This truly may be the greatest “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” of them all! It’s really that delicious!
We just can’t rave about this dish enough. The chicken is tender and the sauce is bursting with incredibly delicious Italian flavors. We love to serve it with Cheesy Garlic Bread and a Caesar Salad. Easy enough for a quick weeknight meal, but impressive enough for a wonderful dinner party. And it comes together in about 30 to 40 minutes!
How To Make Creamy Tuscan Chicken
This dish is great for so many reasons, with the best one being its incredible taste.
But, it’s also easy to prepare and reheats the next day and is honestly as good as it was the night before (maybe even better!).
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The Ingredients You Will Need
The ingredients for this dish are very pantry-friendly, but also can easily be adapted to your and your family’s tastes.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
Chicken Breasts – Boneless and skinless
Seasonings – Salt, pepper, oregano, and basil (or Italian seasoning)
Olive oil – Regular or extra-virgin
Pancetta – Cubed, or chopped bacon
Mushrooms – We love baby bella, but any type will do
Garlic – Minced
Sun-dried tomatoes – Minced, drained if in oil
Red pepper flakes – For a little zip
Heavy cream – Can substitute half and half
Smoked paprika flavor – Adds depth of flavor
Spinach – Washed and stemmed
Parmesan cheese – Grated
Cooked pasta – For serving
EXPERT TIP: Nowadays, it’s hard to find chicken breasts that aren’t gigantic. To ensure the juiciest cutlets, that will cook through perfectly, simply slice each breast in half, lengthwise. Season and sear off in a skillet with the oil.
Tips for Perfect Creamy Tuscan Chicken
Don’t Overcook the Chicken – If you slice the breasts in half, they won’t take long to cook. Searing them on each side in hot oil in a medium-hot skillet for about 4 minutes per side should cook them perfectly. They will cook a little more when they simmer in the sauce. Use an instant-read thermometer to ensure an internal temperature of 165°F.
Adjust to Your Tastes – This recipe is very adaptable. If you choose bone-in chicken, you’ll need to simmer the chicken longer in the sauce, about 30 minutes after searing. Feel free to omit the mushrooms, if desired. Chopped fresh tomatoes or diced canned tomatoes can replace sun-dried. Baby spinach can be substituted for fresh spinach, or even thawed and drained frozen spinach. Garlic powder (1 tsp) can replace the fresh. Bacon can be substituted for the pancetta.
Serve Piping Hot – This dish reheats beautifully, but you’ll want to serve it nice and hot right from the stove. The sauce will thicken somewhat after being removed from the heat.
EXPERT TIP: We recommend using fresh spinach rather than baby spinach. Baby spinach is great for salads and mature spinach is better for cooking. Just be sure to rinse the leaves before removing the stems. That being said, as mentioned before, baby spinach will still work just fine. As the spinach cooks, it will wilt and cook down significantly.
How To Serve
This dish is wonderful when served by itself with bread and a leafy green salad. However, it’s spectacular served over cooked pasta, such as linguine, spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, or whatever you have on hand.
We’ve served this over perfectly steamed rice, too, and absolutely loved it.
You can slice the cooked chicken into strips for serving, or you can leave the cutlets whole. Be sure to have extra grated Parmesan cheese to pass at the table.
EXPERT TIP: Be sure to spoon the creamy sauce all over the chicken during the final simmering step. The sauce will adhere to the chicken and add even more flavor.
Other Amazing Chicken Recipes to Try
Chicken is universally loved by so many. It’s approachable, kid-friendly, and with the right recipe, always so yummy. Here are some of our favorites:
Chicken Fricassee
Caprese-Stuffed Chicken
Chicken Florentine
Chicken Francese
White Chicken Lasagna with Spinach
Baked Honey Mustard Chicken
Sheet Pan Greek Chicken
Chicken Spaghetti
King Ranch Chicken Casserole
Chicken and Sage Casserole
These are great, and you should try them, for sure. But in the meantime, aren’t you craving this incredible dish?
Creamy Tuscan Chicken is wonderful on so many levels.
It’s not difficult to prepare, is adaptable to you and your family’s tastes, and leftovers are nothing short of amazing!
It’s honestly so beautiful and so tasty, it’s really an ideal dish to serve to guests, too. Perfect in every way!
Ready to make the best chicken dinner this side of Tuscany? Go for it!
And when you do, be sure to take a photo of it, post it on Instagram, and tag @HowToFeedaLoon and hashtag #HowToFeedaLoon!
