30-Minute Creamy Chicken Florentine — 🙌🏻🍗🥬 Bring a taste of European elegance to your table by making this QUICK and EASY chicken Florentine! Juicy chicken cutlets are coated in a creamy sauce made with heavy cream, white wine, and Parmesan! Fresh spinach adds a pop of color and texture to this restaurant-quality dish!
Table of Contents
What Is Chicken Florentine?
This is an easy, one-skillet recipe that’s ready in 30 minutes from start to finish, and it tastes like you ordered straight from your favorite Italian (or French) restaurant!
To make this ultra creamy chicken Florentine recipe, chicken cutlets are dredged in a seasoned flour mixture and then seared until golden brown. The chicken is served in the most decadent white wine cream sauce that’s flavored with fresh garlic, parsley, and Italian seasoning.
The sauce is silky smooth and incredibly rich thanks to the combination of heavy cream and a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cornstarch and water). And who can forget the cheese! Freshly grated Parmesan makes the dish even creamier and more flavorful.
Fresh spinach is added to the sauce in the final few minutes of cooking. It wilts down and marries beautifully with the juicy chicken and creamy sauce. If only eating dark leafy greens always tasted this good!
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 in Chicken Florentine
Making this creamy chicken and spinach dish requires the following basic ingredients:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts – thin-sliced or chicken cutlets
- All-purpose flour
- Garlic powder
- Salt and black pepper
- Unsalted butter
- Olive oil
- Shallot – or half a yellow onion
- Garlic cloves
- Dry white wine -chardonnay, pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc
- Chicken broth – low-sodium is preferred
- Fresh parsley
- Italian seasoning
- Heavy whipping cream
- Cornstarch
- Water
- 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 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). If you bought chicken cutlets, you can skip this step.
- 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 saute until softened.
- Add the dredged chicken cutlets to the skillet and cook for 4 to 6 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken to a plate once it’s cooked through.
- Add the garlic to the skillet, cook for 1 minute, then slowly pour in the wine.
- Stir in the chicken broth, fresh parsley, and 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 add the fresh spinach.
- Once the spinach has wilted, return the chicken to the pan and cook just until the chicken has reheated before serving!
Recipe FAQs
No, 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.
You’ll want to use a dry white wine, such as a chardonnay, pinot grigio, or sauvignon blanc.
I know not everyone cooks with wine, but it adds some much-needed acidity to the creamy sauce, not to mention tons of flavor! 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. The alcohol in the wine mostly cooks off in this recipe, and all you’re left with is flavor. Wine is acidic, and you need that small amount of acidity to balance out the richness and creaminess of the heavy cream, Parm, and butter.
Yes and no. If your local grocery store stocks chicken cutlets (sometimes called “thin sliced chicken breasts”), buy those and skip butterflying the chicken breasts.
However, if all you can find are regular chicken breasts, you MUST butterfly them. Butterflying large chicken breasts simply means slicing them in half lengthwise to create two thinner filets.
Chicken cutlets (homemade or store-bought) cook faster in a skillet, which ensures they remain tender and juicy once submerged in the white wine sauce.
Technically yes, but it helps thicken up the sauce and makes it silky smooth. If you omit the cornstarch, the sauce won’t be as thick.
If you like making planned leftovers, then feel free to prepare the chicken Florentine in advance. The cream sauce will thicken up once refrigerated, but otherwise the dish stores and reheats well. However, I do not recommend making the chicken in advance if you’ll be serving it to guests. It’s definitely best hot and fresh straight from the skillet!
What to Serve with Chicken Florentine
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Refrigerator: Let the chicken cool before sealing in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Freezer: I don’t recommend freezing chicken Florentine since it’s made with a cream-based sauce (which are prone to splitting once frozen and appear curdled when reheated).
To reheat: Reheat individual portions in the microwave for 30-second intervals.
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30-Minute Creamy Chicken Florentine
Equipment
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.
- Storage – Recipe will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat gently in the microwave for about 30 seconds, or as desired. This isn't a recipe that I recommend freezing due to the cream sauce which may not survive the freezing/thawing process very well.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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