time cooking but is even more juicy than breasts.
This easy dinner goes with so many different side dishes, like Garlic mashed potatoes, green beans or over a bed of white rice.
This should be stored in an airtight container with any extra sauce in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When reheating, add the chicken and sauce to a skillet on the stovetop and reheat until warmed through.
To freeze: You can freeze leftovers in a freezer safe container or freezer safe bag.
More Chicken Recipes
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One Pan Smothered Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 strips of bacon
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Gravy
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock low sodium
- 1/3 cup half n half
- 1 chicken boullion cube
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme
- 1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
- Fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat a 12 inch skillet on medium high heat and add the bacon cook until crispy and remove to a paper towel to drain
- Slice the chicken breasts in half lengthwise so you have 4 thinner chicken breasts. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top ad pound out using a cooking mallet or rolling pin until about ¾ inch thick.
- Mix the flour, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper together in a shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken breasts into the mixture until well coated and set aside to a plate.
- Heat the skillet back up on medium high heat and add the vegetable oil, once heated add the chicken breasts and cook 2-4 minutes then flip and fry another 2-3 minutes. Remove to a plate.
For the gravy
- Drain and wipe out the skillet, add in the butter, onion and garlic and cook 2-3 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the flour and whisk, cook another minute.
- Pour in the chicken stock and whisk until smooth, pour in the half n half and simmer until thickened 2-4 minutes.
- Whisk in the bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, Thyme and rosemary
- Add the cooked chicken back into the skillet, sprinkle the crispy bacon on top with fresh chopped parsley.
- Salt and pepper to taste and serve!
So happy everybody loved it Sue 🙂
This was a huge hit, everybody devoured it. The chicken was super tender and juicy we had it over white rice. Definitely keeping this one on rotation!