Creamy Tuscan Chicken

Savor creamy Tuscan chicken, where tender chicken meets a luscious garlic, spinach, and sun-dried tomato sauce!

Crisp Skinned Thighs, and a Sauce That Pours

The chicken here is finished before the sauce is started. Two skin on, boneless thighs get salt, pepper and a dusting of cornstarch, then seven minutes a side in a hot pan, skin down first, until the skin is deep gold. They come out onto a plate and everything else happens in the same pan.

What goes in after that is what makes this one Tuscan rather than one of the four other creamy chickens on this site. Butter, half an onion, four cloves of garlic and half a cup of sun-dried tomato for two minutes, then a cup of chicken stock and half a cup of cream with garlic powder, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, a teaspoon of Dijon and a quarter cup of Parmesan. The Dijon and the smoked paprika are the two you would never guess from a photograph, and between them they are why the sauce is that colour.

The ratio is worth noticing before you start: twice as much stock as cream, and a quarter cup of Parmesan where the lemon garlic and mushroom versions on this site each use a full cup. This is a sauce you spoon over rice, not one that clings to pasta, and the pan photographs below show exactly that.

A cup of spinach wilts in at the end, the thighs go back to be basted rather than simmered, and that is the whole thing. One pan, thirty minutes, two servings.

Which of This Site’s Five Creamy Chickens You Want

There are five creamy chicken dinners here and they all start the same way, with cornstarch dusted thighs fried in butter. Only the sauce changes. Here is the short version before you commit.

• This one is the sun-dried tomato and spinach one. It is the only one of the five with mustard in it, the only one with smoked paprika, and it has the loosest sauce of the five because it uses more stock than cream.
• Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken is the sharp one. Lemon juice and a shallot, six cloves of garlic and a full cup of Parmesan, with no tomato and nothing green in the sauce.
• Creamy Mushroom Chicken is the thickest. It reverses the ratio, a cup of cream to half a cup of stock, and 200 g of sliced mushrooms go in with it.
• Creamy Cajun Chicken is the spicy one. Cajun seasoning, chili flakes and lemon juice, with a handful of spinach like this one has.
• Creamy Curry Chicken is not Italian at all, despite sitting in the same group. Curry paste, lemongrass, coconut cream and fish sauce instead of dairy and herbs.

What You Need, and the Two Things the Card Leaves Out

Everything below is on the recipe card at the bottom of this post, with two exceptions that are flagged where they come up. Nothing in this recipe is marinated, despite the card’s heading: the chicken is seasoned, dredged and straight into the pan.

For the chicken

• 2 chicken thighs, skin on and boneless: the skin is the point of this recipe. Skinless thighs or breasts will cook, but there is nothing for the cornstarch to crisp against and you lose the one bit of texture in a very soft dish.
• Salt and pepper, to season: this is separate from the salt and pepper in the sauce below.
• Cornstarch: the card gives no quantity because it is a dredge. A thin even coat, shaken hard to knock the excess off, is what you want. Too much and it goes pasty in the oil.
• Oil, for frying: this is the first thing the card leaves out. Step 2 tells you to heat the oil and no ingredient list on this page names any. Have a neutral oil ready. The Creamy Mushroom Chicken card on this site does list it, this one does not.

For the sauce

• 2 tablespoon butter: the fat the sauce is built in, on top of whatever the chicken left behind.
• ½ onion, chopped, and 4 cloves of garlic, minced: two minutes in the butter, no longer. Garlic at this quantity turns bitter fast.
• ½ cup sun-dried tomato: the shoot used the dry packed kind, not the ones jarred in oil. Dry packed are firm going in and soften over the simmer. If yours are oil packed, drain them and you can use a spoon of that oil to fry the chicken in.
• 1 teaspoon each of Italian seasoning, garlic powder and smoked paprika: the smoked paprika is doing more work than the name suggests. It is most of the colour.
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard: the ingredient that separates this from every other creamy chicken here. You will not taste mustard, you will taste the sauce being sharper than cream and Parmesan alone would be.
• 1 cup chicken stock and ½ cup heavy cream: two to one, stock to cream. That is deliberate and it is why this one pours.
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan: grate it yourself. The pre-grated kind carries anti caking starch and goes grainy in a sauce this thin.
• ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper: the sauce’s own seasoning. These go in with the onion and garlic at step 3, not at the end.
• 1 cup spinach: in at the very end, and it only needs to begin to wilt.
• 1 tablespoon flour: this is the second thing to know. It is on the ingredient list and not one of the card’s seven steps uses it. See the sauce section below before you decide what to do with it.

To finish

• Chives: chopped fine, and they are the only green in the finished bowl once the spinach has disappeared into the sauce.

Cooking Creamy Tuscan Chicken: One Pan, Seven Steps

This is the recipe card’s order, with the photographs from the shoot against the step each one shows.

1. Season the chicken thigh with salt and pepper. Coat the chicken with cornstarch and shake off excess. Set aside.
2. In a pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken skin side down and fry each side for 7 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.

3. In the same skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in onion, garlic, sun dried tomato, season with salt and pepper. Cook until fragrant for about 2 minutes.

4. Stir in chicken stock, heavy cream, garlic powder, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, dijon mustard, parmesan cheese and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly reduced and thickened.

5. Add spinach and cook until spinach is beginning to wilt.

6. Add the chicken back to the sauce and baste the chicken with the sauce.

7. Enjoy with a bowl of rice or mashed potato. Garnish with chives, enjoy!

Why the Sauce Stays Pourable, and How to Thicken It

Be clear about what you are making. A cup of stock to half a cup of cream, with a quarter cup of Parmesan, reduces to something you ladle over rice. It is not the thick, clinging sauce that the words Tuscan chicken usually mean, and the pan photographs above show it pooling around the thighs rather than coating them.

