One Pan Smothered Chicken is a classic recipe of seared chicken that is easy to make in 30 minutes! Tender chicken is smothered in a rich and creamy gravy with bacon!
I have to say that my love of smothered chicken started at a pretty young age. Scratch that, my love of GRAVY started at a young age because I grew up on comfort food! Chicken with gravy was a must for us served up with mashed potatoes or even just white bread to sop up the goodness. We all know how much I adore chicken thighs too and serving them in a delicious bacon gravy, it doesn’t get better!
How to Make Smothered Chicken:
- You will only need one skillet for this recipe. To keep things super easy I like to dice my bacon and get it in the pan first.
- While the bacon is cooking, grab your chicken thighs out of the refrigerator and pat them dry on both sides with a paper towel. Set them aside on a cutting board for now.
- Get a pie plate or another shallow bowl and use a fork to mix together your flour and seasonings.
- Dredge each piece of chicken completely on all sides in the flour. Shake off any excess flour and set the chicken pieces aside.
- Now, remove the bacon from the pan to a paper towel lined plate, and add 4 Tablespoons of butter to the hot skillet.
- Add your chicken pieces to the pan and allow them to cook on the first side for 4-5 minutes without turning until they are nicely seared and golded. Flip the chicken and repeat. Once the chicken is seared on both sides, you can remove it to a clean plate.
- Add the remaining butter to the hot skillet and reduce the heat to medium. You will whisk in 1 Cup of the remaining seasoned flour that you dredged your chicken in.
- The flour should cook while being whisked constantly for one minute. Then, you can gradually whisk in your chicken broth and milk until you have a smooth gravy.
- Next, add your cooked bacon and seared chicken back to the skillet. Cover and let the chicken simmer over low heat until cooked through to 165 degrees, about 20 minutes.
Is Smothered Chicken Fried?
Basically, yes! It consists of bone in, skin on chicken thighs that are dredged in flour, then fried in butter. However, they don’t finish cooking all the way through while frying. They will be seared until golden brown on both sides, then finish cooking as they simmer in the gravy.
What Goes with Smothered Chicken?
This smothered chicken recipe makes a whole lot of gravy! I recommend serving it with these Mashed Potatoes or if you have an Instant Pot try this Mashed Potato Recipe. It is also great served with rice, crusty bread, and veggies like cooked green beans.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
One Pan Smothered Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 Slices Bacon, Diced
- 2 Pounds Chicken Thighs, Bone in and skin on
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Paprika
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
- 1/2 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 Stick Butter, Divided
- 3 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth
- 1 Cup Milk
Instructions
- Cook the diced bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through. Remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
- While the bacon is cooking, mix together the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning in a shallow bowl or dish.
- Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and dredge the chicken on each side into the seasoned flour until coated. Shake off any excess flour and set the flour mixture aside for later.
- Once the bacon is removed from the pan, add half of the butter to the pan and allow to melt.
- When the butter is melted, add the flour coated chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes per side until golden brown.
- Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining butter to the pan and allow it to melt.
- Sprinkle one cup of the remaining seasoned flour to the pan and whisk for 1 minute until the butter and flour are well combined.
- Gradually whisk in the chicken broth and milk until gravy is smooth.
- Return the cooked chicken and bacon to the pan.
- Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.
Can I use Wondra flour, or should I stick with regular flour?
I haven’t tried it, so I’d have to advise sticking to regular flour 🙂
I had all the ingredients on hand so I decided to try this recipe . I did add some mushrooms and some creole seasoning to add a kick to it. I served it over rice.
You should be arrested for how good this is. Just made it and it was perfect! I used the amount of flour you originally designated(1 Cup) and it turned out amazing. Tried using a smaller amount as some suggested, but it was very watery and not the consistency I wanted. I do have a question for you. Would there be a way to give this more heat? I’m a big fan of food that has a kick on the back end and I feel like this gravy could do just that. I’m just not sure of what to add. Thanks for the recipe!!!
For a little heat you could put in the dry flour 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper to your heat level or you could mince up a jalapeno pepper into the sauce if you like that flavor. The cayenne will not change the flavor just the heat level
Add. Crushed red pepper.
I don’t eat chicken thigh, can I use chicken breast instead
Yes you can
Can I use chicken breasts instead?
Wow this is super flavorful gravy! I used 1/2 cup flour mix for the gravy and that worked out fine. I served it with twice baked potatoes and the chicken, gravy and potatoes were the ultimate comfort food. I did spoon out a lot of the chicken grease though before i ate it though.
I tried this while my boys were home for a visit. They are both 6’3″ and eat a ton! I was short on chicken so I threw in some pork chops too and they loved every bit of it! My boys are not picky eaters by any means, but man they could not stop raving about the taste and how tender the chicken/pork chops were (you could cut them with your fork-no knife needed)! The only change I made was reducing the amount of flower for the gravy to 1/4 cup as recommended in other comments. The Gravy came out perfect!
This will be a continued staple when the kids come to visit for sure! It is so easy to make and so full of flavor!
Thank you for this very easy and delicious recipe. I tried it last night after I watched the video and did my own spin on it. Everything came out great. My teenage son made his way in the kitchen last night and let’s just say this morning it is all gone. I will have to try this again. Thanks again!
I was going to go for sweet and sour chicken and then to my surprise there i used up the last peppers yesterday making spaghetti squash with turkey meat, so i rushed to the internet and found your recipe thank goodness i definitely felt good with the presentation and flavor i also made organic jasmine rice and my house smells divine. Thank you
Mine turned out amazing. I accidentally added all the butter at once, but it was still fine.