Creamy Tuscan Chicken
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Creamy Tuscan chicken with fresh garlic, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes is a meal worthy of entertaining or special occasions, yet it can be on your table in under 30 minutes. The luxurious Parmesan cream sauce will be the star of any dinner.
I don’t know about you, but one thing we nearly always have in the freezer, or can easily pick up from the store, is a few chicken breasts. They are endlessly versatile and so easy to make a meal from, even when you’re in a hurry. No wonder I am always on the lookout for new recipes to make full use of this humble staple and keep it interesting.
With a rich, flavorful cream sauce infused with fresh garlic, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning, this recipe is one of my original favorite chicken skillets. I first published this post in February 2018—truly a few eras ago! Now as then, it’s a beloved favorite. The chicken is tender, the sauce is luscious, and colorful spinach and sun-dried tomatoes perk everything up and mix some nutrition into a relatively luxurious meal.
Although you could serve this plain or alongside nearly anything, pasta goes with it so well. Why fight it, I say? The thick ribbons of pappardelle shown here are amazing. Tagliatelle, spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, or little farfalle bowties all are wonderful, too.
Why You’ll Love This Creamy Tuscan Chicken
- Step-by-step instructions to keep your chicken breasts juicy and tender
- Packed with your favorite Italian seasonings and herbs
- Cream sauce makes any meal just a little bit better
- Tastes like a special occasion dinner without a huge amount of work
- On the table in about 30 minutes, prep work included
- One skillet only—no huge volume of pots and pans to wash up
If you love this flavor profile, you might like to try my Tuscan ravioli, gnocchi, or white bean skillet next.
Ingredient Notes
Pro Tip!
Maximize flavor and efficiency by cooking with the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Just open the jar and use a small spoon to skim a bit of oil off the top to drizzle into the pan for cooking the chicken breasts. It’s OK if tiny bits of tomato or herbs come along for the ride.
One Skillet To Carry the Day
Just because a meal cooks in one skillet doesn’t mean it lacks complexity or depth of flavor. On the contrary, this method can build more flavor, because each ingredient layers over the next.
Success starts with preparing the chicken. To get the best results, take your chicken out of the refrigerator 10-15 minutes prior to cooking. Season generously with salt and pepper. If you don’t mind using flour, dredge each piece gently in it to form a deliciously light crust. Skip this or substitute almond flour if you want a gluten-free dish.
Pan-fry to tender perfection. If the chicken has been sliced or pounded thin, it should cook through fully in just 2-4 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer is always the best way to be sure chicken breasts are done but not overdone. They should reach 165°F.
Make the sauce. After removing the chicken, you’ll whip up the Parmesan cream mixture directly in the same skillet. This means all the little browned bits from the chicken end up flavoring the sauce, which is exactly what you want.
Add color and season to taste. After the sauce simmers to thicken up a bit, stir in the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Sample and season to taste, then return the chicken to warm up a bit and soak up that luscious sauce.
Pro Tip
This dish is ideally served right away; if you have a few minutes prior to serving, reduce the heat all the way to its lowest setting as the chicken rests in the sauce. This will keep everything warm but minimize the risk of the sauce separating or thickening too much.
What To Serve with Tuscan Chicken
Keep it simple. For a straightforward but delicious everyday meal, pair Tuscan chicken with pasta, salad greens and Italian dressing, or a quick side of roasted baby carrots. Done and done.
Make it an event. For a special occasion or larger gathering, round out your menu with a Caesar salad, homemade breadsticks or garlic knots, and a more involved vegetable side. Lemon pepper asparagus, pesto green beans, or Ina Garten’s roasted Parmesan broccoli all pair beautifully.
More Tasty Chicken Dinners
- Bruschetta Chicken
- Brown Butter Sage Chicken Skillet
- Quick and Light Lemon Thyme Chicken
- Easy Bourbon Chicken
- Chicken in White Wine Sauce
- Chicken Pasta Marinara
Creamy Tuscan Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced or pounded thin
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1-2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus more for serving
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1-2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes see note
- pasta and fresh basil for serving
Instructions
- Season both sides of the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Place the flour in a shallow bowl or plate, then dredge each piece of chicken through it to form a light coating, shaking gently to remove any excess.4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, kosher salt and black pepper, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- Add olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the chicken and sauté for 2-4 minutes per side, until cooked through and lightly golden. Remove the chicken to a plate, tent with foil, and set aside.1-2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- If the skillet is dry, add a tiny bit more olive oil, followed by the garlic. Cook for 30-60 seconds, just until fragrant. Add chicken broth, and scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.4 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- Reduce heat to medium, then stir in the cream, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce visibly thickens.3/4 cup heavy cream , 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Stir in the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, until the spinach wilts. Sample and season with more salt and pepper to taste.1-2 cups fresh baby spinach, 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- Add chicken back to the skillet, spoon a bit of sauce over each piece, and keep over the lowest heat setting until ready to serve. Garnish with more Parmesan, fresh slivered basil, and fresh-cracked black pepper as desired.pasta and fresh basil
Video
Notes
- Chicken: If possible, take your chicken breasts out of the refrigerator and let them rest at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before you start cooking. This small step makes a surprising difference to help them cook more evenly, so the inside is done just as the outside gets nice and browned.
- Salt and Pepper: Don’t skimp on the salt and pepper for seasoning the chicken. I aim to use about 2-3 teaspoons of kosher salt total for 4 or 5 chicken breasts, and enough pepper to form a visible sprinkle across both sides of each piece.