There is a tablespoon of flour on the ingredient list and none of the card’s seven steps adds it. So as the recipe is written, the sauce thickens by reduction and by the Parmesan, and nothing else. If you want it tighter, you have three options and the recipe’s own FAQ gives two of them:

• Reduce it longer. Keep it on low at step 4 and let it go further down before the spinach goes in. Costs nothing but time.
• More Parmesan, off the heat. Another handful, grated fine, stirred in once the pan is off the burner.
• A cornstarch slurry. You already have the cornstarch out for the chicken. A teaspoon loosened in cold water, stirred in while the sauce simmers.

Using the flour would mean cooking it into the butter and aromatics at step 3, before any liquid goes in, which is not what the card says and not what the photographs show. Whichever route you take, get the sauce where you want it before the chicken goes back. Step 6 bastes the thighs rather than simmering them, and that is the only thing left protecting the crust.

Serving It, Storing It, Reheating It

The card finishes with rice or mashed potato and the final photograph is a thigh laid over white rice with the sauce spooned across it and chives on top. Both work for the same reason: a loose sauce needs something underneath it that will drink. Long pasta will take it too if you would rather, but that is a swap you are making rather than the recipe as shot. Steamed broccoli or roasted asparagus alongside cut the richness.

Leftovers keep three days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat gently on the stovetop over low heat so the cream does not split, and do not expect the skin back. Nothing brings a crust through a night in the fridge, so reheat the thigh in the sauce and serve it over rice rather than fighting it.

Swapping the Protein and the Heat

• Shrimp or salmon instead of chicken. Both cook far faster than seven minutes a side. Sear them, take them out, and put them back at the basting step so they do not overcook in the sauce.
• Tofu or mushrooms for a meatless version. Same cornstarch dredge and the same fry. Swap the chicken stock for vegetable stock and the rest of the recipe is unchanged.
• Heat. There is none in this recipe at all. Red pepper flakes with the garlic at step 3 is the simplest way in.
• Fresh herbs. Basil or oregano torn over at the end, with the chives or instead of them.

Where Creamy Tuscan Chicken Goes Wrong

Counting the basting as cooking time

The chicken is cooked through when it leaves the pan at step 2. Everything after that is sauce. Leaving the thighs in to carry on simmering is what dries them out, and it is also what turns the cornstarch crust back to softness.

Letting the cream boil

Bring the sauce up to a simmer once, then take the heat down to low and leave it there, which is exactly what step 4 says. A hard boil with Parmesan already in it is what splits a cream sauce, and once it has split, stirring will not bring it back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this dish dairy-free?

Yes! Substitute heavy cream with coconut cream and Parmesan with nutritional yeast for a creamy garlic chicken that’s dairy-free.

Is it possible to prepare this dish ahead of time?

Absolutely! Cook the chicken and sauce separately. Combine and reheat gently when ready to serve for an easy chicken dinner.

Can I freeze Creamy Tuscan Chicken?

Yes, you can! Store it in an airtight container for up to three months. Thaw overnight before reheating to maintain texture.

What can I use instead of heavy cream?

Half-and-half or a mixture of milk and cornstarch work great. These alternatives keep the chicken with creamy garlic sauce luscious.

Can I use fresh tomatoes instead of sun-dried tomatoes?

Fresh tomatoes can work, but sun-dried tomatoes add a more intense flavor to this Italian-inspired chicken.

What is the best way to thicken the sauce?

A cornstarch slurry or additional grated Parmesan can thicken your chicken with creamy Parmesan sauce beautifully.

How do I make this dish gluten-free?

Use gluten-free flour or cornstarch for the sauce. Pair with gluten-free pasta or rice for a complete meal.

Can I make this dish in a slow cooker?

Yes! Sear the chicken first, then cook everything in the slow cooker on low for 4 to 6 hours for a tender result.

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Creamy Tuscan Chicken

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Savor creamy Tuscan chicken, where tender chicken meets a luscious garlic, spinach, and sun-dried tomato sauce!

• Author: Genio Ng
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 20
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings 1x
• Category: Chicken
• Method: Easy
• Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Marinate your chicken:

2 chicken thigh, skin on and boneless
Salt and pepper, to season
Cornstarch

Tuscan sauce:

• 2 Tbsp of butter
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ onion, chopped
• ½ cup of sundried tomato
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 1 tsp of italian seasoning
• 1 tsp of garlic powder
• 1 tsp of smoked paprika
• 1 tsp of dijon mustard
• 1 cup of spinach
• ½ cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• ¼ cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ tsp of salt
• ½ tsp of pepper

Garnish:

Chives

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Instructions

1. Season the chicken thigh with salt and pepper. Coat the chicken with cornstarch and shake off excess. Set aside
2. In a pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken skin side down and fry each side for 7 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.
3. In the same skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in onion, garlic, sun dried tomato, season with salt and pepper. Cook until fragrant for about 2 minutes. 
4. Stir in chicken stock, heavy cream, garlic powder, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, dijon mustard, parmesan cheese and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly reduced and thickened.
5. Add spinach and cook until spinach is beginning to wilt.
6. Add the chicken back to the sauce and baste the chicken with the sauce.
7. Enjoy with a bowl of rice or mashed potato. Garnish with chives, enjoy!

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Genio Ng

Hi there, I'm Genio. I really appreciate you taking your time and visiting me here. As an international student from Indonesia coming to Sydney right after Covid lockdown - it was challenging for me to make friends and find myself in a new city. I've never cooked before but I found my passion in food content creation and testing Asian inspired recipes - I learnt that cooking can be incredibly easy, cheap and fun so I'm super happy to be able to share this with you! Please come by my socials and say Hi - always keen to make new friends! Genio

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