Published April 16th 2012 Updated February 14th 2024

This baked Smothered Chicken and Gravy recipe is an easy oven meal that comes together in a snap. In it, chicken is smothered with a creamy sauce that magically turns into gravy in the oven. It’s perfect for ladling over rice, mashed potatoes or cornbread dressing.

Easy Smothered Chicken and Gravy Recipe

Baked Southern smothered chicken is a down home comforting dish that takes on many forms depending on the cook and their interpretation of the dish. This is a “no fuss” version that’s smothered with gravy and a healthy dose of home cooked love. It’s baked in one of my most beloved kitchen tools, my cast iron dutch oven. Cast iron cooking has a magical effect on foods from baking easy skillet apple pie biscuits, to fully loaded cornbread and sweet skillet berry cobblers. Not only does the food cook more evenly, but, it actually tastes better when cooked in my dutch oven. How to make Smothered Chicken and Gravy: (Scroll down for full printable recipe.)

Butter – Melt butter over medium-high heat in a 6 quart dutch oven or similar oven safe pot.
Seasoned Flour – Whisk together flour with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp paprika and 1/4 tsp black pepper.
Chicken Breasts – Dust chicken breasts on all sides with seasoned flour.
Cook – Brown chicken in butter for 1 minute on both sides. Arrange in dutch oven or buttered baking dish. Top with onion and a light dusting of paprika.
Sauce – Whisk together, soup, dissolved soup base, half and half, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, tarragon and black pepper. Pour the over the chicken and onions.
Cover – Bake covered for 50-60 minutes. Remove lid and test the chicken for doneness. Time may vary adjust cooking time depending on the thickness of chicken breasts used.
Remove chicken to a platter to rest for 5 minutes. Mix gravy well.
Serve smothered chicken and gravy garnished with parsley.

How to Make the Best Smothered Chicken and Gravy Recipe

This recipe is made in the oven but could be adapted to a crockpot, too. Assemble per the recipe in a slow cooker cooking on low for 5-6 hours, or just until the chicken is fork tender. Adapt the time based on how your appliance performs. Then you can enjoy crockpot chicken and gravy on a busy day.

Ingredients you’ll need to make easy Smothered Chicken and Gravy: Boneless skinless chicken breasts, butter, all purpose flour, diced onion, chicken soup base, cream of chicken and mushroom soup OR regular cream of chicken soup, half and half, poultry seasoning, granulated garlic and black pepper. You’ll also need chopped fresh parsley for garnishing the top before serving.
If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can brown the chicken on the stovetop in a large skillet and transfer it to a 13×9 inch baking dish for baking.
When making the sauce for this baked chicken, you may add a pinch of cayenne pepper for a bit of kick. Consider the taste of your family when choosing to do so.
The poultry seasoning I use in this recipe is called Poultry Magic. You may adapt this recipe using your favorite chicken or poultry seasoning blend.
Paprika adds a subtle smokiness, and a rich color to the gravy.
When prepping the onion for the sauce, you may dice the onion, if you prefer a smaller dice.
There is no salt in the gravy ingredient list as the soup base provides an ample amount to season the dish. As always, you have the option to taste the gravy mixture and adjust to your liking.
Please note that the cooking time may need to be adjusted based on the thickness of the chicken pieces being used. A good rule of thumb is, when a knife is easily inserted into the thickest portion of the chicken breasts and juices run clear.
How do you make chicken gravy with cornstarch? At the end of cooking smothered chicken and gravy, you can thicken the gravy further using cornstarch. Remove the chicken breasts to a platter and keep warm. Place the dutch oven back on to the stovetop over medium high heat, Mix up a slurry using equal parts of cold half and half, cold chicken broth or cold water and cornstarch. So, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 1 tablespoon of liquid, you can of course use a little more as needed. Whisk into the liquid and let it come to a gentle boil. Repeat until it thickens to your taste.
Likewise, you my thin the gravy by adding more chicken stock, half and half or even water. liquid of choice.
In a hurry? You may like these Easy Chicken Tenders with Pan Gravy made on the stove top.

Side Dishes to Serve with Smothered Chicken and Gravy

While you can’t really go wrong, there are just some Southern side dishes that fit so well with this kind of main dish. Some recipes you may like to try:

Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Mashed Potatoes is a classic choice to go with chicken and gravy.
Southern Cornbread Dressing is moist on the inside with a slightly crunchy topping.
Classic Wedge Salad drizzled with homemade bleu cheese dressing, cherry tomatoes, red onion and crumbled bacon.
Sweet Pea Salad is a retro warm weather salad to make.
Cajun Dirty Rice will add a little New Orleans flavor to the supper table.
Roasted Parsnips from Dinner at the Zoo.

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