Sherry Cream Sauce Lemon Chicken Casserole Recipe (2024)

Sherry Cream Sauce bubbling in a casserole dish with tender chicken breasts is our favourite dinner to make at home for special family celebrations.

My parents has been making this Sherry Chicken recipe since we were kids, often served on special occasions like birthdays, Mother’s Dad, Valentine’s Day or Easter. My mother would only make it a few times of year because it is a decadent dish featuring whipped cream and sherry.

Our quick and easy casserole recipe features tender chicken breasts swimming in a Sherry Cream Sauce. Top with shredded gruyere or parmesan cheese and broiled until you see a bubbling, cheesy gratin.

Sprinkle with chives and serve with rice and a fresh green salad. Your dinner party guests are going to be begging for this recipe!

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What Is Sherry Cream Sauce Chicken Casserole?

My mother first found this Sherry Chicken recipe in the magazine Bon Appetit Light & Easy special edition, which was published in April, 1989. Over the years we’ve tweaked the recipe and now it’s a classic in our culinary repertoire.

The velvety and smooth Sherry Cream Sauce is made with butter, whipping cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and Spanish cream sherry. The sauce simmers on low heat until reduced into a sublime citrus-flavoured cream.

Seared chicken breasts are added to the sauce and then transferred into a casserole dish and sprinkled with shredded cheese. Moments before serving, the casserole slides into the oven under a hot broiler to form a bubbling and cheesy gratin.

My Family Loves Homemade Sherry Chicken

This Sherry Chicken recipe is by far the most popular dish in my family.

My mother used to make it only a few times a year because it is very rich, featuring 35% fat whipping cream!

For our birthdays each year my sister and I would either ask her to make this famous Sherry Cream Sauce Chicken or . When I think of eating this creamy chicken casserole my memories drift back to special celebrations. The ultimate comfort food!

Since the dish is prepared as a casserole it’s the perfect recipe to serve when company is coming. You can prepare the dish before your guests have arrived and simply pop in the oven to reheat moments before you’re ready to eat.

We often double the recipe because the leftovers are so delicious. The following morning my sister and I would rip off the tin foil and use our fingers to grab cold pieces of chicken covered in a thick sherry cream sauce. It almost tastes better the next day cold right out of the fridge!

What Is Sherry?

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is primarily produced from the Palomino grapeand in various styles.

Sherry can be sipped on its own, incorporated into a co*cktail like this Sherry Flip recipe or used as a cooking wine.

What Is the Difference Between Cream Sherry and Dry Sherry?

Cream Sherry, the famed sweet sherry, is afull-bodied dessert wine with a bouquet of roasted nuts with a velvety smooth texture on the palate.

Cream Sherry is essentially wine made from a blend of dry wine like Oloroso and a naturally sweet wine like Muscatel or Pedro Ximenez. This sweet sherry and dry wine, when mixed, are extremely sweet.Cream Sherry has a dense syrup-like appearance.

Dry Sherry wines areproduced by complete fermentation and thus have a minimal content of residual sugar from the grape juice. They are often a more preferred fortified wine to use when cooking unless explicitly stated in the recipe.

What Is Sherry Cream Sauce Made Of?

Although you can drink it, I prefer to use sherry for cooking and adding flavour to sauces. Sherry is often used in kitchens as a replacement to cooking wine as it has more flavour. It pairs nicely with cream sauces spooned over chicken or seafood, like white fish.

Sherry Cream Sauce Recipe Cooking Tips

This homemade Sherry Chicken casserole recipe is quick and easy to make at home.

• We suggest searing the chicken breasts in a large skillet, simmering in the cream sauce and then transferring it into a casserole dish to broil the gratin.
• We like to use boneless skinless chicken breasts in this recipe as they are tender and lean. You can use skinless boneless chicken thighs if you prefer but they are more fatty and make the already decadent dish more rich.
• We’ve made this chicken dish with Cream Sherry as well as Dry Sherry. We prefer Cream Sherry but you can test out both varietites and use whatever you prefer.
• We’ve used 35% fat whipping cream in this recipe to make a truly velvety, rich and creamy sauce. You can make a lower fat version by substituting 18% table cream.
• We’ve used Parmigiano Reggiano for the cheese gratin but you can substitute with Gruyere if you prefer.
• Since the casserole is rather one note when it comes to colour we like to garnish the chicken with fresh herbs like chopped chives, tarragon or thyme.

