Smothered Chicken Thighs
Smothered Chicken Thighs… what are we talking about here?
The memories of having a big fancy dinner ring fondly in my mind’s eye. Growing up we’d have dinner at my grandparent’s house for some reason or another and my grandma would cook up a feast.
Piles of delicious home-cookin’ would fill the dinner table and so would her pretty dishes.
I couldn’t tell you for certain that smothered chicken thighs was ever on the table on those nights, but I can say I’ve had it in countless other settings. It’s one of those meals that would’ve fit beautifully at grandma’s family meals.
Loaded with rice, mushrooms, and seared chicken, it was a simple yet impressive dish to present. But smothered chicken nestled in a bed of white rice is definitely not keto friendly.
Luckily, we can make some very simple changes and create Keto Smothered Chicken Thighs!
But first, have you had Smothered Chicken before?
Smothered chicken thighs is a one dish meal that has it all!
So it’s a casserole? Well not exactly.
Often times people turn their noses up at casseroles. I can understand not wanting all your food mixed together all the time. Sure the creamy, cheesy quality of most casseroles is great! But I don’t want every meal to be toddler friendly.
Smothered Chicken Thighs is a little different. As a one dish meal, everything does cook together in one dish, but we’re not making sure there’s no visible, discernible ingredients that are then blanketed in a layer of deceptive cheese.
The rice is cooked in the liquid that makes the sauce and the chicken is nested on top. The mushrooms are part of that cooking liquid/sauce piece that impart flavor. When you plate Smothered Chicken, it has a beautiful presentation of chicken on a bed of rice.
The classic Smothered Chicken and Rice of yesteryear has gotten a delicious Keto upgrade.
Wit just a few simple swaps, we can make this high carb, high fat, high protein meal into something that won’t cause us to need a nap 20 minutes after we eat it.
The high carb rice is swapped very easily with some frozen riced cauliflower. On a keto lifestyle, I’m pretty sure we’ve discovered all 73,962 ways we can use cauliflower and most of them are great!
The chicken thighs don’t need to be exchanged for a thing. They’re fantastic on a keto diet and they hold up perfectly in this recipe. No dry chicken here!
Typically, cream of mushroom soup is used in this dish along with chicken stock or some other liquid. The whole point is making a one dish meal is that we don’t have to cook everything separately. The rice is cooked by absorbing the liquid mixture. This creates great flavor in the dish and yields well cooked food at the final presentation.
But canned cream of (fill in the blank) soups aren’t keto friendly either.
You can easily make cream sauce from scratch, or painstakingly hunt for keto friendly canned creamed soups at specialty stores online.
But really, if you’re interested in a one dish meal that looks like you put tons of effort into it, you’re probably wanting to stay in that camp of it “LOOKING” like you put in tons of work but in reality, just whipped it up.
This is where KetoChow comes into play.
Are you familiar with KetoChow? Let me introduce you:
KetoChow is a nutritionally complete meal replacement shake mix that’s designed to make the keto lifestyle easy.
It has protein and ⅓ of your daily vitamin and minerals in each serving. The cool thing about KetoChow is you get to add your own fat in the amount that your body needs.
Beyond just drinking KetoChow as a shake, or having it as a soup, there are hundreds of recipes on their website. I love to scroll through their recipes and be inspired!
While it’s not as easy as a true “Dump-n-Go” kind of crockpot meal, the simplicity factor is still high!
Whip up your savory KetoChow Cream of Mushroom mix and let it rest while you work on the “rice”.
Steam the cauliflower and drain as much moisture out of it as you possibly can. I use a tea towel and really squeeze every last drop of water out of the caulirice.
Searing the chicken does take a few minutes, but it’s worth it for that beautiful rich color at the end. I use my massive cast iron skillet when I’m cooking this for a crowd. Less time over that stovetop is usually the goal. Plus cast iron gives a fantastic crispy texture to the outside.
Using the new KetoChow Cream of Mushroom, this dish is not only low carb friendly but it gives you a boost of necessary vitamins and minerals.
Make this one dish meal ahead of time and enjoy it on those busy week nights or for Sunday Dinner!
Keto Smothered Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 serving KetoChow Cream of Mushroom
- 1 tsp gelatin
- 14 oz water, divided (2 oz cool water, 12 oz warm water)
- 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 cups fresh, sliced or diced mushrooms
- 48 oz frozen riced cauliflower
- To Taste salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
Instructions
Prepare KetoChow
- In a blender bottle, bloom gelatin in 2oz cool water. Wait 3-5 minutes.
- Once gelatin is bloomed, add KetoChow Cream of Mushroom and the 12oz warm water. Seal the lid and shake well. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.
Riced Cauliflower
- Steam the riced cauliflower until cooked through.
- Using a kitchen towel, paper towels, or cheese cloth, squeeze as much moisture from the cauliflower as you can.
- In a 9x13 dish, spread the cauliflower into an even layer. Season to taste.
Sear Chicken
- Heat avocado oil in a skillet on medium-high on the stove.
- Season the chicken thighs with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Feel free to use the seasonings that you love!
- Sear the chicken thighs in 2 batches, ensuring all sides of the thighs are a lovely golden brown color.
Build the Dish
- Mix the mushrooms with the prepared KetoChow.
- Nest the chicken in the cauliflower, spacing the thighs evenly.
- Pour the KetoChow and mushroom mixture evenly over the entire dish.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Cover the dish with foil to keep the chicken from drying out too quickly.
- Bake the dish for 30 minutes.
- Test the internal temperature of the chicken, remove the foil, and place back in the oven until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165℉.
- Let the dish rest for about 10 minutes and then serve.
