Tuscan Chicken with White Beans & Kale
Hearty and vibrant, this Tuscan-inspired Chicken with White Beans, kale, and sun-dried tomatoes cooks in one skillet in just about 30 minutes! One of our favorite easy weeknight dinners, it also happens to be bursting with protein and dark leafy greens.
Easy And Delicious Chicken With White Beans
I’m especially enamored of any recipe that has lots of colors packed into one pot or skillet, and this delicious chicken skillet is a prime example. Of course, colors are a feast for the eyes on their own, but in the context of cooking, they also generally mean that the dish has a great variety of textures, flavors, and nutrients all wrapped up.
This Tuscan-inspired chicken skillet with kale, sun-dried tomatoes, and cannellini or other white beans checks that colorful, nutrient-dense box in spades. But there’s even more reason to love it:
- Easy to make in one skillet. Nothing extra to haul out, nothing extra to wash.
- Super fast. 30 minutes start to finish and dinner is done.
- Major Italian flavors from simple ingredients. Garlic, diced tomatoes — fire-roasted if possible — and plenty of Italian seasoning are all it takes to impart that Mediterranean taste to creamy beans and tender chicken.
Serve this chicken with garlic knots, garlic bread, or pasta if you like. If you want to add an extra veggie, roasted garlic green beans, asparagus, or broccolini are tasty pairings.
Related: Creamy Tuscan Chicken with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Ingredient & Substitution Notes
Here are a few notes and shopping tips about the ingredients you’ll need to make this, as well as possible substitutions. Find full amounts in the print-friendly recipe card below.
- Chicken breasts. Use thin-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts so that they cook in the recommended amount of time. You can purchase chicken this way, or purchase standard chicken breasts and butterfly them yourself by slicing through the middle.
- Yellow onion. Substitute a shallot, sweet onion, or red onion if you like.
- Oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. I like to use oil-packed tomatoes in this recipe, and in a perfect world I buy them julienned, so I don’t need to slice them and can just drain out a bit of the oil and add the tomatoes directly to the skillet. For extra flavor, you can use the oil from the tomato jar when you sauté the chicken. You can use dry-packed tomatoes, however, if that’s what you have. They will just absorb more liquid from the dish to reconstitute themselves.
- Minced garlic. Fresh minced or from a jar work best.
- Cannellini or other small white beans. Cannellini beans are a large Italian bean that work beautifully in any recipe that calls simply for “white beans.” They maintain a hearty, creamy texture when cooked. Great northern or white navy beans work well as substitutes.
- Diced tomatoes. Use fire-roasted tomatoes for an extra hit of flavor. So good!
- Kale. Buy pre-washed, pre-chopped curly kale to save time, but still pick through it to remove any thick woody stems. Baby spinach or Swiss chard make good substitutes, if you like.
- Italian seasoning.
- Kosher salt and black pepper. Just a sprinkle to season the chicken, then more to taste at the end.
- Olive oil. Any neutral cooking oil, such as canola or avocado oil, will also work. This is simply for cooking the chicken.
What’s in Italian seasoning?
Italian seasoning is a staple of a well-stocked spice drawer and typically includes dried basil, dried oregano, dried rosemary, and a smaller amount of dried thyme and dried marjoram. Variations may also include Mediterranean spices and herbs like dried sage, fennel seeds, garlic powder, or crushed red pepper flakes.
Can I substitute chicken thighs?
Yes, but they will take significantly longer to cook, and I recommend cooking them all the way through, or very nearly, before making the sauce, so you don’t need to risk overcooking the beans in order to finish the chicken.
How to Make Skillet Chicken with White Beans
This is an overview. Full instructions with timing & temperatures are in the recipe card below.
Begin by seasoning and searing the chicken. You want to get it just browned with a few crispy bits of seasoning on each side, then remove to a plate to rest while you prepare the sauce. The chicken will finish cooking later as it warms through in the light sauce.
