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 sauteed garlic.
I also love the delicious paprika sauce! It is so creamy and buttery, with just a mild tang from the fresh lemon juice. 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. 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!
Make sure to season your 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 good wines, I also think about Chardonnay or Riesling. All these are great 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. But 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 ¼ cup vinegar + ¼ 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 because of its flavor.
- 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!
If you are a lover of easy chicken recipes like we are, be sure to also try Parmesan Crusted Chicken and Pan-Fried Chicken!
Chicken and Spinach in Creamy Paprika Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Breasts, (boneless & skinless)
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika, (for seasoning chicken)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt and Pepper, (each for seasoning chicken)
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Creamy Paprika Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon flour (sifted)
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup chicken broth, (sodium free)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, (juice of squeezed lemon)
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- 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 cook covered for 2-3 minutes if your chicken breasts are thin; or for 5-7 minutes, if they are thick.
- Serve immediately.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
You might also like the amazing Chicken Alfredo Pasta.
Patti says
For the chicken you say smoked paprika. For the sauce it just says paprika. Am I to presume you use regular paprika for the sauce not smoked?
Olga at Whatsinthepan says
Yes, regular paprika for the sauce and smoked paprika for chicken.
Nati says
Food was great! Added the mash potatoes along as a side and it was brilliant. Cant wait to do it again
Olya at Whatsinthepan says
The sauce is perfect for mashed potatoes – great idea!
Barbara says
I’d been eyeing this recipe for a while and finally got around to making it last night!
I tweaked it a little by adding some onion, small ping-pong ball sized ones from the local farms cut in quarters, sauteing them in the butter before adding the garlic, and I added some dried tarragon to the sauce ’cause it’s my favorite herb for chicken.
I served it alongside buttery mashed potatoes and the sauce was INCREDIBLE.
My friends and I were just mixing it into the potatoes with the onions and even ended up licking our plates it was so tangy and good!
And it was just so incredibly easy to make!
Olya at Whatsinthepan says
My favorite part of your review is how you and your friends were mixing it into the potatoes. I think I could taste the sauce in those potatoes!
Atlene says
Easy to make I think I even impressed my husband
Lauren says
Very good. Quick and easy and a nice meal served over rice. I think I will cut the lemon juice down or out all together next time. A little too tart even using just the half of a lemon.
Leisa M Good says
Delicious! I used chicken thighs, Pinot Grigio and I served it with egg noodles. it was very good thank you!
Olya at Whatsinthepan says
Egg noodles make perfect sense here!
Linda says
This is so yummy!! Make this! Thank you!!
Olya at Whatsinthepan says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Marie says
Wonderful recipe! Very tasty and simple enough for a weeknight dinner.
Amanda says
This looks easy and delicious! I am always looking for different ways to use chicken breasts and am definitely going to give this recipe a try.
ALevy says
It is delish! If using thicker chicken breasts, cook longer (4-5 mins each side) or split them to thin them out.
Olga at Whatsinthepan says
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Good tip about splitting the chicken.
Stacey says
This has great flavor. I omitted the flour and didn’t sub in anything and the sauce is still good. It is liquidy but it is a sauce.
I should’ve realized that my chicken breasts weren’t going to cook in that amount of time. I ended up leaving in the sauce and cooking longer but I should’ve seared by themselves longer. Closer to 10 minutes on each side.
Had it with broccoli and I can see this being good with cauliflower rice or miracle rice/noodles. Thanks!
Jim Weihbrecht says
I was wondering about the chicken being cooked enough. Think I’ll take your advice and cook it longer before adding back into the sauce