If you’re looking for something quick, easy and delicious to make for dinner. tonight, our Creamy Tuscan Chicken Recipe is your answer! Our recipe only takes 30 minutes to make, uses just a handful of basic ingredients and is incredibly versatile!
Is Tuscan Chicken a Dish from Italy?
Tuscan chicken actually didn’t originate from Italy, but was created by the Olive Garden years ago and called Tuscan Garlic Chicken! True story. I’ve never actually ordered the dish from there, but definitely remember seeing it advertised on tv over a decade ago.
While the original Tuscan chicken recipe uses lightly sautéed strips of red bell peppers, we swapped ours out for thin strips of sun dried tomatoes for a brighter punch of flavor.
How to Make Creamy Tuscan Chicken
Ingredients
Process
- Slice each breast in half lengthwise, so you have 4 thinner breasts.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off any excess.
- Melt some butter to a skillet.
- Add coated chicken and sear for a few minutes on each side.
- Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Melt remaining butter and add onion and garlic. Sauté until onions just begin to cook down. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add sun-dried tomatoes and continue to sauté.
- Pour cream into skillet.
- Stir together and simmer until cream reduces slightly.
- Stir Parmesan into sauce and stir until combined and sauce has slightly thickened.
- Add spinach to skillet.
- Gently stir spinach into sauce until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add chicken back into skillet. Spoon sauce over chicken pieces and simmer until sauce has thickened and chicken has just cooked through. Serve.
Tools You Will Need
Can This Creamy Tuscan Chicken Recipe be Made Ahead of Time?
Yes! Our recipe can be made up to 3 days ahead of time.
Make Ahead
Fully make tuscan chicken as instructed, except don’t add the Parmesan cheese. Cool and transfer dish to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.
Best Way to Reheat
Pour sauce into a skillet and gently simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir Parmesan into sauce and continue to simmer until sauce slightly thickens, about 2 minutes. Nestle chicken breasts into the simmering sauce and continue to simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until chicken has warmed through.
Serving Suggestions
Pasta is most commonly served with this dish, but there are a variety of other serving suggestions that we love:
- steamed rice – either white or brown taste delicious.
- other grains – some of our favorites are quinoa, farro, bulgar, or a combination!
- over a baked potato – that’s right! Give that chicken a quick chop, stir it back into the sauce and ladle everything over the baked potatoes.
- steamed or roasted vegetables – and keep it low carb!
- a crusty baguette – to soak up all the delicious cream sauce.
Variations
We love the versatility of this recipe. You really can customize it to fit your taste exactly! Some of our favorite variations are:
- Sautéed wild mushrooms can be incorporated into the creamy sun-dried tomato and spinach sauce to bulk it up.
- Torn kales leaves are a heartier alternative to spinach.
- Thinly sliced and sautéed strips of red bell pepper (or roasted red bell pepper) can used used instead of the sun-dried tomatoes.
- Fresh diced tomatoes can also replace the sun-dried tomatoes.
- Swap the boneless, skinless chicken breasts out for large seared shrimp for a protein alternative for this dish.
- Add some heat to the dish with a couple pinches of crushed red pepper flakes.
- Make this recipe gluten free by swapping gluten free flour in for the all purpose flour.
More Easy Chicken Recipes You Will Love
Creamy Tuscan Chicken
INGREDIENTS
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 yellow onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil) thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3 ounces Parmesan grated
- 2 1/2 ounces spinach leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Slice each breast in half lengthwise, so you have 4 thinner breasts.
- Season each breast on each side with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off any excess.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter to a skillet over medium heat.
- Add coated chicken and sear for about 3 minutes on each side.
- Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- Melt remaining butter and add onion and garlic. Sauté for 5 to 6 minutes or until onions just begin to cook down. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add sun-dried tomatoes and continue to sauté for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stir cream into skillet and simmer until cream reduces slightly, about 4 minutes.
- Stir Parmesan into cream mixture until smooth creamy.
- Add spinach to skillet and stir until spinach leaves have just wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add chicken back into skillet, spoon some sauce over each pieces and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve.
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
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I substitute olive oil for the butter when cooking the chicken as it has a higher smoke point, whereas butter has a tendency to burn easily.
This is my third year using this recipe, so I thought it was about time to leave a comment. This pleases everyone and is easy to make, even on a weeknight. I made it once for my parents, and now my mother requests it every time I visit. The only difference I make is pounding out my chicken a little bit, but that is just my personal preference.
I always love your recipes 😋
Made this tonight… it is WONDERFUL! Will definitely make it again
So delicious, will be making it again.
I’m always looking for new ideas for the everyday question, what’s for dinner? Just made this, just as the recipe says. It was amazing. And everyone loved it, even the kids
This recipe is so easy to make and it is truly awesome!! We will make it again very soon. Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!
I have made this several times- No flour, and I add mushrooms when sauteing the onion and garlic. I could eat it everyday!
This was really good. I followed the recipe exactly. It made a LOT of sauce. Next time I would double the chicken or make some pasta to go with it. I also suggest pounding the chicken to make it nice and thin because just a few minutes on each side was not enough for my larger (halved) chicken breasts. I think next time I’ll use a bit more onion and spinach. This is a great dish because you can vary it in so many great ways. Great flavors.
Made for dinner last night. Used silk non dairy heavy cream alternative. DELICIOUS!
This recipe is my go to for tuscan chicken! I double the recipe for my family of 6.
Have been making this, almost weekly, for more than a year. So delicious! I’m all about ease. Use chicken tenderloins (from Costco), and frozen diced garlic from Trader Joe’s (Dorot brand).
I used 1/2 &1/2 instead of the heavy cream. Stirred the cheese and was not able to get a creamy sauce. Is this because of the 1/2 & 1/2 ?
I’ve made it with evaporated milk and it was great. I did use real parmesan cheese from Italy. Not sure if that made a difference in creaminess but it made a huge difference in flavor. I also deglazed my pan with white wine.
So incredibly good!!! This was super easy to make, this came out so good. I will be making again and definitely share with friends!
I make this often, my family loves. I generally roast grape tomatoes since I never have sundried and throw cooked gnocchi in the pan at the end as well. Big hit
Absolutely Love ❤️
However, we used a dollop of cream cheese with the ingredients- you must try… it gives it an amazing flavor!
Made this tonight. Instead of the tomatoes, I used roasted red pepper since we have a tomato allergy in the house. Everyone loved it. Thanks!
Very good. I followed recipe just how it was with no changes. Came out phenomenal.
Omg I made this. Soo delicious. It was a hit. Can’t stop eating it cause it tastes so darn good
What kind of Sun Dried Tomatoes do you use? I have seen them just dried, packed in herbs and oil, et al.
Hi! We state in the ingredient list that we use the ones packed in oil.
Thank you! I did see that AFTER I had commented!! I made this last evening and it was superb. I have always wanted to make a Tuscan Chicken recipe and glad I waited until I found yours! The creaminess of the sauce was luscious!
Absolutely phenomenal and so easy to make!
How does the flour help? Thinking of making without flour.
It helps to thicken the sauce. You can omit it and the dish will still be great, but the sauce wont have as much body to it.
This was wickedly delicious! Rich and creamy, yum. Not too difficult to make.