Chicken in creamy garlic spinach sauce
Golden chicken thighs in a silky garlic, parmesan and spinach cream sauce that you’ll want to eat with a spoon.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.31 a serving
- 530 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ lb boneless chicken thighs
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- 1 package baby spinach, 5 oz
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 530 calories, 40 g protein, 6 g carbs and 38 g fat, and costs about $3.31 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No boneless chicken thighs? Chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chicken thighs dry and both sides with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. the garlic.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high heat until it , about 2 minutes.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Lay in the chicken and cook without moving for 5 minutes, until underneath.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: It sticks at first. When the crust forms it lets go on its own, and that’s when it’s ready to flip.Flip and cook 5 to 6 minutes more, until the thickest piece reads 165°F, then move the chicken to a plate.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Food safety: Chicken is done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
to medium, add the butter and garlic, and for 30 seconds, .
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Pour in the broth and , then add the cream and let it 3 to 4 minutes, until slightly .
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: The brown bits from the chicken are the flavor of this sauce. Scrape until the pan looks clean.in the parmesan, then the spinach a handful at a time, until it into the sauce.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium heat
Return the chicken and its juices, spoon the sauce over, and 1 minute to . Add pepper flakes if you like.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Heat through. Heating through means warming food that’s already cooked until it’s hot all the way to the center. You’re not cooking it more, just making sure no part is still cold.
How you’ll know: It’s steaming, and a piece from the middle is hot, not lukewarm.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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