Baked Tuscan Chicken
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Baked Tuscan Chicken is a great recipe to make for an easy weeknight meal that feels upscale. To save time, it goes from stovetop to oven in the same skillet, making clean-up quick. Even better, even the kids think it tastes great!
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Why This Recipe is a Family Favorite
This Tuscan chicken dinner is rich and creamy, but without feeling heavy. Sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and spinach add bold flavor and color to the garlic cream sauce, making it feel special even though it’s easy to prepare.
It’s the kind of dinner that works just as well for a cozy weeknight meal as it does for date night or when guests are coming over. Serve it with rice or crusty bread to soak up every bit of the creamy sauce!
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This was amazing! A new favorite for our family. Thank you!
–Theresa
If you’re having an especially busy week, make my crockpot Tuscan chicken recipe instead. The cooking is completely hands-off!
Happy Kitchen Secrets
Here are my mom-tested tips for making the Tuscan chicken recipe. I’ve made this countless times to save you from a failed attempt.
- Check the internal temperature of the meat. Use an instant-read thermometer to be sure the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. This helps prevent undercooking and overcooking.
- Check early if needed. If your chicken breasts are smaller, they may finish baking a little sooner. Start checking the temperature a few minutes early so they don’t dry out.
- Use uniform pieces. Try to use chicken breasts that are similar in size so they cook evenly and finish at the same time.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Get your shopping list ready—here’s what you’ll need to make this delicious Italian dinner!
This recipe works with either boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs. You can use bone-in chicken pieces if you want, but I haven’t tested the recipe to know how much additional cooking time it will take.
For a dairy-free cream sauce, you can use coconut milk or coconut cream. If you prefer a thicker sauce, coconut cream works especially well.
If coconut milk isn’t an option for you, replace it with any unsweetened nut milk, or heavy cream or whole milk.
Don’t worry if you can’t find sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, you can use dry-packed instead. Then, cook the chicken in olive oil or avocado oil instead.
Frozen or canned artichoke hearts both work well in this recipe.
You can swap the fresh spinach with baby kale if you prefer. Just add the kale to the skillet with the tomatoes and artichokes a bit earlier, so it has time to soften.
How to Make Baked Tuscan Chicken
This is just a summary of the steps. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full instructions! ⬇️
Jump to Recipe
- Sear the chicken. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, then add the sun-dried tomato oil or olive oil. It’ll take about 3 minutes per side for them to brown nicely.
- Start the sauce. Reduce the heat to medium and add the minced garlic to the same skillet. Cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
Time-Saving Tip
Using an oven-safe skillet makes things much easier because it goes right from stovetop to oven. This way, you don't need a separate baking dish!
- Add the sun-dried tomatoes. Stir the chopped sun-dried tomatoes into the skillet and let them warm in the garlic oil so their flavor spreads through the sauce.
- Add the liquids and artichokes. Stir in the broth, cream and chopped artichokes. Let the mixture simmer until the sauce is creamy.
- Finish the sauce. Stir in the spinach and keep cooking until it wilts into the sauce.
- Bake the chicken. Transfer the chicken to a greased baking dish and pour the sauce and vegetables over the top. Bake until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
Storing Leftovers
Refrigerator: Store leftover Tuscan chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Because freezing dairy products affects their consistency, I don't recommend freezing the baked Tuscan chicken.
Make it kid friendly: If your kids are hesitant about trying new flavors, you can keep the veggies and sauce separate. Let them try dipping the chicken or bread into the creamy sauce first, which can make the flavors feel more approachable!
Tuscan Chicken Recipe FAQs
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days. Because the spinach is delicate, the dish tastes best when served fresh and the spinach may soften quite a bit when reheated. If you know you’ll have leftovers, you can leave the spinach out and add it fresh when reheating.
Yes, this recipe doubles well. Just make sure the chicken pieces are arranged in a single layer in the baking dish so they cook evenly, and use a large enough skillet to make the sauce.
