Bouchée à la Reine
A fuss-free chicken built around vol-au-vent puff pastry shells, boneless skinless chicken breasts and button mushrooms — roughly 75 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. You'll find the full ingredient list (with a scaler to change the servings), 7 steps of method, substitutions, and ideas for what to serve alongside.
You'll mainly reach for oven and saucepan. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention.
What you'll need
Shopping list (6)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized cubes, then poach them gently in the simmering chicken stock for about 8 to 10 minutes until cooked through to an internal temperature of 74 C, then lift out the chicken and reserve the stock.
- Quarter the button mushrooms and finely chop the shallot, then melt half the butter in a pan and sweat the shallot for 2 minutes before adding the mushrooms with the white wine and lemon juice, cooking for 5 minutes until softened; set aside.
- Warm the vol-au-vent shells in a 180 C oven for about 8 minutes so they are hot and crisp.
- In a clean saucepan melt the remaining butter, stir in the flour and cook this roux for 2 minutes without colouring, then gradually whisk in the warm reserved stock to make a smooth, velvety sauce; simmer for 5 minutes and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
- Stir the cooked chicken and the mushroom mixture into the sauce and warm through gently for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Whisk the egg yolk with the creme fraiche in a small bowl, then take the pan off the heat and stir the mixture in to enrich and thicken the sauce, without letting it boil again or the yolk will curdle.
- Spoon the hot filling generously into the warm pastry shells, letting it spill slightly over the sides, set the pastry lid on top and serve at once.
You'll use: Oven · Saucepan · Pan · Whisk
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Creme Fraiche
- sour cream · Greek yogurt
- White Wine
- chicken or vegetable stock + 1 tsp vinegar
- Lemon
- lime · 1 tbsp white wine vinegar per lemon
Tips & common questions
How long does Bouchée à la Reine take to make?
About 75 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 14 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
How should I store leftovers?
Cool leftovers quickly, refrigerate in an airtight container, and eat within 3 days. Reheat until piping hot throughout.
Related recipes
Bouchée à la Reine is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Bouchée à la Reine.JPG by Arnaud 25, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.