Skillet Tuscan Chicken Recipe
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Chilly nights call for easy, cozy dinners like this Tuscan chicken recipe! It is all kinds of delicious, and super simple to make in a skillet on the stove top. Plus, it’s budget friendly!
Why This Recipe is a Must-Make
This is one recipe you’ll come back to again and again! There’s just so much flavor in every bite. This Tuscan chicken recipe is indulgent without being heavy, the perfect balance of savory goodness and healthy ingredients.
I like to make this dairy-free chicken dinner for date night, or if I’m entertaining guests with dietary restrictions. Really, I just make it anytime because when is there ever a bad time to dig into a creamy, delicious comfort food.
This was amazing! A new favorite for our family. Thank you!
–Theresa
Tuscan chicken has truly become one of our favorite budget-friendly meals. The juicy chicken is just so flavorful and tender, I can’t stop eating it!
If you’re having an especially busy week, make my crockpot Tuscan chicken recipe!
Happy Kitchen Secrets
Here are my mom-tested tips to make this easy Tuscan chicken recipe. I’ve made this countless times to save you from a failed attempt.
- Use a meat thermometer to check the cooked chicken breasts and see if they have reached a safe internal temperature of 165°. This will keep you from overcooking the chicken!
- If you are using smaller chicken breasts, they may not need as much cook time.
- For best results, try to use similar sized breasts. This way, they’ll finish cooking at the same time.
Ingredients
I love that this meal is made with just 8 simple ingredients, most of which I have on hand all the time anyhow! This Tuscan chicken recipe features:
- boneless skinless chicken breasts
- sun-dried tomatoes
- artichokes
- sundried tomato oil or olive oil
- minced garlic
- fresh baby spinach
- coconut milk or cream:
- chicken or vegetable broth
- salt and black pepper
Substitutions and Variations
Tomatoes: I prefer to use the sun-dried tomatoes that are packed in oil, but whatever you have will work great. I then use the oil from the sundried tomato jar, because it adds loads of flavor, but olive oil or avocado oil will do the trick too!
Artichokes: For this recipe, I typically use frozen artichoke hearts but canned artichoke hearts will also work.
Spinach: Feel free to substitute kale instead of using spinach. However, keep in mind that it needs a bit longer to cook. If you use kale, add it to the skillet along with the artichokes and tomatoes.
Coconut milk: I use full fat coconut milk from a can. If you haven’t used it before, it’s solid at room temperature but melts into the sauce when heated and brings a lovely, rich, creamy element to the sauce. Can’t have coconut? Then you can swap it out for unflavored, unsweetened almond milk. If you’re not dairy free, you can use heavy cream or whole milk.
Olives: I personally don’t like olives, and choose to leave them out of this dish. But kalamata olives would be a beautiful addition to this dish if you like them!
Cheese: If you don’t need to be dairy-free, you can add parmesan cheese to this dish to make a creamy parmesan cheese.
Chicken: You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs in place of chicken breast if you want!
How to Make this Tuscan Chicken Recipe
You won’t believe how easy it is to make healthy, crowd pleasing tuscan chicken recipe with a creamy sauce. My preferred method is in a skillet, since it’s faster and I’m always in a hurry, but the slow cooker works wonderfully to make these tender chicken breasts too!! Here are instructions for both:
Skillet
Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and then brown the chicken breasts on one side. Then flip the chicken and add in the artichokes, sundried tomatoes, and minced garlic.
Sauté everything together until well combined. Then stir in the chicken broth and coconut milk.
Bring the mixture to a simmer, then add the spinach and cover the dish.
Once the spinach wilts, season the creamy sun-dried tomato sauce to taste and serve!
Serving Suggestions
If your dietary restrictions don’t exclude pasta, you could serve this dish over fusilli or penne pasta. Or if you can have rice, fresh jasmine rice would soak up this cream sauce and pair so well with the chicken. And if you can have beans, my Mediterranean inspired cannellini bean salad would go beautifully with this, too.
Air fryer garlic mushrooms are also another tasty addition to pair with this meal. Easy bacon wrapped asparagus would go well with this dish too.
Serve this dish with a crunchy quinoa arugula salad if you want something healthy and light to pair with this rich and creamy dish!
Tuscan Chicken Recipe FAQs
Because of the fresh spinach in this dish, it tastes best served fresh. However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days. Keep in mind that the spinach may not reheat well. If you know ahead of time that you will have leftovers, then I would just leave the spinach out of the dish.
The creamy sauce in Tuscan chicken is most often made from garlic, sundried tomatoes, butter and spinach. Many people add cream cheese or heavy cream to make the sauce extra creamy. This recipe uses full fat coconut milk to make a creamy sauce!
If you make this recipe, please give it a star rating and leave a comment below to let me know how it went!
Tuscan Chicken Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil from sundried tomatoes, or use olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- ⅓ cup sundried tomatoes preferably packed in oil
- 1 cup artichoke hearts
- ½ cup chicken broth or stock
- ⅓ cup coconut cream or milk
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 6 ounces baby spinach
- ¼ cup kalamata olives optional
Video
Instructions
- Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper toweling. If the thickness of the chicken breasts is uneven, place them, one at a time, between two sheets of wax or parchment paper and gently pound to an even thickness. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Mince the garlic.
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add the chicken to the hot oil and brown for about 3 minutes. When it easily releases from the skillet, use a spatula to flip the breasts over.
- Add the garlic, tomatoes, and artichokes to the pan and sauté as the chicken browns on the second side, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the broth and coconut milk and Italian seasoning. Bring to a simmer, then add in the spinach and olives, if using, and cover the skillet. Cook for about 5 more minutes, until the spinach wilts and the chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165℉.
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