🍗🥬 My 30-Minute Creamy Chicken Florentine Recipe brings a taste of European elegance to your table! Juicy chicken cutlets are coated in a creamy sauce made with heavy cream, white wine, and Parmesan! Then, fresh spinach adds a pop of color and texture to this restaurant-quality dish!
Quick & Easy Creamy Chicken Florentine
Food Trivia: While you may presume that this recipe hailed from the Florence region of Italy, not so fast!
Florentine dishes originated in France because Catherine de’ Medici, born Italian, married King Henry II of France, moved to France, and became Queen of France from 1547-1559, and brought Italian chefs with her. And that’s supposedly how “à la Florentine” style of cooking was created. So technically, this is a French dish, I suppose (created by Italian chefs in France).
- My version is an easy skillet recipe for an easy 30-minute meal from start to finish!
- The chicken is crispy and golden brown on the outside while remaining tender and juicy in the center.
- The decadent white cream sauce is silky smooth and incredibly rich, and each bite is full of melty Parmesan cheese.
We love serving the chicken Florentine with spaghetti or linguine pasta, mashed potatoes, or garlic bread. You really do need some sort of carb to soak up that extra sauce!
Love Chicken Florentine? Make This Salmon Version Next!
I also have a creamy Salmon Florentine recipe that uses similar ingredients and is ready in about 25 minutes. If you love chicken Florentine, you’ll love the salmon version, too!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Making this creamy chicken Florentine recipe requires the following basic ingredients:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: Use thin-sliced or chicken cutlets. Butterfly large breasts
- All-purpose flour, garlic powder, salt, and pepper: These form the breading for the chicken
- Olive oil and butter: Use unsalted butter to prevent the chicken recipe from being too salty
- Garlic and shallot: Substitute half a yellow onion for the shallot if preferred
- Dry white wine: Use a dry white wine, such as a chardonnay, pinot grigio, or sauvignon blanc. You can replace the white wine with chicken broth and a splash of lemon juice, but the cream sauce won’t have the same depth of flavor
- Chicken broth: Low-sodium is preferred
- Fresh parsley and Italian seasoning
- Heavy whipping cream: You can’t substitute the heavy cream in this recipe. If you replace it with a lower-fat alternative like half and half, whole milk, or a plant-based milk, the white wine sauce may turn out runny and won’t taste as rich
- Cornstarch: You can omit this if needed, but your sauce won’t be as rich
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh baby spinach
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Creamy Chicken Florentine
Creamy skillet chicken Florentine looks like it took you hours to prepare, but it actually takes 30 minutes tops! Below is an overview of how this easy recipe is made. Consult the recipe card for all the specific details.
- If using chicken breasts, you’ll need to cut them in half lengthwise (this is called ‘butterflying’ the chicken). Dredge the chicken through a mixture of flour, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté until softened. Add the dredged chicken cutlets to the skillet and cook on each side until the internal temperature reaches 165F. Then, transfer the chicken to a plate.
- Add the garlic to the skillet, cook for 1 minute, then slowly pour in the wine.
- Stir in the chicken broth, fresh parsley, Italian seasoning, and heavy cream. Add the cornstarch slurry (equal parts cornstarch and water) last. Add the grated Parmesan cheese.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer and wilt the spinach. Add the chicken to the pan and cook just until the chicken has reheated before serving!
What to Serve with Chicken Florentine
30-Minute Creamy Chicken Florentine
Equipment
- 1 Large Plate
- 1 Small Bowl
Ingredients
- 4 thin-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts, (from 2 larger/thicker chicken breasts, or purchase thin-sliced breasts or cutlets)
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste if desired
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons shallots, sliced thin (from about 1 large shallot)
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ½ cup dry white wine, (chardonnay, pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc are highly recommended; substitute with chicken broth only if absolutely necessary)
- ¼ cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon fresh Italian flat leaf parsley (or curly parsley), finely minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 2.5 ounces fresh baby spinach, (about 2 heaping handfuls)
Instructions
- Slicing – Slice two large chicken breasts in half vertically to create 4 thinner halves if you did not purchase thin-sliced chicken breasts. Set aside momentarily.
- Dredging – To a large plate or shallow bowl, add the flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and mix with a fork.
- Dredge all chicken pieces on both sides with the flour mixture. Allow chicken to rest here while you move on.
- Cooking the Shallots – To a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon butter, the olive oil, shallots, and cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, or until shallots are lightly golden browned; stir and flip very frequently so they don't burn.
- Move the shallots over to one side of the pan to make room for the chicken, and add the 4 pieces of chicken. (Discard any remaining flour dredging mixture if there was any.)
- Cooking the Chicken – Cook chicken on each side for about 4-5 minutes, or until it's done and cooked through (165F) according to a thermometer. Tips – Use one and don't guess so that you don't accidentally either undercook (unsafe) or overcook (dry, unappetizing) the chicken. If the shallots are browning or burning, place them on top of the chicken breasts as they cook or simply remove them to a plate.
- Place the cooked chicken and shallots on a plate and set aside.
- Making the Sauce – To the same skillet (no need to wipe it out), add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, garlic, and cook for 1 minute, or until garlic is fragrant. Stir continuously.
- Slowly pour in the wine, taking note that it WILL bubble up and steam when you first add it, so stand back a bit. Allow the wine to simmer for about 2 minutes. Tip – This is when the large portion of the actual alcohol content in the wine is cooking off and what remains is just the great flavor it lends.
- Add the chicken broth, parsley, Italian seasoning, and stir to combine.
- Add the heavy cream and stir to combine.
- Slurry – Make a cornstarch slurry by combing 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water in a very small bowl or cup, and then add this to the skillet, and stir it into the creamy mixture. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 2 minutes, stir nearly constantly.
- Final Additions and Seasoning – Add the Parmesan, spinach, and stir to combine. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the spinach has wilted. Stop and taste the cream sauce. If necessary, add more salt, pepper, garlic powder, or even a splash of wine. Seasoning Tips – If the sauce tastes at all flat or boring, it likely needs more salt so don't be afraid to add it. I usually add another 1-2 teaspoons since this is a large volume of sauce, chicken, spinach, etc. and you want this to taste restaurant-quality (so season it properly and don't be afraid or skimpy).
- Add the chicken back into the skillet, toss it around to coat it evenly, allow it to rewarm for about 1 minute before serving.
- Serving Suggestions – I like serving this with pasta or noodles of most any kind, mashed potatoes, rice, garlic or French bread, or some sort of carb to soak up the sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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