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.
Margaret says
Hi! Thank you for posting this! If I was to cut out the white wine and only use broth, how much would I use? Thank you!
Olga says
I would use 1/2 cup of broth instead of 1/2 cup of wine.
Frank says
Hello – I’ve just made this, but added minced Spanish chorizo, and used Sherry vinegar instead of the lemon. I wad aiming for a cream of chorizo style sauce. With or without the modifications, it turned out very delicious, of course with a bold Ribeiro. I’ll add this to my ‘bag of tricks’. Thank you for posting.
Olga says
Nice idea about cream of chorizo sauce – thank you!
Ernest Rhodes says
Can you serve this over rice or noodles?
Olga says
Either one will be great to have protein, veggies and carbs all on one plate.
Dave Lichter says
I made this last night for dinner and it was DELICIOUS!!! Since I LOVE smoked paprika, I used way more than the recipe called for and cut my chicken breast into medallions. We didn’t have any white wine so I used marsala and it added a richness to the sauce. Definitely making this again and again and again.
Olga says
Thank you Dave for your review! I’m glad it worked with Marsala.
Josie says
This recipe is amazing! I did not use wine but just twice as much stock and extra spinach. Delicious! Thank you!
Olga says
You’re welcome Josie. I’m glad you liked it.
Deb says
I made this tonight for dinner. It was fantastic combined with jasmine rice. My fiancée was eating out of the pan after dinner! Will definitely make again. Kudos to your recipe!!
Olga says
Thank you Deb! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Deb says
Made this tonight. Was excellent. Served with jasmine rice and the combination was fantastic. Will definitely make again!
Kudos to your recipe!
Stephanie A. Drake says
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!
Olga says
Thank you Stephanie for your kind comment!
Heather says
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!
Olga says
Thank you Heather for your kind comment!
Caitlin says
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!
Olga says
Thank you for the tip about adding more chicken broth at the end!