This chicken florentine recipe has a gourmet flavor with minimal prep and uses only one pan.
Chicken breasts and spinach are simmered in a creamy white wine sauce to create a savory and rich dish.
You’ll Love Chicken Florentine Because…
- Chicken florentine is delicious and easy to make.
- It’s a great weeknight meal that’s on the table in about 30 minutes.
- The chicken comes out tender and juicy.
- It’s versatile; feel free to add extra veggies or serve it over pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes.
Ingredients for Chicken Florentine
- Chicken Breasts: I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts in this recipe; if you’d prefer, you can swap them for boneless skinless chicken thighs.
- Spinach: I use fresh baby spinach in this recipe; it cooks quickly, and the stems are tender. You can substitute with other leafy greens like kale, but they may need extra cooking time.
- Wine: Choose a dry white wine to add great flavor to this sauce. Try sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, or use any white wine you’d drink. It can be replaced with chicken broth.
- Cream Cheese: Adds richness and a creamy base to this sauce and helps to thicken it without flour. If preferred, a flavored cream cheese will also work well in this recipe.
- Heavy Cream: The cream adds richness to the sauce. For a lighter option, you can use half and half, but the sauce won’t be quite as thick.
Variations
- Chicken florentine is perfect over heavy kinds of pasta like bucatini, fettuccine, and penne, or for fewer calories, served over zoodles.
- Add chopped sundried tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, or any leftover chopped veggies to the sauce in Step 4.
- For a little extra kick, add some red pepper flakes. You can also add in a pinch of Italian seasoning, thyme, or oregano.
- Serve with parmesan cheese and fresh herbs like parsley or basil if desired.
How to Make Chicken Florentine
- Season and cook chicken (recipe below). Transfer to a plate.
- Saute garlic and deglaze the pan with white wine.
- Add spinach and cook. Mix in cream cheese and cream.
- Return chicken to the pan and cover with sauce. Cook.
Storing and Reheating
Keep leftover chicken Florentine in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat portions in the microwave or the stovetop with a bit of broth to loosen the creamy sauce.
Chicken Florentine Goes Great With…
We love to serve this with a fresh salad, bread, and pasta.
Did you enjoy this Chicken Florentine Recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
Creamy Chicken Florentine
Chicken florentine has a creamy and tangy sauce that pairs well with juicy and tender chicken breasts.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- ¼ cup white wine (or chicken broth)
- 3 cups baby spinach loosely packed
- ½ cup cream cheese
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat and add the chicken breasts. Cook the breasts for 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through and a light golden brown. Remove the chicken onto a plate.
- In the same pan, add garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant. Add white wine to the pan and let it simmer and reduce for a few minutes. Stir the wine around so that any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan come off.
- Add the spinach and cook until wilted while stirring occasionally. This will take about two minutes. Once the spinach has wilted, add cream cheese and heavy cream. Bring this to a gentle simmer, making sure that the cream cheese has completely melted and is mixed well.
- Add the chicken breasts back to the pan, spoon the sauce over and simmer for a minute or two before turning off the heat. Serve hot.
Notes
Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container. Since this is a cream sauce it will not freeze well.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 546 | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 51g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 239mg | Sodium: 979mg | Potassium: 1045mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 3245IU | Vitamin C: 9.6mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 1.6mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
We LOVED it! Really delicious, just like you get at an Italian restaurant! I made enough for 6, so I used the whole bag of spinach, all 8 oz of the cream cheese and 1 1/2 C of cream. Plus added 8 oz of mushrooms along with the garlic. I let everything cook on low for an extra half hour to let everything infuse. The sauce was very flavorful and went well with spaghetti noodles and a Caprese salad on the side. I’ll make this again and again, and it would be great for guests.
I’m so glad you loved it Kay, mushrooms are the perfect addition to this dish!
Love this dish, my hubby was a french chef for over 35 years. He taught me so much and I’m pretty good, thanks to him. question, what do you think about adding mushrooms to this recipe? I would Sautee in butter with garlic and white wine and add in in the final saute. I appreciate your comments/response.
Other readers have added mushrooms with great results but I have never tried myself. Thank you!
The chicken was soooo tender and moist. I loved the cream cheesiness. I thought the only thing I would do differently was add a splash of lemon juice to make the spinach “sparkle” more.
I served over linguine.
I have made this a couple of times already and it is so delicious! One of my favorites! I served it with angel hair pasta and salad!
Delicious! My family loved it!
I have made several of your recipes and never had a bad one yet. This one is my favorite by far. I made it with pasta and it was soooo good.
I am so glad you are enjoying the recipe Cydney!
I made this recipe for the first time tonight and served it with angel hair pasta. Oh my gosh, so good!! This one is a keeper!