Growing up my mom always made Chicken à la King with the leftover turkey from Christmas.
One of the cool things about this recipe is that Chicken and Turkey are totally interchangeable without having to adjust other ingredients.
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This is one of those recipes that makes you wonder about its origins. All I found was that it’s from the 1800s and was named after some King.
Makes sense right? But we are here to make a recipe using leftover chicken or turkey, not a history lesson so let’s move on.
What I do know for sure is that there are many different ways to make Turkey à la King (or Chicken). Not sure which one is the most authentic but this is the recipe my mom made for me over 50 years ago.
What’s great about a recipe like this is you can tweak it and make it your own. I’ve seen some variations that use mixed vegetables instead of green bell peppers and pimientos. I’ve also seen condensed cream of mushroom soup used instead of the cream of chicken soup.
If you are lucky enough your local grocery store will carry pre-made pastry shells. If not, you will have to resort to the frozen variety and make your own.
Pepperidge Farms offers 2 options for this recipe: Puff Pastry Shells or Puff Pastry Sheets. If you are going to use the puff pastry sheets to make your shells, just use a biscuit cutter to cut the shell shapes.
Gather your Ingredients
You will need the following ingredients to make this Chicken à la King recipe (see recipe card for quantities): Yellow Onion, Green Pepper, Unsalted Butter, Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup, Milk, Chicken (or Turkey), Pimientos, Ground Black Pepper and Puff Pastry Shells.
How to Make Chicken à la King
- If needed, cook the pastry shells according to the directions on the package. Usually it takes 30 minutes to thaw the dough and bake them for approximately 15 minutes at 400°F.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. once the butter is melted, add the diced onions and chopped green peppers and cook until tender.
- Stir in the cream of chicken soup and the milk. Add the chicken or turkey, pimiento, and ground black pepper. Continue to heat over low heat stirring often.
- Serve the chicken mixture over the pastry shells.
Printable Recipe Card
Chicken à la King
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Ingredients
- ¼ Cup Yellow Onion, diced
- 2 Tbsp Green Pepper, chopped
- 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 10 oz Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
- ⅓ Cup Milk
- 1 ½ Cups Chicken, cooked & cubed
- 2 Tbsp Pimientos, drained
- ⅛ Tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 4 Puff Pastry Shells
Instructions
- If needed, cook the pastry shells according to the directions on the package. Usually involves 30 minutes to thaw the dough and baking them for approximately 15 minutes at 400°F.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. once the butter is melted, add the diced onions and chopped green peppers and cook until tender.
- Stir in the cream of chicken soup and the milk. Add the chicken or turkey, pimiento, and ground black pepper. Continue to heat over low heat stirring often.
- Serve the chicken mixture over the pastry shells.
This recipe is just delicious. The only thing I changed was I used chicken because I did not have any turkey. Was very tasty. I will make it again.