This Tuscan chicken works well for meal prep because the sauce keeps the chicken moist when reheated. Store portions with rice or pasta in airtight containers and reheat in the microwave in 30-second intervals until heated through.
If you make this recipe, please give it a star rating and leave a comment below to let me know how it went!
Baked Tuscan Chicken
Equipment
- large oven-safe skillet or use a regular skillet and separate baking dish
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 1.5 pounds total
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil from jar of sun-dried tomatoes, or use olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced, or 3 teaspoons minced garlic from a jar
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes chopped, preferably packed in oil
- 1 cup artichoke hearts drained and chopped
- ¾ cup chicken broth or stock
- ½ cup heavy cream or half and half
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3 cups baby spinach about 6 ounces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, grease a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil or non-stick cooking spray.
- One at a time, place chicken breasts between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Use the flat side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin to gently pound them to an even thickness. Alternatively, cut each breast in half horizontally, creating two thin cutlets. Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat sun-dried tomato oil (or olive oil) in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sear chicken for 2-3 minutes per side until lightly golden. If your skillet isn't oven-safe, transfer chicken to prepared baking dish. Otherwise, transfer them temporarily to a plate.
- In the same skillet, reduce heat to medium. Add minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, chicken broth, heavy cream, and Italian seasoning. Stir to combine, bring to a light simmer, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add spinach and stir to coat in sauce.
- Pour sauce over chicken in baking dish or add breasts back to the skillet and spoon sauce over them. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 165°F on an instant-read meat thermometer.
Notes
- If you have an oven-proof skillet, use that instead of transferring everything to a baking dish. There will be less dishes to wash!
- Add more or less of the sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and spinach based on your kid's tolerance for them. If your kids are more adverse to these types of veggies, you can keep them off of their serving.
- The extra cream sauce in the pan is perfect for dipping bread into, and may encourage your kids to try it! Or serve some of the sauce in a small bowl for dipping.
- Baked Tuscan chicken is delicious with rice and a side of green beans or air fryer broccoli.
Nutrition
Serving Suggestions
This dish is a meal all on its own. But, if you'd like to add something else, try these suggestions:
- Rice or pasta: Serve the chicken and creamy sauce over jasmine rice, fusilli, or penne pasta so the sauce can soak into every bite.
- Vegetables: Make some garlic mushrooms or green beans to serve along with the Tuscan chicken.
- Salad: A crisp green salad or quinoa arugula salad adds a fresh, lighter contrast to the creamy chicken.
This is really my favorite. Light full of flavor and good on protein
So happy you love it, Kristen!
This recipe was amazing! Possibly my favorite recipe I’ve ever made. And healthy! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Chris, I’m SO excited to hear you love this recipe so much. Thank you for sharing the kind words!! 🙂 -Laura
This was amazing! A new favorite for our family. Thank you!
Hi Theresa, Thank you so much for the kind review. I’m THRILLED to hear your family enjoyed this recipe. Mine does, too! 🙂 -Laura
Hi. Can you tell me if the calories are per serving or the total of the two servings? Thanks!
Hi Dawn, the calories listed are per serving. I took a deeper look at this, and the tool I use to calculate nutrition information wasn’t calculating the calories in coconut milk correctly. I made the correction manually, so it should be more accurate now. As a quick note, the nutrition information provided is an estimate and can vary based on the ingredients you use. Thank you SO MUCH for bringing this to my attention! -Laura
Thanks so much for your response Laura! I appreciate your taking the time to clarify. I am going to try this recipe. Looks delicious!
Dawn, it’s my pleasure! Let me know how it turns out! -Laura
This was delicious and super easy! I wasn’t too sure about the coconut milk. I thought it would over power the rest of the recipe, but it was wonderful. I couldn’t even tell there was coconut in the dish. We will be adding this to our rotation of favorites.
Hi Tierney! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! I find the coconut milk is barely recognizable with all the big flavors in the dish, too! Thank you so much for your kind words. -Laura
This is delicious! I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Chelsea! I’m so glad you liked it. It’s so easy and such a crowd pleaser, don’t you think? -Laura