Chicken and Spinach in Creamy Paprika Sauce is a hearty, but easy chicken recipe that the whole family will love! It’s amazing in flavor because of dry white wine and sauted garlic. I also love the delicious paprika sauce! It is so creamy and buttery, with just a mild tang from the fresh lemon juice.
If you are a lover of easy chicken recipes like we are, be sure to try Parmesan Crusted Chicken and Pan-Fried Chicken! You can make this chicken and spinach recipe on a weeknight right on your stove top!
Easy chicken recipe
I like to use thin chicken breasts in this easy chicken recipe. Or, if my chicken is too thick, I usually halve them horizontally. That way I get two fillets out one. I love working with thin chicken fillets. And I made a number of thin chicken breasts recipes, such as this Low Carb Chicken. Try it too!
I usually season my chicken very generously. I always use sea salt, pepper and paprika as my spices. Then I sauté my chicken with butter until golden brown. So simple!
Paprika flavored creamy sauce
This version of paprika flavored creamy sauce is my absolute favorite, I have been making it for a couple of years now. Maybe more. I love that it’s a colorful sauce but it’s also really filling, and welcoming on a cold day. My creamy sauce for chicken is incredibly simple to make using heavy cream, wine and stock. I also sautéed garlic and added juice of a fresh lemon and of course paprika. The great thing about this sauce is that you can also use any kind of vegetables, such as spinach if that’s what you have on hand!
I use flour to thicken the sauce a bit, but it can be omitted if you are gluten free. Chicken and spinach go very well together with the paprika flavor here. I love it!
What wine do you use in this paprika chicken recipe?
When I made paprika chicken, I used Pino Grigio. It’s a pretty good wine. However, any dry white wine that you like can be used. When we talk wines, I usually think about Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay or Riesling. All these are good choices. They will produce an excellent flavor for the chicken sauce.
When cooking with wine, you should never use “cooking wine”. Cooking wine is loaded with sodium and is not tasty at all. Besides, cooking with a regular drinking wine will always give you a better tasting dish.
What can I substitute for wine
- White Wine Vinegar. This is an ideal substitute for dry white wine. Made from white wine, it has many of the same flavor characteristics, minus the alcohol. Use 1/4 cup vinegar + 1/4 cup chicken stock to substitute for wine. This is my favorite substitute!
- Rice Vinegar works too in the same proportion as White Wine Vinegar.
- I do not recommend Apple Cider Vinegar. I’m just not a fan of it.
- Chicken or vegetable stock. You can substitute stock for white wine entirely if you are sensitive to vinegars.
- Lemon. Because we are already using lemon, adding slightly more would compensate for the loss of flavor from wine. So simple!
What kind of skillet should I use
Make sure to use a good heavy skillet here, such as cast iron. It helps to have a large one too. I used 12 inch Lodge Pro-Logic Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet in this paprika chicken recipe. It’s well designed, has a helper handle and sloped sides. Overall, it’s a very sleek looking for cast iron! With so much room!
I do have other cast iron skillets, but prefer this one due to its size. It’s very large with even more space due to its sloped sides. Besides it never sticks or leaves weird black dots on meat like other cast iron skillets do. And it’s one of my most used kitchen tools!
Chicken and Spinach in Creamy Paprika Sauce is an amazing one-pan dish with an amazing flavor from white wine and mild tang from the fresh lemon juice.
- 4 Chicken Breasts (boneless & skinless)
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika (for seasoning chicken)
- 1/4 tsp Salt and Pepper (each for seasoning chicken)
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp flour (sifted)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice (juice of squeezed lemon)
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp paprika
Cooking Chicken: Season the chicken with salt, pepper and paprika, rubbing it evenly over both sides.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet (I used cast iron skillet) over medium high heat and cook on the first side for about 3 minutes. Flip, and turn the heat down to medium and cook for another three minutes. Remove and set chicken aside on separate plate.
Making Creamy Sauce: Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the now empty skillet. Add garlic and cook stirring frequently about 2 minutes. Add flour using a sifter until well mixed. Add wine next and cook for 1-2 minutes to allow alcohol to evaporate.
Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream and lemon juice. Add salt and paprika. Mix well. Simmer for 2 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning (if necessary) at this point.
Spinach: Add in the spinach and cook for additional 2 minutes until the spinach has wilted
Adding Chicken Back: Return the chicken to the skillet and reheat for 2-3 minutes spooning the sauce over the chicken.
You might also like the amazing Chicken Alfredo Pasta.
OMG, this was so delicious…will be making it again. I had boneless, skinless chicken thighs on hand and that’s what I used
served it over Arborio rice. My husband and I were licking the pan clean. Great job!
Thank you Stephanie for your kind comment!
Definitely a winner! My husband always says he likes what I cook, but I can tell when he really means it and he did tonight! I used skin-on thighs and leftover (flat) champagne, which worked really well! Thanks so much for sharing and for helping me look like a great cook!
Thank you Heather for your kind comment!
Made a version of this for dinner tonight. Absolutely to die for. I’m already thinking of ways to use the sauce on different meats and pastas. I used half and half because it’s what I had and it turned out just fine. I didn’t use any of the flour because I prefer a thinner sauce. I also had asparagus and not spinach so I used that and it was perfect. I used chicken tender cutlets and they cooked in the time suggested in the recipe. I did add my own seasonings, the paprika and garlic salt (lowry’s), to taste, for the sauce. Also had to add a little chicken broth at the end to get more sauce out of the pan. Delicious!
Thank you for the tip about adding more chicken broth at the end!
I did my chicken in little pieces and served it with noodles.. AMAZING. (Still needed more time than it calls for but I think everyone knows chicken takes longer than six minutes!) The sauce was perfect with spaghetti. I forgot the white wine at the store so I used the whole lemon option as a substitute and it was still absolutely delicious. Already planning on adding this to our dinner rotations. Thanks for such a delicious but still simple to make recipe! 👌🏼😋
Thank you for your wonderful comment! You are very generous!