Creamy, rich and indulgent. Quick and easy comfort food that takes just 30 minutes to make, the perfect mid-week chicken dinner. The key to making a great chicken with creamy mushroom sauce is cooking the chicken breasts to golden brown and the mushrooms brown and nutty.
Can't get enough of chicken? Try my healthy, lemony and juicy Oven Baked Lemon Chicken Thighs recipe using boneless and skinless chicken thighs. For crispy chicken lovers, try this crispy Panko Chicken Schnitzel recipe.
Alright, let's get to it.
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Ingredients
- Mushrooms I prefer chestnut mushrooms as they're deeper in flavour and have a lovely nutty taste. However, any mushrooms will work great with this recipe.
- Baby spinach is a convenient choice, can substitute with English spinach.
- Heavy cream or thickened cream is used rather than pouring/light cream. Heavy cream will create a thicker sauce that catches onto the chicken, mushrooms and spinach. Making every bite creamy and tasty!
- Chicken breasts are preferred over chicken thighs when making this dish as it balances nicely with the heavy (and so good for the soul!) creamy mushroom sauce.
- Chicken broth or stock add more complexity and flavour. A good alternative is white wine.
How to make chicken with creamy mushrooms sauce
Pan fry the chicken till golden brown
Chicken breasts can be a little tricky as they can become tough and dry very quickly when overcooked. Slicing the breast in half reduces its thickness and makes it much easier to cook. The result is tender and juicy chicken cutlets!
To start, slice and season chicken with salt and pepper. Then, add olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown both sides.
Once the breasts are golden brown from pan-searing, they're very close to being cooked. Remove the chicken, transfer to a plate and set aside.
Make the creamy mushroom sauce
The key to delicious mushrooms is sauteeing on high heat until the mushrooms are golden and brown. Like image step #7 below! To achieve that, there is a very simple rule to stick to. Leave them be. Let the pan and the high heat do their job.
Mushrooms contain a lot of water which are released during the cooking process. Similar to cooking steaks, you don't want to keep turning it. Let it sizzle and caramelise on one side then turn them over. Cook stirring occasionally (about every 45 seconds, judgment is required), all whilst having the heat as high as possible. The flavour of browned mushrooms is just phenomenal and vastly different to boiled mushrooms (which is what happens when it is stirred constantly in the pan).
Once the mushrooms are nutty and brown, add garlic and baby spinach. This will stop the garlic from burning and turning bitter (had it been added at the same time as mushrooms).
Return chicken back into the pan
Now, deglaze the pan with chicken broth/stock and allow it to reduce by roughly half.
Chicken stock adds another layer of flavour to the overall dish, and in particular, the creamy mushroom sauce. Once the stock is reduce, stir in cream. Reduce heat down to a simmer.
Lastly, return the pan fried chicken back into the pan. Continue cooking on a simmer for a further minute or until the chicken is fully cooked.
That's it! Told you this recipe is super easy and you'll find it absolutely delicious!
Serving suggestions
There are so many things you can serve with this creamy chicken breast with mushroom sauce! Here are some suggestions to serve the chicken with:
- Steamed green beans or broccoli
- Streamed rice
- Zucchini noodles
- Mashed potatoes or golden crispy Duck Fat Potatoes
- Mashed cauliflower
- Crusty bread to soak up that creamy mushroom sauce or get indulgent and serve with some homemade Cheesy Garlic Bread!
Tips and tricks
- Pan-sear the chicken breasts on high heat to golden brown. Colour means flavour!
- The same goes for mushrooms. Take the time to saute mushrooms on high heat until it's golden brown (and using the tips around how to brown mushrooms above). The mushrooms will taste nutty and delicious.
- Season the chicken breasts before pan-searing. No bland chicken here! If you have time, try seasoning the chicken 2 hours before cooking or even better, the night before. Magic happens and the chicken will become super tender, flavourful and juicy.
- Stop cooking once the chicken breasts are cooked through. They only need about 1 minute in the simmering creamy mushrooms sauce before they're done. Overcooking chicken, especially breast meat, will make it really tough and unpleasant to eat.
- Add dijon mustard or a little lemon juice for an extra lift of flavour. I find this recipe is flavourful enough without it but a little dijon mustard can add complexity. A handy trick I used in my Creamy Mushroom Sauce recipe.
Good to know (FAQs)
The mushroom cream sauce in this recipe is creamy but not thick thick. For those that prefer a thicker sauce, adding a little flour or cornstarch will do the trick.
Flour method: add ½ tablespoon of flour to the sauteed mushrooms and spinach, roughly mix the flour in then add the heavy cream. Mixing constantly until a thick consistency is formed and no lumps.
Cornstarch method (gluten-free): Once the cream is added into the pan with the sauteed mushrooms and spinach, add a cornstarch mixture (½ tablespoon of cornstarch and ¼ cup of cold water) to the pan. Mix constantly until sauce thickens.
Cut through the thickest part of chicken breast and if the flesh is solid white and no longer pink that means the chicken is fully cooked. Another thing to look out for is the colour of the juices when the breast is cut. If the juices are slightly pink that means it needs to be cooked a little more. A more scientific approach is by measuring the internal temperature. Chicken is cooked when its internal temperature hits 74°C/165°F or higher.
Made this Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms and Spinach recipe? Let me know your thoughts or questions by dropping a note in the comments section below! I'd love to hear from you 🙂
Happy cooking!
Gen
📖 Recipe
Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms and Spinach
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts ~500g/16oz
- 1¼ cups brown mushrooms ~300g/10oz, sliced
- 2 cups baby spinach ~60g/2oz
- ¼ cup chicken stock or white wine
- 1 cup heavy/thickened cream
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Carefully, cut each chicken breast in half horizontally to get 2 thinner pieces per breast. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- In a skillet or non-stick pan, add olive oil and chicken breasts without overlapping each piece. Sear on medium-high heat and flip chicken and sear the other side once pan-side is golden and caramelised. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add butter, sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper and saute on high heat until golden brown and nutty. Only turn mushrooms every minute or 45 seconds or when pan side is golden brown. This will take about 4 minutes. (note 1)
- Once mushrooms are brown and reduced in size by about half, add garlic and spinach. Continue to saute on high heat until spinach is wilted. (note 2)
- Pour in chicken stock, deglazing the pan, allow the stock to reduce by half.
- Reduce the heat to low and pour in heavy cream. Bring it to simmer then add chicken breasts back in the pan. Simmer for 1 minute or until chicken is cooked. Taste the sauce, adjust for salt and pepper if required, to taste.
- Serve immediately!
Celeste
It turned out perfect and was so delicious.
Genevieve
So glad to hear! Thank you Celeste
Kim
Just cooked this for my family and enjoyed by all. Very easy to follow and a nice flavour Thankyou
Genevieve
Thank you so much Kim! 🙂 Very happy to hear it was well received by your fam!
Tracy
I cooked this for my family of 5 they and they all enjoyed it. Will definitely cook again
Genevieve
I'm glad that everyone loved it! 🙂 Thank you for your lovely review Tracy.
Tracy
I cooked this for my family of 5 they and they all enjoyed it. Will definitely cook again
Betty Schmitz
Instead of spinach can i substitute snap peas. Pea pods or maybe bok choy?
Genevieve
Hi Betty, all 3 of those will work well with this recipe 🙂 I particularly like the sound of snap peas!