Chicken Breasts with Creamed Spinach
Feb 04, 2019, Updated Jun 26, 2023
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Perfectly pan-seared chicken breasts smothered with a wonderfully rich and creamed spinach sauce. This easy chicken recipe is a fantastic low-carb, Keto-friendly dinner, and it comes together super fast!
Flavorful and Juicy Chicken Breasts
Say goodbye to dry, flavorless chicken breasts and hello to this easy and flavorFUL skillet dinner with chicken and creamed spinach! Tender and juicy chicken breasts in a delicious spinach sauce, all cooked in one pan and in just 30 minutes? That is the most perfect weeknight dinner.
From time to time, my husband likes to make a tub of my creamed spinach, and then he eats it with any protein you can think of throughout the week.
There was also a time when he just took the bowl, sat in front of the TV, and ate up all the creamed spinach with a loaf of crusty bread. UGH, to be 6-foot 3-inches with a soccer bod… ?
Anywho. The point of my story is that, because of his creamed spinach obsession, I made us these Chicken Breasts with Creamed Spinach, and it was DA bomb diggidy! All of the delicious flavors of cheese, spinach, and chicken are packed into a delicious dinner recipe!
This dish is a classic comfort food, and it’s a great way to up your chicken dinner game. The cream adds a richness and decadence to the dish making it irresistible; also the spinach provides a good source of iron and vitamins.
The recipe for creamed spinach over chicken can vary depending on personal preferences and available ingredients. A basic recipe includes chicken breasts or thighs, spinach, butter, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.
How To Make Chicken Breasts with Creamed Spinach
First, if you have 15 minutes extra, I strongly recommend letting the chicken sit in salted water, just as I have done here with my Oven Baked Chicken Breasts. It ensures a tender and REALLY juicy chicken each and every time. ✔️
BUT if you don’t have a minute to spare, not to worry! Follow these directions and we’ll be AY-OKAY!
- Begin with rubbing the chicken breasts with a bit of olive oil, and then season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, or whatever else you may want to add.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, place chicken breasts in the skillet and cook for 8 minutes, or until easy to move and edges are opaque.
- Flip over, cover the pan, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from pan and transfer to a plate; keep covered.
How To Make Creamed Spinach
- In the same skillet that you used for the chicken breasts, we are going to add olive oil and sauté our onions with some garlic.
- Pour chicken broth and heavy cream, and let simmer for a couple minutes.
- Add baby spinach; cook until just wilted.
- Melt in some cheese, and return the chicken to the skillet to simmer with the sauce for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.
You can also customize this creamy recipe by adding ingredients such as garlic, nutmeg, thyme, or even lemon zest to enhance the flavor profile. You can also use different types of cheese, like blue cheese, feta cheese, or cheddar to change the overall taste. Make it your own!
Side Dishes to Serve
This recipe comes with its own side, but if you like, you can also add a tomato salad, maybe roasted cauliflower, and honey garlic butter roasted carrots.
How To Store Leftover Chicken
- Refrigerate chicken and spinach leftovers in airtight containers.
- Properly stored, cooked chicken breasts will last for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Easy Chicken Breasts Recipes
- Easy Baked Chicken Breasts
- Skillet Chicken Recipe with White Wine Sauce
- Slow Cooker Chicken Breast
- Cheesy Chicken Spinach Bake
- Creamy Pesto Chicken
ENJOY!
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Chicken Breasts Recipe with Creamed Spinach
Ingredients
For the Chicken Breasts
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 1-pound
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ teaspoon smoked or sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
For the Creamed Spinach
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 10 ounces baby spinach
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
For the Chicken Breasts
- Rub the chicken breasts with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt, pepper, paprika garlic powder, basil, and rosemary.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet set over medium heat. Place chicken breasts in the skillet and cook for 8 minutes, or until chicken is easy to move and edges are opaque.
- Flip over; cover the pan, and lower heat to medium-low. Continue to cook for 10 minutes. Remove chicken from skillet, keep covered, and set aside.
For the Creamed Spinach
- In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add diced onions and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, or until fragrant.
- Add chicken broth and scrape up the pieces stuck at the bottom of the pan. Stir in the heavy cream and let simmer for a couple minutes.
- Add baby spinach; cook for a minute, or until just wilted. Melt in the parmesan cheese.
- Return chicken breasts to the skillet to simmer with the sauce for about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.
Notes
- Chicken: This recipe uses boneless skinless chicken breasts; if you decide to use chicken thighs, remember that thighs will need a little longer to cook through. You can also adjust the ingredients and seasonings to your taste and add a variety of seasonings, such as Italian seasoning, thyme, or oregano.
- If time permits, I advise letting the chicken sit in salted water (brine) for 15 minutes, just as I have done here with my oven roasted chicken breasts. The method ensures tender and juicy chicken breasts.
- If you decide to brine the chicken breasts, be careful with how much salt you use when seasoning the chicken.
- Spinach: I used baby spinach to make the creamed spinach, but you could also use frozen but thawed and drained spinach.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
I love this recipe! I’ve made it three times now, and it’s my favorite chicken recipe. However, it takes me more like an hour to make this, and the sauce is thick until I add in the spinach, and then it’s not thick. Maybe next time I’ll precook the spinach and squeeze it out first. I haven’t seen any other comments about this, so I could have made a mistake. We still love it!
Great recipe! I’ve tried it last week and it’s very delicious, quick and easy. Highly recommended.
How long can you keep this dish in the fridge in the fridge.
I wanted something easy based on what I had on hand. This looked easy, but the comments are what sold me – I had to try. Delicious! So easy, so delicious!! I subbed the heavy creme with sour creme because it’s all I had. That’s the only change I made, and I would still do that again. Thank you! I can’t wait to make this again.
That’s great to hear! I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
OMG!! This was very delicious!! My 11 year old daughter loved it too. I definitely saved this recipe for next time I make it.
I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
O.M.G!!! This stuff is the bomb! I have two picky young children and a husband on a low carb diet. I was able to make this and take care of all. Small batch of pasta noodles for the kids and husband had spinach and chicken for his diet. And the flavor was beyond superb. I can’t wait to make this again! So glad I found this site. I made another recipe two nights ago and didn’t save it. It was also fantastic. Need to find it again asap!
That’s wonderful! I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
I made this tonight. We all loved it except for the picky 6 year old. I used mozzarella instead. Double the sauce recipe to feed 6. Absolutely will make again
What is another cheese I can use? My husband hates parmessan.
Hi!
You can use any dry, aged, hard cheese that you can grate. I like Asiago or Pecorino Romano.
Can I sub in mozzarella instead of Parmesan?
Hi!
Sure! It might get thicker, though, so you may want to use a little more liquid.
. Can you freeze this . This is delicious. Thank you
Hi!
As a general rule, it’s not recommended to freeze cream-based recipes, whether in soups or served as sauces, because the texture gets grainy and the fat will separate when reheated. But, if that isn’t a problem for you, you can definitely go ahead and freeze it. My advice, when reheating the sauce after it was thawed, I suggest to whisk it constantly over medium-low heat, and that should help with reducing the grainy texture.
I made this for the first time tonight. I substituted mushrooms no onions, I grabbed the wrong container and seasoned just 1 side with chili powder not paprika, I did the other side with the correct spices. It was really good even with that mistake. I will be doing it that way all the time. Love the recipe but made it my own without really trying. Thank you we will be having this often over the winter.
So Good! Just googled chicken breasts and spinach and this wonderful meal came up. I served it with roasted cauliflower and mashed potatoes.
YUM!