Chicken and Spinach in Creamy Parmesan Mushroom Sauce is your perfect comfort food as well as an easy midweek dinner (you can also use leftovers for lunch). Using boneless and skinless chicken thighs guarantees juicy and tender result.
And while you are cooking this tasty creamy chicken and spinach dish – your entire house will smell like a top notch Italian restaurant just like my parmesan chicken pasta – all thanks to garlic and Parmesan. And don’t you just love the smell of garlic being cooked? I used to eat spinach only in spinach salad until I discovered how wonderful it tastes in combination with other ingredients, especially chicken and mushrooms.
Chicken, mushrooms and spinach is the perfect trio here! I initially set out to make chicken spinach pasta, but instead I added adding mushrooms and omitted pasta and this definitely added more texture and flavor here.
It’s also important that all ingredients in this chicken and spinach dish are cut up in small pieces before cooking starts and that includes chicken.
What kind of chicken to use
I used boneless and skinless chicken thighs because they are juicy, full of flavor and don’t dry out like chicken breast. I recommend you do the same.
How to cut boneless chicken thighs
Make sure to use one of your sharpest knives to cut the chicken thighs into thin slices. Cutting the chicken used to be such a chore for me until I discovered that I was using the wrong knife!
How to brown mushrooms
When cooking mushrooms you don’t have to add any extra oil to the pan. When heated, they release moisture fairly quickly and will brown in their own juice. And I just love the transformation of the plain white mushroom into a much darker and yummier version.
Gluten Free Substitutions for Creamy Chicken and Spinach:
To make it wheat free, use cornstarch or rice flour instead of regular flour.
Cornstarch as a substitute: Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour, therefore you will need to use ½ tablespoon cornstarch.
Rice flour as a substitute: If using rice flour, substitute 1:1, namely use exactly 1 tablespoon of rice flour.
What does creamy parmesan mushroom sauce taste like?
I am pretty happy that the sauce for this chicken, mushroom and spinach dish turned out to be not too cheesy, so you don’t have to feel guilty about eating it. It’s rather light – has a little bit of cream, a little bit of milk, very little butter and only half a cup of Parmesan cheese.
Yet it still tastes rich. You can eat this amazing chicken and spinach dish as a main entry or with a side of pasta or rice.
I love chicken mushroom spinach combination – it’s simple, tasty and never fails no matter what!
Our new favorite creamy chicken recipe is Cajun Chicken Pasta dish! It’s ready in less than 30 minutes and is so unbelievably good that I cannot recommend it enough.
Chicken and Spinach in Creamy Parmesan Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
Chicken and Mushrooms:
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (thinly sliced)
- 10 oz mushrooms (1 package)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Creamy Parmesan Sauce:
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup spinach
Instructions
- Chicken and mushrooms: In a large skillet, add olive oil and heat it over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add chicken and cook for about 5 minutes on each side until browned. Season chicken with salt and pepper right inside the pan. Remove it onto a plate and add the sliced mushrooms in. Add in salt. In about 5 more minutes, your mushrooms should look nice and moist, and dark. Once cooked, remove them from the pan. I put them on the same plate as the cooked chicken strips.
- Sauce: To make the sauce, add butter to the pan, allow it to melt and then cook garlic in it until slightly browned – only for a couple of minutes. Add 1 tablespoon flour (omit flour if you like your sauce to be a little more runny). Slowly add chicken broth, half-and-half and Parmesan cheese. All these will blend in very quickly.
- Add salt slowly and taste the sauce to make sure the salt level is to your liking.
- Spinach: Add spinach to the sauce and allow it to wilt. I added 1 cup of spinach, but you can certainly add more or less depending on your preference.
- Putting it all together: Add the chicken and mushrooms back into the pan and mix in well. Serve warm and garnish it with parsley, if desired.
- Eat as is, or serve along pasta or rice.
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.
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All i have is heavy whipping cream, can I use this?
Yes, absolutely!
Any suggestions for an alternative to the spinach for people who don’t like spinach.
Thank you in advance.
You can use basil (similar texture and size, different flavor), or chard (different texture and size, but milder flavor than basil).
This was a wonderful recipe …I couldn’t believe how delicious it was…my Mother In Law was very complementary for this dinner…..I servitude over rice.. Thank you for your recipes!!
Thank you Jodie! I am glad you and your mother in law enjoyed it!
This is a great recipe! Perfect just as it is. Thank you!
I added 1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary and thyme. Also added a couple of sun dried tomatoes. Delicious!
Yes for rosemary and thyme! Sun dried tomatoes are so yummy!!!
I’m so excited to try this recipe tonight, I have everything in the refrigerator and the pantry to make it. Tonight your recipe with a glass of Chardonnay. Thanks
I hope it will turn out amazing!
This was a winner! Thank you!
Here are the changes that I made out of necessity and preference. (The base recipe is brilliant though. I will make this again.)
1. Used bone-in thighs that I had brined for about 3 hours, and dusted them with flour and browned them well before I started the rest of the recipe. The whole thing went into the oven when the sauce was together to finish the thighs. I nailed the thighs – delicious!
2. Added carrots and onions with the mushrooms to the pan that I browned the chicken in with some additional butter.
3. Added a flour slurry using the seasoned flour I dusted the chicken with instead of browning the flour in butter.
4. Dried herbs to the sauce.
5. 3 cups of spinach, sliced up. (I could have added a LOT more spinach.)
Thanks again for this recipe. I actually Googled Chicken Thighs, Mushrooms, Spinach and got your recipe.
I am so glad you found my recipe and I love reading these details! I agree about the spinach 100 %. Adding carrots and onions is a great tip and brining!
Whenever I go to the comments about a recipe, the same thing happens. I have no idea how good the recipe is. That’s because all the comments tell you about the changes they made to the recipe which, in fact, then makes it a different recipe. Hahahaha.
But here’s the good news. I made it exactly as per your recipe, having first found a website that converts US cups to European weights or measures, and I can confirm it was very tasty.
Now, I don’t want to upset all those who tell you how they changed the recipe without first trying the original, so here is the change I made the second time I made it. Everything was exactly the same apart from the addition of some herbs. Oregano goes perfectly with with all the ingredients, adds a lovely aroma. I used dried as they do traditionally in Italian cooking. I made it again with dried oregano and basil, yum. When I tried fresh basil the basil was a bit overpowering.
Best of all I suggest you get a little jar of dried mixed Italian herbs. Any store should have it. It was the best addition to this recipe and also goes great with so many other things, pasta sauces etc.
Have a nice day as you say in the USA
I liked that you made it as is on the first round, and added more herbs on the next one! No matter how I try I always modify others’ recipes as well.