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Chicken

Creamy Tuscan Chicken

Despite its name, Tuscan chicken is not a traditional Italian recipe, but a dish of Italian-American origin, with its roots perhaps most frequently linked to Olive Garden. While it bears similarities to Chicken Florentine, with its creamy spinach sauce, as well as Marry Me Chicken, with its creamy tomato sauce, it is best described as a combination of the two. In this recipe, a bit of cream cheese is melted into its sauce to ensure that it is extra thick and creamy. Fresh cherry tomatoes are cooked until they burst, adding a hit of acidity to the sauce that drapes over the perfectly browned chicken breasts and wilted spinach. It’s no secret that this recipe should be served over pasta or with crusty bread to sop up the sauce. For those looking for variation, sundried tomatoes can be used instead of, or alongside, the fresh tomatoes, and kale can be used instead of spinach.

Yield
Serves 4

From Dan Pelosi · NYT Cookingcooking.nytimes.com ↗

recipes.rudyr.com/recipes/creamy-tuscan-chicken

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Ingredients

Serves 4

  • 1 poundboneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally (see Tip) or 4 thin-sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 2 tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoonsbutter (salted or unsalted)
  • 1 pintcherry or other small tomatoes, halved
  • ½ smallonion or 1 medium shallot, minced
  • 3garlic cloves, minced
  • 1½ cupschicken broth
  • 1 teaspoondried oregano (or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano)
  • 1 teaspoondried basil (or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil), optional
  • ½ cupheavy cream
  • ½ cupgrated Parmesan, plus more for serving
  • 2 ouncescream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 cupspacked baby spinach (about 3 ounces)

Method

Step 1

  1. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.

Step 2

  1. Heat a large pan over medium. Heat the olive oil in the pan. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown (but not cooked through), about 4 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

    Time: 4 minutes

Step 3

  1. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt. Add tomatoes, onion, garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes and onion have just softened and the garlic is aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes.

    Time: 1 to 2 minutes

Step 4

  1. Add broth, oregano and basil (if using), and stir to combine, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the heavy cream, grated Parmesan and cream cheese, and stir, allowing the cream cheese to soften and melt, until thickened, about 6 minutes. Add baby spinach and stir until the spinach begins to wilt, about 1 minute.

    Time: 4 to 5 minutesTime: 6 minutesTime: 1 minute

Step 5

  1. Return the chicken breasts to the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately with more freshly grated Parmesan on top.

    Time: 4 to 5 minutes
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Cook’s notes

  • Tip
  • To cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts in half horizontally, place them individually on a cutting board, leaving a few inches in between each. Place the palm of your hand on the chicken, apply pressure down, raise your fingers up and out of the way of your chef’s knife, then slice breasts in half as evenly as possible, creating two thin cutlets.

Take it with you

Original recipe: cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/774392596-creamy-tuscan-chicken

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