Using the same skillet, next prepare the aromatics — onion goes in first, followed by sun-dried tomatoes and garlic — then add the beans, diced tomatoes, and more dried herbs. This will all simmer together to make a very light sauce and meld the flavors.
Nestle the chicken back into the skillet, pushing the bean mixture slightly aside to make room for each piece. Simmer everything together over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, which should be just enough to concentrate the liquid and let the chicken cook all the way through.
If the pan looks very dry before the chicken is done, add a splash of water or chicken broth and stir well to loosen things up.
Finally, tuck the kale in around and under the chicken. You can remove the pan from the heat at this time so the chicken doesn’t overcook; the residual heat will be plenty to quickly wilt the kale, making it tender enough to eat.
Serving Suggestions
We like to round out this chicken skillet with a carb-y side, like garlic bread or knots, crusty Italian or French bread, lemon butter orzo, or roasted red potatoes. Although the skillet has plenty of vegetables for my personal enjoyment, my kids are not always the most voracious consumers of kale, so I can attest that it also goes well with any variety of roasted or steamed veggie. We love asparagus, corn, green beans, broccoli, or broccolini.
Recipe FAQs & Expert Tips
How do you know when chicken breasts are done?
Chicken is safe and ready to eat when it is white all the way through and has reached 165° F, per official USDA guidelines. A simple instant-read meat thermometer makes it easy to watch for that benchmark and pull the chicken off right away. No guesswork and no over-cooked, dry chicken!
Do you wash chicken before cooking?
Short answer: no. Raw chicken does not need to be washed prior to being cooked, and doing so only increases the odds of spreading bacteria around your sink and other parts of the kitchen.
Storage & Reheating
I’m always happy to have an extra portion of this dish on hand for a filling and healthy lunch the following day — unless my husband grabs it first!
- Storage: Place leftovers in any airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. (These are our favorite meal prep boxes for the fridge.)
- Warming: Reheat on 50% power in the microwave until warmed through. Using half power reduces the odds that your chicken will dry out in the microwave; it’s worth the extra few seconds it takes.
I don’t recommend freezing leftovers of this; neither the kale nor the beans will retain the right texture.
Related Recipes
Craving similar flavors but with the ease of chicken sausage? A chicken sausage white bean skillet with baby spinach makes a satisfying 20 minute meal.
If you need more easy but tasty chicken dinners — and who doesn’t!? — try my white wine chicken, oregano chicken, Greek-marinated chicken, lemon rosemary or lemon thyme chicken skillet next.
For something a little comforting, white bean chicken chili, creamy lemon chicken, and lemon chicken pasta are also winners each and every time!
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Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Kale
Ingredients
- 4 thin-sliced chicken breasts
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning divided
- 2-3 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes drained and roughly chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes fire-roasted for extra flavor
- 2-3 cups kale roughly chopped
Instructions
- Season chicken breasts on both sides with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the Italian seasoning.4 thin-sliced chicken breasts, kosher salt and black pepper, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- Warm olive oil in a large skillet, then add chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes on each, just until browned on the outside but not quite cooked through. Remove to a plate and set aside.2-3 teaspoons olive oil
- Add onion to the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes, until slightly softened. Add sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. Cook for an additional 30-60 seconds, until fragrant.1/2 medium yellow onion, 1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, 2-3 cloves garlic
- Stir in the rinsed beans, diced tomatoes with juices, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning. Return chicken to the pan, keep the heat on medium, and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the liquid is slightly reduced and the chicken is just cooked through.1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- Turn off the heat and tuck the kale around and under the chicken, where it will wilt a bit thanks to the residual heat. Season with more salt and pepper to taste, serve, and enjoy!2-3 cups kale
I loved this! Added some white wine, used cherry tomatoes,used navy beans and added some chicken broth and served over spaghetti
Yum! That sounds delicious top to bottom. Thank you for taking the time to leave this review!