This cozy Smothered Chicken Thighs recipe is so full of flavor thanks to the deliciously creamy and spicy sauce.
This juicy, tender chicken thigh recipe with a creamy, spicy gravy is peak comfort food. Using boneless chicken thighs makes this a quicker weeknight dinner, but it can be made with bone-in thighs as well.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Video: Making Smothered Chicken
What Is Smothered Chicken?
This fantastic comfort food is my take on a classic Southern recipe. It’s juicy chicken thighs in a well-seasoned flour that get pan-fried until golden before simmering in a creamy and spicy gravy with onions. The sauce is seriously so delicious, so I recommend serving it over mashed potatoes or rice so that none of it goes to waste.
What Kind Of Chicken?
I use boneless skinless chicken thighs for my smothered chicken, but you can use bone-in, they just take a little longer to cook. There are instructions for boneless and bone-in in the recipe down below.
You can also substitute chicken breasts if you’d prefer. If they are small to medium-sized chicken breasts (4-6 ounces), the recipe will work as written. If they are larger, I suggest cutting them in half through the middle, with the knife parallel to the cutting board as you slice through, to make each breast into two chicken cutlets. They will cook more quickly, but they’ll be nice and tender.
Other Ingredients
For the spices, I’ve listed individual seasonings in the smothered chicken recipe down below, but you could also use 2 tablespoons of Cajun seasoning. Check to see if your mixture contains salt before adding the salt listed in the recipe.
If using store-bought or homemade Cajun seasoning instead of the list of spices in the recipe, it can be pretty spicy because of the cayenne pepper, so beware of that. You might want to use less. Like, 1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning and then just half a teaspoon each of onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, and salt.
If using the list of spices in the below recipe, you can omit the cayenne or use less if you want it less spicy. As it is there, it has quite a bit of heat!
The gravy gets made with sautéed onion and garlic, chicken broth, and heavy cream. The heavy cream is necessary in this dish because it’s simmering for awhile. Whole milk or any dairy with a lower fat content will curdle. If you don’t want to use the cream, it can be omitted completely. Just add an extra half cup of broth. Or, keep the amount of broth as is and then just before serving stir in a few tablespoons of whole milk, half and half, or evaporated milk. Heat it over low just to warm it through. Don’t let it come to a simmer. You’ll get a creamy gravy with less risk of curdling. Note that if it does curdle, it’s perfectly safe to eat, it just looks a bit weird.
Stovetop Or Oven?
This recipe is cooked completely on the stovetop. I’ve seen many recipes start it on the stove and then move the covered pan to the oven to cook. I dislike that for three reasons.
First, it’s easier to just use the one appliance. Second, it’s a little bit quicker since the heat from the stovetop is more direct. Third, I like to simmer the sauce at the end to thicken it a bit more. Going from stovetop to oven to stove again just complicates things. Having said that, if you’d like to use the oven, you can, and I’ve included those instructions right here for you:
Making Smothered Chicken In The Oven
Before you start cooking, preheat the oven to 350°F. Be sure to use an oven-safe pan like a cast-iron skillet. Follow the recipe below until you’ve added the chicken back into the sauce, spooned the sauce over it, and brought the sauce back to a simmer.
Then, cover the pan with an oven-safe lid and put it into the oven until the chicken is 160°F internally. It will take 15-20 minutes for boneless and 25-30 minutes for bone-in thighs. At that point, you will either put the skillet back on the stove over medium heat, uncovered, to reduce the sauce, or take the lid off in the oven, stir, and then bake it in the oven for another 5 minutes to reduce the sauce a little bit.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
- Easy Garlic Butter Chicken
- Chicken and Noodles Recipe
- French Onion Chicken
- Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
- Chinese Garlic Chicken Recipe
Podcast Episode: Making Smothered Chicken Thighs
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Smothered Chicken Thighs Recipe
This cozy Smothered Chicken Thighs recipe is so full of flavor thanks to the deliciously creamy and spicy sauce.
- Prep Time: 7 minutes
- Cook Time: 38 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder*
- 1 1/2 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3/4 tsp. cayenne (optional, or use less)
- 3/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp. black pepper
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs**
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, onion powder, paprika, salt, cayenne, garlic powder, and black pepper.
- If the chicken thighs are rolled into bundles, unroll them. Add the chicken to the flour mixture and toss until evenly coated.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil. When it’s hot, add the chicken pieces in a single layer, shaking them over the bowl of flour to remove any excess before adding them to the pan. Do not discard the flour. Cook chicken until well-browned, 4-5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate.
- Reduce heat to low. Add the butter to the skillet and allow to melt. Add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook while stirring for 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle the remaining seasoned flour over the onion. Increase heat to medium and cook and stir for 1 minute. While continuing to stir, slowly drizzle in the chicken broth and then stir in the cream.
- Arrange chicken in the skillet in a single layer, overlapping the pieces as little as possible. Spoon sauce over chicken. Bring the mixture up to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover skillet and cook until chicken is at least 165°F and no longer pink inside, about 10-12 minutes.
- Remove cover. If desired, increase heat to medium and continue to cook the sauce while stirring often until thickened, 3-5 more minutes. Remove from heat.
- Serve chicken thighs topped with sauce and onions.
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Notes
*Instead of the onion powder, paprika, salt, cayenne, garlic powder, and black pepper you can use 2 tablespoons of store-bought or homemade Cajun seasoning. If your mixture doesn’t contain salt, then you will still add the salt indicated above. If it does contain salt, then do not add more until you taste the sauce at the end. Note that Cajun seasoning is quite spicy. If you don’t want your finished dish to be as spicy, reduce the amount of Cajun seasoning by half.
**If using bone-in chicken thighs (with or without skin), the recipe remains the same except in step #5 increase the cooking time to 20-25 minutes, being sure to check that the chicken is no longer pink near the bone and that the internal temperature is 165°F.
this sounds very good as we always have chicken thighs on hand. so we will give it a try and let you how it worked out
Thanks, George! I’m sure you’ll love it, I really like cooking with chicken thighs too.