Smothered Chicken
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Chicken browned and then cooked slowly in an onion gravy until it is tender enough to fall off the bone. It is a dish of the African American South, and the page sits in Worldwide Recipes under American with its URL unchanged. **This page had no recipe card in the source.** The ingredients and method below are reconstructed from its article, and that is flagged. The history is directly relevant to this site and the source states it plainly: smothered chicken comes from African American cooking in the Southern United States, made with the cheap cuts that were available, thighs and legs rather than breast, and cooked slowly over low heat to make them tender. The gravy was built from onions, garlic and whatever else was to hand, thickened with flour. That is not incidental background; it is why the dish exists in the form it does. Smothering as a technique means browning something and then cooking it covered in liquid until both the meat and the sauce are done together. It is applied across Southern cooking to pork chops, steak, okra and potatoes as well as chicken. The flour does two jobs: dredging the chicken before browning gives colour and thickens the gravy as it cooks.
AFN Heritage Note
Smothered chicken originates in African American cooking in the Southern United States, where inexpensive cuts of chicken were browned and then cooked slowly in an onion gravy until tender. Smothering, browning and then cooking covered in liquid, is applied across Southern cooking to pork chops, steak, okra and potatoes.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Combine the half cup of flour with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika in a shallow dish.
- 2
Dredge the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.
- 3
Warm the oil or bacon fat in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat and brown the chicken on all sides. Take it out and set aside. This is where the colour and much of the flavour comes from.
- 4
Lower the heat, put the sliced onions into the same pan and cook until softened and golden, about 10 minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the base.
- 5
Mix in the garlic and the 2 tablespoons of flour and cook for a minute or two so the flour loses its raw taste.
- 6
Pour in the chicken broth gradually, stirring to keep it smooth, and mix in the thyme.
- 7
Return the chicken to the pan, skin side up, and spoon gravy over it.
- 8
Cover and cook gently for 45 minutes to an hour, until the chicken is tender and coming away from the bone.
- 9
Taste the gravy, adjust the seasoning and serve over rice or with mashed potatoes.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Deborah Olayiwola- Use thighs and legs, not breast. Dark meat is what this technique is built for and breast dries out over an hour of covered cooking.
- Brown the chicken properly before the liquid goes in. Skipping it gives you pale chicken in pale gravy.
- Scrape the base of the pan when the onions go in. The browned residue is where the gravy's depth comes from.
- Cook the flour for a minute before adding broth, or the gravy tastes floury.
- Add the broth gradually while stirring, so the gravy stays smooth rather than lumping.
- It is better the next day and reheats well, which is characteristic of the whole smothered family.
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