This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.
Tender Southern smothered chicken is seared until the skin is crisp and golden then simmered in a creamy onion gravy. Southern dish combines Asian bok choy for an easy and delicious fusion weeknight dinner. Keto friendly too!
Subscribe to Whisk It Real Gud to have each of my posts delivered straight to your e-mail box
SOUTHERN SMOTHERED CHICKEN
Southern smothered chicken is has got to be one of my favorite southern meals. Plus, I’m a huge fan of chicken. Vegetables too, thanks to my grandmother who grew a lot of veggies when I was a kid.
I know you may be thinking, why smothered chicken with bok choy….well, to answer your question, I love southern food. I don’t eat it too often, but when I do, I like to mix things up, like I did in this recipe.
BOK CHOY WITH CHICKEN
This year, I’ve been eating a good amount of Chinese greens called baby bok choy. I love it. It’s basically a Chinese cabbage that’s really good for you. One cup has 9 calories! I’ve made smothered chicken with Shanghai bok choy also. It’s pretty much the same. One is bigger than the other. You can use either one to use in your smothered chicken. Bok choy is one of my favorite vegetables. Collard greens is my other fav.
Some say that baby bok choy has a sweet and mild flavor, whereas, Shangai bok choy has a mineral flavor. To be totally honest, I don’t really taste a difference. If you’ve never made boy choy with chicken with a southern twist you gotta try this recipe out!
HOW TO MAKE SOUTHERN SMOTHERED CHICKEN WITH A TWIST
This amazing southern recipe with bok choy and mushrooms is, oh my goodness good and super easy! The chicken is smothered in a rich onion gravy. Pure deliciousness. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
And staple ingredients that I’m sure you already have. You’ll probably have to go to the store for the baby bok choy or Shanghai bok choy. Pick one. No biggie right?!
Traditional smothered chicken recipes usually say to coat the chicken in flour first but I don’t follow cooking rules…
Instead of coating the chicken in flour, I like to season the chicken then sear the chicken first on both sides until the skin crisps up. I use flour to help thicken the gravy. Here’s the quick breakdown of the recipe.
Ingredients:
Smothered Chicken With Roasted Baby Bok Choy
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs with skin on
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small red onion diced
- 1 tsp garlic minced
- 1 cup mushrooms add more if you like
- One bunch of baby bok choy cleaned dried and cut lengthwise then quartered
- 1/2 tsp or two of garlic
- 1/2 tsp or two of onion powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 2 cups milk
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base
- 1 tbsp flour
- salt and pepper for taste
Instructions
- Reserve 1 tsp of seasoning for later. Add the remaining seasoning to a small bowl. Mix well to combine. Season the chicken with the seasoning that was in the bowl. In a cast iron skillet with vegetable oil over medium high heat saute the onions for 2 minutes or until translucent. Add the garlic on top of the onions. Cook until fragrant.
- Remove the onions and garlic and set to the side. Add more vegetable oil. Over medium high heat sear the chicken on both sides until the skin crisps up. Drain most of the fat...Add milk and butter, the Better Than Bouillon base and the remaining tsp of the seasoning and flour. Mix well.
- Add the chicken, onions and garlic back into the skillet. Add the mushrooms. Set stove to medium high. Once boiling reduce temp to low. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Make sure to check the liquid. If it's getting thick too fast, thin it out with a bit of milk.
- Take the chicken out of the skillet and set to the side. Scrape the bits stuck on the bottom of the pan and mix it into the gravy. If the gravy is too thick add a bit of milk to thin it out some. Add the chicken back to the skillet.
- Steaming - Now we will steam the veggies easily using a one pot method. Add the bok choy on top of the chicken but hold up...you may have to push the chicken closer together just so the bok choy can lay on top of the chicken without it sinking into the gravy. But if it does not biggie.Set the stove back to medium high. Once boiling reduce to low. Cover the skillet and cook for about 6 minutes or until the bok choy is tender.
Notes
Don’t forget to check out these other keto friendly meals, beef with broccoli with a twist, or maybe these steak rolls, beef asparagus rolls, cheeseburger salad
If you think this southern smothered chicken with gravy looks good, save it to your Pinterest Board or share it on Facebook. Let’s connect on Pinterest too.
This was excellent! Plus we used 2x the bok choy from our CSA box. And instead of 30 minutes we did 15, which was more than enough. We doubled the spice mix as it wouldn’t have been enough for the chicken and the sauce. We’ll be making it again this week!
Thank you so much Scott!
This recipe is amazing! I have made it several times now, and everyone in my family loves it. I usually just use one can of full fat coconut milk for the gravy to make it paleo (and because that is just easier for me!), but the recipe as written does not need any adjustments.
Thank you for this!
I may have to use some coconut milk for gray this week because I’m super low on whole milk and I’m not ready to order more groceries..but I’m happy to hear y’all enjoyed it. Thank you so much!
What do we do with the reserved teaspoon of seasoning? Also, when I remove the teaspoon of seasoning it barely leaves any for the six thighs. I really want to make this right but I’m struggling.
Sorry you are having difficulties. The reserved teaspoon of seasonings goes into the gravy mixture. See step 2 of the instructions. Did you use 1/2 tsp each of garlic and onion powder or two of each?