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
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Oh my heavens, this is wonderful! Added baby carrots, and used four thighs (for me and leftovers) and two boneless skinless chicken breasts (hubby won’t do skin unless it’s fried). Hubby ate two helpings, said he loved it and to definitely make this again. Stored the leftovers and I spooned up some sauce in the process just to slurp it! So good!!
I made this tonight, it was awesome! The chicken was almost finished so I decided to leave it on the stove (they were a good size). I left it in my al clad saucier with a cover and put it on med. low for 15 mins. By the way before serving I just stirred it and it all came together. Great recipe, going into my rotation. Thanks, Kathy
My Husband & I Love all the recipes of yours that we have tried! Even got your cookbook 🙂 I am gonna try this one as well and i’m sure it’s gonna be Great.. I was wondering, do you cover this or not when in the oven? Thank You & have a Blessed wk end.
No cover needed! 🙂
Hi Chungah,
I am fairly new to your site and his is my first review. I made this chicken dish tonight for the first time. First of all, I bought everything at Trader Joe’s. I used the fresh frozen garlic and basil cubes, 4 organic chicken breasts, organic baby spinach and their baby potatoes. Everything was perfectly cooked in 30 min. My husband says AWESOME dish, needs more spinach. My opinion AWESOME dish, would serve to company!! I addded mushrooms in with the spinach and almost a cup of fresh Parmesan cheese instead of a 1/2 cup. But what I think made it “company worthy”, was adding a few shakes of red pepper flakes!!! I believe this put it over-the-top! Thanks for a great recipe. I will come back often to your site! Sue
Was asking about making recipe with pork chops. Put M. on name because already a Barbara.
Do you think this would be good with pork chops?
Yes, absolutely. What a great idea!
Hello! I apologize in advance if this was already covered: can you assemble everything in the casserole dish and freeze to cook later? Thank you.
Have not made this dish, but did want to suggest that having the chicken at room temperature prior to cooking, keeping food safety factors in mind, would make a big difference in the cooking time.
Made this tonight and it was really good and tasty, but I would suggest a longer cooking time. I cooked for 30 mins and my chicken wasn’t all the way done and my potatoes were still hard. So I added 15 more mins and it was perfect. I would also cut back on the butter a bit. I love butter, just like anybody else, but this was a bit over the top and too rich. Added an extra clove of garlic, some lemon juice and chopped fresh basil, and it was fantastic!
The only thing I would change would be using boneless chicken breasts and maybe decreasing the butter. It seemed like it had a lot of floating butter in the dish
I just made this and let me tell you my house smells amazing!!!!! The chicken was so melt in your mouth good. Just everything was perfect. I also steamed some asparagus and spoon some of the sauce on top of that! I will definitely make this again!!!
Amazing as always, I’ve made this 3 or 4 times now and it’s been fantastic every time. I use chicken breasts because I am just not the hugest fan of thighs, and I just pound the chicken so it’s flat and that helps to keep the cooking time about the same. Thanks for the recipe, this one is always a hit in this house, even with a 4 and 1 year old 🙂
Made today during a snow storm when I had to make do with what was on hand. Subbed chicken breast, frozen spinach and sour cream/skim milk (in lieu of half and half) and it was still delicious! Cooked for 45 minutes and was delicious.
I wish I had read the comments first. I used the proper size potatoes, and after 35 minutes the potatoes still hard, chicken drying out and sayce drying up. Loved the smells while prepping, so next time parboiling potatoes, and making 50% more sauce. I’ll also cook it slower and longer.
Not a fan of this one. The cooking time was closer to 45 mins. The cream sauce separated and this had entirely too much time. Ending up
throwing the whole meal out.
I love to cook but have never left a comment on a recipe website until now. Made this for kids, friends and family tonight. It was an absolute winner! I ended up doing skin on breasts, thighs and legs at 375 for 25 minutes and then 400 for 10 minutes. I added mushrooms and lemon zest. So freaking good! Thank you!
Made this last night. It’s a lovely dish. Fairly simple to prepare, with wonderful results. My husband actually said it tasted like a fine French dish and I would have to agree! Thank you for the inspiring recipe!
I followed recipe measurements (for once – LOL) but when I tasted the sauce, before adding to the baking dish, I found it a little bland for my taste (others have mentioned this too) but with a few tweaks of more of the herbs, salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (almost 1/2 lemon) and an extra shot of chicken stock, it really brightened this sauce up “for my taste”!
I did half the baby potatoes but they still needed about 20 mins added bake time to cook through – keep this in mind if preparing a time meal for guests. Another reader’s suggestion to parboil the potatoes first is a great idea! I will make this again, in fact, I plan to make it again next week for a dinner guest who is visiting from Quebec! Thanks again for the great recipe and fabulous inspiration!!
I did add a little Italian seasoning along with salt and pepper to the sauce 🙂
Made the chicken potatoes and cream sauce tonight with whole boneless white and only difference was I kept it in the large cast iron pan I cooked it in. Hmmmmmmmm! Delicious! I always loved cooking but work 2 jobs now so your recipes absolutely come in handy. So glad for you success!!
Delicious, however, the potatoes were nearly raw at the end of the cooking time. I would recommend par-cooking them before adding to the dish
Damn disgusting is what it is. My husband liked the potatoes but that’s about it. Removing this recipe.
Ditto
Everything turned out great, but next time I will double the sauce (it is awesome). I did boil the chicken first and used that broth. I will do as Emily did and add asparagus next time. Mmmm! BTW, all three of my girls and my husband ate it all up and the girls can be a tough to please sometimes.