- Make it Gluten-Free: If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, skip the flour step entirely. Also, other readers have reported that almond flour works well.
- Garlic: In a pinch, you could substitute 1 teaspoon of garlic powder for the freshly-minced or jarred stuff.
- Cream: I’ve tested this recipe with a lot of different ratios of broth to cream and substitutes, and always come back to this combo. Other options that will work: reduce the cream to ½ cup only, keeping the amount of broth the same; or replace the cream with half-and-half. Either will yield a thinner but still very tasty sauce.
- Parmesan: Freshly-grated Parmesan will always melt into sauce more smoothly than pre-packaged stuff, but I do find that the stuff grated in-store works pretty well, too.
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Given the choice, I use oil-packed, julienned sun-dried tomatoes for this dish, and try to drain and blot out some of the excess oil before mixing them into the sauce. Whole oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes work the same, you just need to chop them into bite-sized pieces yourself. Dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes should be rehydrated prior to use, or if you’re in a pinch, add them to the sauce at the same time as the cream, so they can plump up and soften a little as the sauce simmers.
- Sauce Yield: This is a very rich and flavorful sauce, so even if serving with pasta, we find a little goes a long way. If you want to fully coat servings of pasta in the sauce, consider doubling it.
- Storage: Leftovers keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days. I always recommend microwaving chicken at 50% power, if that’s how you reheat it, to avoid drying it out.
Nutrition Estimate
This post was originally published on February 28, 2018. It has been updated to remove extraneous content and replace it with more concrete suggestions on what to serve with the dish and how to ensure your chicken stays as tender and flavorful as possible. The photos are original!
Hoping this turns out as wonderful as the picture looks!
Do you cut the chicken before cooking? Your picture shows a whole breast.
Hi Emily- I usually buy thin-sliced breasts and do not cut before cooking, but when I took these photos I lived in Belgium where they normally do not trim quite as much from the chicken or slice it as thin! I hope that helps somewhat! And I definitely hope it turns out well for you – please let me know! xx
Cooked this tonight for supper, it was a hit!! Will be cooking this again real soon!
I love any chicken dish, especially Italian ones! Just need a side of breadsticks and I’m good to go! YUM!! ?
This looks so so good! My husband is picky with cream sauces but I think this would win him over.
Oh my goodness, this looks fabulous!!!
Oh my goodness gracious this looks delicious! Pinning for later!
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it! I always have chicken in my fridge too!
Too bad I just came back from grocery shopping and don’t have the main ingredients! Looks so yummy!!!!
That looks amazing! I think this is going on my dinner list for the week. Yum!
Oh yum. In the 80’s I was so put off with sun-dried tomatoes, because pesto and sun-dried tomatoes were used on everything. I guess I thought they had come out of nouveau cuisine of the decade, not realizing that zillions of Italians had been making pesto and drying tomatoes for a thousand years!!! Anyway, fortunately I got over it and I can’t get enough of sun-dried tomatoes. LOVE this dish.
Yum! I need to try this for dinner this week. Whiat heavy cream do you use?
Hi Jewels! The cream that’s I buy here in Belgium is labeled “creme a fouetter” or “slagroom” and is 40% milk fat. (That’s a bit more fat than standard “heavy cream” sold in the U.S.) If you are shopping in the U.S., either heavy cream or heavy whipping cream should work fine in this recipe.
Looks delicious! What kind of pasta did you use?
Thanks so much, Janet! I used tagliatelle in these photos!
I appreciate the fact the recipe is quick and easy. Thanks.
Ugh, now THIS is the kinda comfort food I need in this cold, snowy weather! Such an elegant combo of flavours! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
Wow, that sauce looks so tasty, and my son would agree with you on the pasta! I know what you mean about tasty Chicken, I’m so lucky I can get local free range chicken
Love the colours and flavours in this dish! I think my family would love this – must try it soon!
This looks absolutely delicious – that sauce has my mouth watering. I can see this dish being very popular with my family!
This looks so creamy and comforting. I love anything with sundried tomatoes, so this sounds good to me!
I have been experimenting with sun dried tomatoes recently. I REALLY like the idea of using them in a recipe like this! YUM!
To my mind, there is nothing as satisfying as a bowl of perfectly cooked pasta with a rich, creamy sauce. This looks delicious!
I would never pass up a great pasta dish…and I LOVE those thick noodles. This sounds perfect for a nice easy weekend meal….add a bottle of wine and enjoy with your friends.
Yes – you just described my ideal evening! 🙂 Thanks so much, Gloria!
That sauce looks absolutely divine! I adore sun dried tomatoes!
Thanks so much, Becca! They’re one of my favorites, too – I love them in pesto, on pizza, in sauces, dips, you name it!
I LOVE the sound of this!!!
Firstly it is pasta and I am pastas biggest fan, secondly it has sun dried tomatoes in it and I just can’t get enough of them!!!
This pasta is so elegant, perfect for entertaining or a mid-week meal. JUST LOVE IT (Did I say that already!!)
I am with you all counts – pasta and sun-dried tomatoes are pretty much irresistible to me! Thanks so much, Claire!
This looks to die for, I’m seriously drooling. Love all your tips too, so helpful!
Thank you so much, Emily!
Hi there. Have you ever tried cutting the chicken into bite size pieces before cooking it?
Hi Patti, I’ve never personally tried that, but it should work just fine! Just keep an eye so it doesn’t overcook. Enjoy!