One-Pan Creamy Spinach Chicken
Chicken thighs paired perfectly with a rich and creamy sauce.
If you want to upgrade your chicken, then try out this recipe for One-Pan Creamy Spinach Chicken. A classic mirepoix of vegetables and bacon come together with cream cheese to make a luscious, rich base for savory, crispy seared chicken.
Chicken can fall into a rut of some sort. This recipe is a great way to fall in love with your chicken dinner all over again.
Here, the skillet is the base for layers upon layers of flavor to develop into a super complex, thick sauce.
Searing the chicken and rendering the bacon adds meaty flavor to the carrots, onions, and celery. Once the pan gets deglazed with wine, herbal elements like thyme and bay leaves make their way into the pan. Chicken stock adds volume to the sauce and helps the vegetables soften until perfectly tender.
A final addition of cream cheese and spinach adds a rich, steakhouse-like element to this dish. Served with lemon, and this One-Pan Creamy Spinach Chicken is done!
Even though it is an optional garnish, lemon is a great addition, cutting through the rich, seared, and creamy thickness of the sauce. Below. The chicken thighs are juicy thanks to the searing and gentle simmer.
The vegetables are still discernible but have a great melt-away texture.
Wine, cream cheese, and chicken stock work harmoniously to create a sauce that is rich but deeply complex. A bit of roasted or baked potatoes or simple herbal buttered noodles would be a good neutral canvas to highlight the greatness of this dish!
One-Pan Creamy Spinach Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 chicken thighs
- 8 ounces bacon, cut into pieces
- 4 to 5 button mushrooms, sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 to 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken sauce
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups spinach (if frozen defrosted and squeezed of excess moisture)
- 1 lemon, sliced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- In a large skillet, heat up olive oil and sear chicken thighs cooking for 5 to 6 minutes on the first side and then flip over to cook for another 2 minutes on the other side. Remove from the skillet. They will cook fully later on.
- Add in bacon, cooking until crisped up but not burnt, about 7 to 9 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- In the rendered fat, add in mushrooms, searing until golden.
- Add in carrots, onion, and celery. Sprinkle in salt and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add in white wine, deglazing the pan and using the spoon or spatula to scrape up the bottom of the skillet. Mix in thyme and bay leaves, bring to a simmer, cooking until the wine has fully evaporated.
- Add in chicken stock, bacon, and chicken thighs, simmering until the sauce has thickened.
- Remove chicken again alongside the thyme twigs and bay leaves.
- Add in cream cheese and spinach, stirring to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Lay chicken thighs onto the mixture alongside the sliced lemons. Enjoy!