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Creamy Smothered Chicken Thighs are the perfect dinner for a chilly night! Seasoned with spices and baked to perfection in a delicious cream sauce.
If you’re a fan of homemade meals and soul food then you’re going to love this recipe! I love making chicken thigh recipes like my Honey Lime Chicken Thighs, and this recipe is equally flavorful.
This recipe was inspired by my Smothered Pork Chops video on my Youtube channel, and I knew I just had to add the version made with chicken thighs to my site.
The sauce is super creamy but it mostly consists of chicken broth. This isn’t a quick meal, it cooks for about an hour but let’s face it, meals cooked long and slow are the best!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Bone-in Chicken Thighs
- Granulated Garlic
- Paprika
- Oregano
- Chili Powder
- All-purpose Flour
- Onion
- Garlic
- Chicken Broth
- Heavy Cream
- Red Crushed Pepper (optional)
- Butter
- Oil
- Salt and Pepper
How To Make
It’s incredibly easy to make these delicious juicy smothered chicken thighs, here’s all you have to do:
You’ll want to preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Season the chicken with the spices on both sides and under the skin as well. You will have some spices leftover. You can add them to the all-purpose flour for even more flavor. Coat the chicken with the seasoned flour on both sides.
Cook the chicken in a hot skillet with oil over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside on a plate or lined baking sheet. Add the onions to the skillet and cook until translucent. Stir in the fresh garlic and red crushed pepper and cook for 20 seconds. Season with salt and pepper.
To make the sauce, add the butter and 1 tbsp of the seasoned all-purpose flour to the skillet and cook for 1-2 minutes to make a roux. Add the chicken broth and cook for 2-3 minutes while whisking constantly. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken back in the skillet. Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the chicken is fully cooked through.
What Should I Serve This With?
A savory chicken dish is super versatile. To make a delicious and complete meal, serve with any combination of these:
- Fluffy White Rice
- Cauliflower Rice
- Brown Rice
- Steamed or Roasted Vegetables
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- A side salad
Can I Use Chicken Breasts Or Chicken Legs Instead?
Absolutely! All you have to do is adjust the cooking time but keep the recipe exactly the same. If you decide to use chicken breasts, serve this with some pasta! It’s so good.
Keep in mind that boneless chicken breasts cook a lot quicker than bone-in chicken thighs. Reduce the cooking time accordingly so that you don’t end up with dry chicken breasts.
Can Pork Be Substituted For Chicken?
Of course! You can definitely make smothered pork chops if you don’t want to use chicken thighs.
You can also make smothered steak or smothered turkey wings if you’d like as well.
How To Make Low Carb Cream Sauce For Chicken
If you’re on a low carb diet you can omit the seasoned flour. Just remember that the sauce won’t be as thick.
My Creamy Baked Chicken Legs recipe is low carb and keto-friendly, and tastes just as good!
Top Tips:
- Use a thermometer. Every oven is different, so your chicken may cook quicker or may take longer to cook than mine did. The safe internal temperature for chicken is 165 F. The juices should always run clear.
- Make sure the chicken is at room temperature before cooking.
- Pat any moisture off of the chicken with paper towels before cooking. This will help to get a crisp sear on the chicken thighs.
- Add mushrooms and spinach if you’d like to incorporate some veggies.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Enjoy:
Creamy Smothered Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 lb bone-in chicken thighs
- 2 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 small onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- pinch of red crushed pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste
- oil, for frying
- parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, combine the paprika, oregano, chili powder, and granulated garlic.
- Season the chicken with the spice mixture, salt, and pepper.
- Add the remaining spice mixture to the all-purpose flour.
- Coat the chicken with the seasoned flour, shake off any excess.
- Cook the chicken in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes on each side.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the onions to the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and red crushed pepper.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the butter and 1 tbsp of the seasoned flour.
- Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the chicken broth and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the heavy cream.
- Place the chicken back in the skillet.
- Place the skillet in the oven and cook for one hour.
- Garnish with parsley and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was fantastic! Will be making again.
I like my gravy thicker so will add more flour to the rue (used cornstarch last night ). I was trying to use up what was in the frig so I used different parts of a cut up chicken (breast wings & leg quarter). I also threw in some sliced mushrooms just before I put in the stove.
Am getting ready to try another of your recipes tonight!
This is my go to recipe for the basic sauce and spices. But often I vary ingredients based on what I have in the house and it’s always great for chicken and pork. I agree with some of the comments that the temperature is too high and too long. I go 350 for about 40 minutes for bone in. 25-30 for boneless.
This is one of the best recipes I’ve tried in a very long time! We had it over rice pilaf and it was perfect. I added more red pepper flakes, some leftover sweet corn, and half a jar of picante salsa for a little extra kick! Also, we used boneless thighs because that’s what we had so I cooked for 50 mins and they turned out very tender. Absolutely ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love corn and never thought of adding it but I will next time, ty! So glad you enjoyed it!
I saw this same EXACT recipe from smokin’ &grillin’ with AB on you tube. I wonder who did it first hmmm…
Check the upload dates on Youtube 🙂
YowzaYum! This is a home run recipe! The sauce is delicious (cream and butter, so of course) and the chicken fork-tender. The one hour oven time seemed long so I checked it after about 30-35 minutes and it was at temp, and chicken cooked to perfection. My wife is a retired nurse who after years of bland hospital cafeteria chicken usually turns her nose up at any chicken dish, but she loved this as much as I did. I will definitely make this again and want to try with other chicken cuts (breast, legs) and pork chops as well. It didn’t specify hot, sweet, or smoked paprika. I used smoked paprika (awesome) but I think any kind of good paprika will do fine. It also didn’t specify if onion should be minced, diced or sliced. I halved and then thinly sliced the onion and it worked great. Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad you guys enjoyed this recipe! I usually always finely dice the onions and use smoked paprika but I should’ve clarified. Sorry about that!