What To Serve with Chicken in Sherry Cream Sauce

My mother would often serve Sherry Chicken with steamed rice, but you can also pair with roasted potatoes, or crusty sourdough bread. You want to serve a starch that will nicely sop up the sherry cream sauce.

She would typically serve the dish with steamed green beans but I like to make a fresh green salad. Since the casserole is so decadent it’s important to pair it with crunchy fresh vegetables that are tossed in an acidic dressing as it cuts through the fatty cream sauce to bring out robust flavours.

Here are some of our favourite fresh salad recipes to serve with Chicken Sherry Cream Sauce Casserole:

• Scallion Dill Beetroot Salad with Yogurt
• Toasted Pecan Parmesan Pear and Rocket Salad
• Cambozola Currant Pear and Fennel Salad
• Romaine Salad With Tahini Caesar Dressing
• Roasted Beetroot Salad with Grapefruit, Pistachio and Herbed Cream
• Garlic Lemon Chickpea Avocado Salad
• Cherry Pecan Kale Salad with Honey Lime Vinaigrette
• Carrot and Tahini Salad with Crispy Cumin Chickpeas and Pistachios
• Fennel, Apple, Celery and Roasted Hazelnut Salad

You May Also Enjoy These Chicken Recipes…

• Moroccan Seffa Medfouna Saffron Chicken Vermicelli
• Crispy Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich
• Aguadito de Pollo Peruvian Chicken Soup
• Creamy Coconut Burmese Chicken Curry
• Moroccan Chicken Lentil Stew Rfissa
• Paprikas Csirke Hungarian Chicken Paprikash
• Egyptian Crispy Crusted Dukkah Chicken
• Ca Ri Ga Vietnamese Chicken Curry
• Yum Woon Sen Thai Glass Noodle Salad
• Japanese Ponzu Chicken
• Khai Jiao Thai Ground Chicken Omelet
• Crispy Roast Chicken and Leek Risotto
• Moghrabieh Lebanese Chickpea Chicken Couscous
• Healthy Chicken Shawarma Plate
• Palestinian Chicken Musakhan
• Filipino Spicy Coconut Chicken Wing Stew

Sherry Chicken Health Benefits

Our homemade Sherry Cream Sauce slathered over chicken is a decadent dish but also features wholesome ingredients!

Chicken is high in protein and provides B vitamins such as niacin, which helps your body access the energy in foods.

A rich source of phytochemicals and vitamin C, lemons help boost your immune system and neutralize free radicals that cause disease and skin aging. Lemons also protect against heart disease and help improve blood flow to the brain.

Consuming dairy products (such as milk and cheese) provides health benefits — especially improved bone health. Dairy foods provide nutrients that are vital for health and maintenance of your body. These nutrients include calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and protein.

Storing Chicken In Sherry Cream Sauce

This casserole is such a crowd-pleaser we always have guests asking for the recipe so they can make it at home. It’s the sort of meal where you want to lick your plate clean as the sherry cream sauce is so delicious! There’s no shame in that!

We highly recommend doubling the recipe so you can enjoy leftovers, or you can freeze a second casserole dish and store it in the freezer for an easy last minute dinner.

If cooking from frozen just thaw in the casserole in the fridge in the morning and bake in a 350 F oven until the sauce is bubbling.

If you have leftovers they’re best enjoyed for lunch the following day straight out of the casserole dish. The sherry cream sauce thickens and clings to the chicken when chilled, making for a delicious cold meal served with crunchy carrot and celery sticks.

How To Make Sherry Cream Sauce Lemon Chicken

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