Florentine Spinach Chicken (Print Version)
Pan-seared chicken with smooth spinach, tangy parmesan, fresh parsley, and lemon. Toss it with pasta or pile it on a salad.
# Ingredients:
→ Chicken
01 -
4 chicken breast fillets, no skin or bones
→ Dredge Mixture
02 -
1 teaspoon garlic powder
03 -
30 g very finely shredded Parmesan
04 -
2 teaspoons Italian herb blend
05 -
0.5 teaspoon black pepper, ground
06 -
1 teaspoon salt
07 -
125 ml all-purpose flour
→ Cooking Fats
08 -
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
09 -
2 tablespoons olive oil
→ Florentine Sauce
10 -
Fresh parsley, chopped, for topping
11 -
0.5 lemon or about 22 ml lemon juice, if you like
12 -
90 g baby spinach (roughly 3 handfuls)
13 -
75 g cream cheese, at room temperature
14 -
240 ml half-and-half
15 -
375 ml dry white wine or chicken stock
16 -
4 garlic cloves, minced up
# Steps:
01 -
Move chicken and all the tasty juices back into your pan. Pop a lid on and let it heat up. Throw some parsley on top. Dish it out right away. It's great over salad, rice, or with a pile of pasta.
02 -
Drop in your softened cream cheese and mix until it’s totally smooth. Toss in the spinach and let it cook down. Squeeze in lemon juice if that’s your thing.
03 -
Put the half and half in the microwave for roughly 40 seconds, so it’s not fridge-cold. Pour a bit at a time into your pan, stirring well. Let it start bubbling gently, then dial down the heat.
04 -
Switch off the heat, then splash in your wine or broth. Crank the stove back up to medium and scrape around with a silicone spatula to loosen up those tasty bits. Let it bubble and cut down to half—it might take about 6 minutes. Dump in the chopped garlic around the last minute.
05 -
Melt the butter and olive oil together in a big skillet over medium-high. Drop in your chicken pieces, slap a lid on, and let them get golden brown—about 4–5 minutes per side. Don’t jam them in; do it in batches if needed. Once done, stick them on a plate.
06 -
Spread out the flour, garlic powder, Parmesan, Italian herbs, pepper, and salt in a dish. Coat each chicken piece all over, then tap to shake off the extra.
07 -
Put some plastic wrap over your chicken. Grab a meat hammer and bash ’em flat until each one’s about 1.25 cm thick and matches up in size. Dab dry with some paper towels.
# Notes:
01 -
You can use thawed, squeezed-out frozen spinach instead of fresh. Extra stuff like mushrooms, capers, sundried tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes work too for more flavor.
02 -
Want your chicken to cook evenly? Let it warm up a bit on the counter while you prep the rest. Thinner pieces cook faster and more even.
03 -
For a solid, brown crust, just leave the chicken alone while searing—don’t fuss with it until time to flip. It’ll naturally come away from the pan.
04 -
Mixing olive oil and butter gives you nice flavor and keeps things from burning too fast.
05 -
If you skip the cream cheese, you’ll get a lighter sauce that’s a bit less creamy.