Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce
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Crisp-tender chicken baked to absolute perfection with potatoes and spinach. A complete meal in one!
Au revoir, Paris! It’s been an amazing week, but it’s time to get home so that I can burn off all these macarons, baguettes, hot chocolate, and falafels. Not to mention that massive Nutella-banana street crepe I had in the middle of the night.
But before I head to the airport for a 12-hour flight back home, I really need to share this with you: my newest chicken recipe yet with a garlic Parmesan cream sauce that will blow. your. mind.
You also have your potatoes and spinach baked right in for a complete meal in one. See, aren’t you happy that I’m coming back? This just means I’m making more chicken recipes the minute I hit LA.
Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Half and half is equal parts of whole milk and cream. For 1 cup half and half, you can substitute 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream or 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.
Kale, cabbage, swiss chard and collard greens are all great subs.
Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 16 ounces baby Dutch potatoes, halved*
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
For the garlic parmesan cream sauce
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken broth, or more, as needed
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ cup half and half*
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- Season chicken with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, to taste.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; set aside.
- Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the skillet. Stir in spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to wilt, about 2 minutes; set aside.
- Place chicken in a single layer into the prepared baking dish. Top with potatoes, spinach and garlic Parmesan cream sauce.
- Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
For the garlic parmesan cream sauce
- Melt butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in chicken broth, thyme and basil. Cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in half and half and Parmesan until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more half and half as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Made this last night after a deep-dive on Pinterest and WOW, it was so delicious! The flavor of the sauce was incredible, and this was almost a one-pot meal, which never hurts!
For those that had some trouble, I made a few tweaks to the process that ensured all my ingredients were cooked the right way:
– I browned my bone-in chicken thighs in a little butter for about 5 minutes on each side (longer than the recipe suggests) to make sure I had a nice, golden brown, crisp skin
– After transferring the chicken to the baking dish, I browned the potatoes in the same pot (in whatever liquid was left in there from browning the chicken) and made sure I seasoned them with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
– After transferring the spinach and potatoes, which now were a little golden brown and not absolutely rock hard, I made the sauce in the same pan, again with whatever liquid was left from the previous round.
– For those claiming the sauce was bland… always, ALWAYS season with salt and pepper whether the recipe calls for it or not. I honestly couldn’t believe HOW FLAVORFUL the sauce ended up being… also the perfect consistency.
Super impressed with this one, and also a great dish to make for dinner parties, as it will be super easy to scale up and minimal pot usage/clean-up. <3
Do you think i could use corn starch or gluten free flour? My husband is gluten free.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Nicole – I made this last night using the 1 to 1 gluten free flour ( I like the pillsbury brand) and it turned out beautifully !
Wow! We just made this tonight and it was delicious!!!! It was very easy and actually fun to make. The flavors are very balanced and satisfying. I’m definitely adding this recipe to my dinner rountine. The whole family raved about it. Thank you!!!
This recipe was very good. I did do a little more, I am Haitian so I can’t just use salt and pepper on one side. I marinated my thighs over night with homemade Haitian seasonings, so the chicken can be flavorful throughout. Then I made the cheese sauce as instructed and baked it at an hour. Came out smelling good, tender and DELICIOUS.
I made this yesterday exactly as above recipe except I accidentally bought a package of 4 chicken breasts instead of 6. It WAS delicious however I would make some modifications next time. I would not bother with skin on, all the seasonings went on the skin which ended up being discarded. I think I would prefer with breast meat rather than thighs, so I would change that up. The potatoes were nice, but I think this would also be really good over pasta so I might try that next time. Finally, my sauce was a little too oily so I’d probably use less butter.
I saved your chicken casserole recipes on my FB page and just finished the chicken and potatoes with garlic sauce. My oven’s mother board went capture last nite so I improvised this dish by cooking it on top of my stove in a deep sided pan with lid!
I read through most of these recipes and really like them. The ingredients you list and ease of preparing/cooking appealed to me. I work very long hours back to back so these recipes sound delicious and easy. I’m going to check your cook book out now on Amazon:)
Loved this recipe. Added salt to potatoes and spinach lightly before hand. Turned out Fab! Thank you!
Definitely my households favorite recipe! I use this at least once a month! Thanks so much!
This recipe looks particularly yummy – is there a way of making it for my daughter who can’t have dairy or sugar ? Maybe some substitute suggestions ??
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I really like the recipe, however I had to double the amount of spices. I automatically doubled the spices because that’s what I normally do with most recipes. I’m Puerto Rican and black so I need me some flavor! And I cooked it for about 50 minutes and had no issues with potatoes or meat.
We love this! I doubled the sauce and skipped out on the potatoes for angel hair pasta!! So good!
Experienced the same thing as many other people here. I quartered my baby potatoes and still after 30 minutes they were hard. Many you should really specify in the instructions that the potatoes have to be cut up very very small or to boil them before hand.
Absolutely delicious! Next time I’ll add triple the spinach amount. Will definitely be making this again!
Can you use sweet basil instead of regular basil?
Yes, of course!
Hi! I’ve made this dish many times and my family just love it! we have 2 younger kids so i just chopped the chicken to bite size, and they always finish them all! the leftover goes to next day’s school packed lunch! thank you for sharing your awesome food with us.
The quintessential chicken and potatoes! I used Yukon gold potatoes and I had to take the chicken out so I could cook the potatoes the rest of the way. The sauce–oh the sauce…omergerd…
Can you use french style green beans instead of spinach?
Yes, of course!
Its in my oven now! Cant wait to try it
Made it for the first time and it was absolutely awesome! Defintely be a regular from here out. My only recommendation is to quarter the potatoes so they cook faster.
OMG this was Fantastic! A household of 6 and every one of us loved it! The only thing I did different was use 4 chicken breasts cut up into large chunks. I’ve made a rue a couple of times in the past year from other recipes but yours was super easy to make, it mixed really well! I’m using your method from now on! This is the second recipe I’ve tried on Pinterest that just happened to be yours and both were awesome so I’ll definitely be trying more of your recipes in the near future! THANK YOU!
I made this last night and it was sooooo good. It turned out perfect, although I did cook it about 40 minutes total. I can’t wait to try again with boneless thighs or boneless chicken breasts. My kids both went back for seconds and I had enough left over to bring for lunch today. Pretty easy prep and, by cleaning the kitchen while the dish was in the oven, I didn’t have a big mess after dinner was served. It is a keeper!