Best Creamy Tuscan Chicken
Equipment
- 1 Large skillet
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts cut in half, lengthwise
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp oregano dried
- 1 tbsp basil dried
- 1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
- 2 oz pancetta cubed, or 2 strips of bacon
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 cups spinach fresh, washed and stems removed
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
- cooked pasta or steamed rice optional, for serving over
Instructions
- Season the chicken all over with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil.2 large chicken breasts, Salt and pepper, 1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp basil
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the chicken and sear for 4 minutes. Flip and sear the other side for another 4 minutes. Pierce the cutlets with a knife, if juices run clear, set aside, if pink, then sear for another couple of minutes. Remove cutlets from the pan onto a plate.1 tbsp olive oil
- Add the pancetta to the pan and cook, stirring often, until crispy. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.2 oz pancetta
- To the same pan, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until softened and release their juices, about 6 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and the red pepper flakes. Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring often.8 oz baby bella mushrooms, 3 cloves garlic, ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- Stir in the cream and bring to a gentle simmer.1½ cups heavy cream
- Stir in the cooked pancetta, paprika, ¾ tsp salt, and ½ tsp pepper. Simmer for 3 minutes.1 tsp smoked paprika
- Add spinach and simmer until wilted. Nestle in the seared chicken and cook for another few minutes, spooning the sauce over the chicken occasionally.2 cups spinach
- Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.½ cup Parmesan cheese
- Serve at once over cooked pasta, or steamed rice, if desired. Pass extra Parmesan cheese at the table.cooked pasta or steamed rice
After wanting to make this since the recipe first popped on the website a while back, I finally got around to it last week. It was spectacular! Easy to make and absolutely delicious. Was even better the next day for lunch … the flavors simply work so well together and keep making you come back for more. This one is a keeper, as are so many of your other recipes I’ve been making for years now.
It’s been awhile since I’ve touched base … I hope you are both doing well. As always, thanks for these amazing recipes and the entertaining (but extremely helpful!) videos. Keep up the great work, guys!
Hi Mark! So very sorry for the delayed response! We are so so happy you tried the Tuscan chicken recipe! We love it so much and we are really thrilled you enjoyed it, too! You are so wonderful about sharing your experience with the recipe with us (and everyone) and always give such great reviews. We can’t express enough how much that means to us! You are the best!!!
Hi Y’all! No we don’t really say that on the Oregon Coast. Last night I made the best creamy Tuscan Chicken. Words fail to express how amazing. Well, I guess 100% loon approved would be the best. It’s going into the recipe rotation. Thank you for sharing. I so enjoy watching you two. You always bring a smile. Tonight is Hubby’s turn to cook and he’s deep frying chicken your way. Deep fried goodness is always popular with him. Please PLEASE make a cookbook. Thanks. Love you two,
Hi Jude! You (or should we say, “Y’all!”) honestly just made our day! We are so so thrilled you and your hubby loved the Tuscan chicken! It really is the bomb, right?? We are excited to hear how the fried chicken turned out! You two sound like our kind of peeps!! LOVE it! We’re working on getting the cookbook into development…we promise! Thank you so much for your support and keep on cookin’!!!! xoxo Kris & Wesley
I made this dish last night and we are having it again tonight. It is absolutely as delicious as Wesley and Kris posted.
I used canned diced tomatoes, Silk Heavy Whipping Cream and omitted the bacon and red pepper flakes. Hubby went back for seconds, which he rarely does. This recipe was so good I shared it on Twitter!
Creamy Tuscan Chicken is now sharing #1 on my recipe list with Honey Balsamic Chicken, also from How To Feed A Loon.
SUPER simple and oh so tasty! You guys are so right! It also looks quite impressive, when plated. One of my new favs!
Hi Diana! Yay! We are so so happy you made the Tuscan chicken and loved it!!! And THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH for sharing and for the GREAT review. That honestly means so much to us!! xoxo Kris & Wesley
Hi Guys
This looks yummy and I plan to make it tonight. Question about replacing the sundried tomatoes with diced canned tomatoes…what is the ratio?
Am using Silk whipping cream as the heavy cream as I am allergic to dairy. I’m assuming this should be ok as I’ve used it in a few of your other recipes. We don’t eat beef or pork and hoping eliminating the ingredient will not hurt the recipe.
Thanks for making dinner so delicious! Your recipes are great.
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca! Sorry for the delayed response. You could really go with a 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, drained, and be good! If that seems like too many tomatoes, then try half, stir, and then decide if you want the rest. We love tomatoes, so we’d do the whole can, but you may not as much. The silk whipping cream should be GREAT! Leaving out the pancetta won’t hurt the recipe at all.
Let us know when you make it and how it turns out!!
xoxo
Kris & Wesley