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.
Stephanie says
Is there something non-dairy I could use in place of the heavy cream? Thank you.
Olga says
You could probably try almond milk, even though coconut milk would work better as it has more fat in it, but you will definitely taste the coconut.
Brandi says
Made this tonight with pork chops and topped it with white wine sautéed mushrooms ohemgee. It was wonderful!
Olga says
Yeah! So glad it was a success!
Stella says
What goes good with it for a side dishes
Olga says
I like https://juliasalbum.com/easy-scalloped-potatoes/ or https://whatsinthepan.com/italian-salad-tomatoes-olive-garden-copycat/.
Autumn W says
Just made this for dinner!! We all LOVED it!
Kristina says
I tried this recipe last night…. This sauce is seriously amazing! My husband and I wanted to lick it out of the pan lol. This is going on the rotation for sure. Thank you!
Olga says
I love licking my plates and pans! Thank you for such a nice review!
alice KOVACH says
My Grandmother made this for our family as she came from Europe. I love Paprkash! I would use nonfat Greek Yogurt in place of sour cream, Hungarian Paprika, . I used a cast iron pan for years but since I have a glass top stove now, I use a regular stainless steel pan . I plan on using a portable Nuwave to use my trusty old cast iron pan. !!!!!
Olga says
I use greek yogurt instead of sour cream all the time as well. And cast iron pans are always handy when you need a nice browning on your meat or veggies.
Diana says
What other vegetable can you use instead of spinach?
Olga says
I use Swiss chard and beet greens instead very often, but make sure to cut them up first as it is much bigger leaves.
Stephanie says
Is the paprika for the sauce regular paprika or smoked like the chicken ingredients?
Olga says
Regular paprika.
Laura says
Hi there!
Can this be made dairy-free? Using coconut cream instead of the heavy cream?
I’ve made it many times the original way which is AMAZING, but trying to cut dairy out of my diet!
Thanks
Olga says
I would add a teaspoon of sugar and more spice if using coconut milk. It balances out the coconut taste.
alva says
Can this be made ahead and freeze for travel and reheat????
Olga says
It should be fine as long as you reheat it slowly over the stove. Do not reheat in the microwave.