Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
A complete meal in one! Baked crisp-tender chicken with potatoes and spinach, so good!
Featured Comment
I have been using this recipe for years! At least 5! I have tried this with all sorts of chicken (boneless skinless thighs are our favorite, but mostly for ease of cutting with 4 younger kids), but what I came here to say is TRY THIS WITH SWEET POTATOES! We like it with regular, but we substituted one time because it’s all we had and we never went back! Sooo yummy. We dice ours into smaller cubes and layer at the bottom of the dish, making sure chicken and sauce cover/coat the potatoes, and we don’t have a problem with undercooked. It’s delish!
why i love this recipe
- Complete meal-in-one. This hearty chicken dinner has it all! And the potatoes and spinach (or any other leafy greens) are baked right in, soaking up all the flavors of liquid gold (aka pan juices).
- Includes the most heavenly, dreamy garlicky Parmesan cream sauce. This is a cream sauce of dreams – rich, silky and just so so good, coating the chicken and potatoes oh-so-perfectly.
- Impressive and budget-friendly. Using bone-in chicken thighs is inexpensive and so impressive for weekend company or visiting family (added bonus: dark meat is much more flavorful and juicier than white meat).
- Plenty of leftover sauce. The gift of leftover sauce can only mean one thing – you can toss with pasta, toss with rice, toss with all of the things. Or sop with all the crusty bread (my personal favorite).
how to make this impressive yet easy peasy chicken and potato dinner
- Make the garlic parmesan cream sauce until the desired consistency is reached (note: heavy cream will yield a richer sauce)
- Season the chicken and sear until the skin is golden brown and crispy
- Cook the spinach until wilted in the pan juices
- Add everything to a baking dish, roasting until both the chicken and potatoes are cooked through and tender
- Serve, spooning over some of that leftover sauce on anything and everything
tips and tricks for success
- Bone-in is ideal. While boneless, skinless chicken thighs can be used with a shorter cooking time, bone-in will be juicier and have extra flavor.
- Brown the chicken first. This will add all the extra, deeper flavors here, sealing all the juices inside, and keeping the chicken nice and crisp while baking.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Make it richer (or lighter). Heavy cream will have a higher fat content than half and half or milk, yielding a thicker consistency. Swap out the half and half for heavy cream for a richer sauce, or whole milk for a lighter sauce.
- Freshly grated Parmesan goes a long way. Pre-packaged shredded cheese contains anti-caking agents that can hinder their ability to melt smoothly. Freshly grated cheese is always best, melting more smoothly and evenly, and creating a far superior cream sauce.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
pro tip
Use baby potatoes.
Baby potatoes are ideal here to ensure that they cook through at the same rate as the chicken, yielding evenly cooked, crisp-tender potatoes. Baby potatoes also require minimal prep time and do not require peeling. If using larger potatoes, cut into smaller, uniform pieces to ensure even cooking until soft and tender.
what to serve with Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce
Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use fresh herbs instead?
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.
What is half and half?
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.
What can I substitute for the spinach?
Kale, cabbage, swiss chard and collard greens are all great subs.
How can I store leftovers?
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce
A complete meal in one! Baked crisp-tender chicken with potatoes and spinach, so good!
Video
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
Equipment
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.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I’ve made this twice now in a matter of a couple weeks. The first time, I followed the recipe verbatim, the second I tried a couple variations and both were absolutely to die for! My family loved it and the hubs already called dibs on the leftovers (and there wasn’t much left!)
This tasted delicious, but even though I quartered the potatoes (which weren’t that big to begin with), they were still very hard when my thermometer said the chicken was at 165 degrees. They had to cook an extra 20-25 minutes to be soft. I guess if I make this again, I will cut them even smaller.
Was very flavorful and easy to make…. If your just adding spinach for color then it’s perfect but if you want to have a serving of it per person I’d double it otherwise I will certainly be making it again!!
First of all I want to say thank you. I love this blog so much
Made this for Sunday dinner and it was a HUGE hit! I cooked the potatoes for about 4 min in the microwave before I cut them and threw them in the oven with the chicken..also I used Red Bliss potatoes. Also, I don’t like chicken on the bone so I used boneless skinless chicken thighs, seared them quickly and it still worked just find, chicken was perfectly tender. Hubby said he definitely wanted me to save this recipe!
Wow, so easy to make & delicious! We didn’t have a ton of time so we used chicken tenders & cooked potatoes separately so the were crispy for texture. Also tossed crushed red pepper in spinach for a little heat. It’s a must make again!!
Just made this for dinner on a rainy Sunday afternoon in CT……it was DELICIOUS! I do not follow measurements when I cook, but the blend of flavors was great! Certainly recommend this!!
How much half and half should I use?
Oh I see it now on the side. Must have overlooked. =)
I tried this recipe tonight and it was so amazing! I’m not a very experienced cook and this was fairly simple to make. The flavor was awesome and the chicken was so tender. 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; regardless it was great! Also..o increased the cooking time only to 40 minutes and used a slightly larger dish then a 9×13! It seemed to cook faster and better that way. Thanks for sharing a great recipe! I will be making this again!
I don’t know how the sauce had no flavor in these other posts!! OMG this was amazingly delicious!! I followed the recipe exact and I still can taste and have garlic coming out of my pores hours later! My entire family LOVED this. Yum!!
I did cook for an hour rather than 30 min due to potatoes being hard & chicken not fully cooked! And I used red potatoes, but after one hour, oh my…soooo soooo delicious
The print is a nice option, but the menu bar covers info at the top of every page. Recipie: Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce. Thanks.
Double the cooking time. Smells great but we’re starvin!
Do you think I could make this in the crockpot?
It is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide. Hope that helps!
I made this for dinner tonight for my boyfriend and I loved it. SOOOO good. My local supermarket didn’t have the potatoes you mentioned…so i used baby GOLD potatoes. Im not a huge thigh fan so i used CHICKEN BREAST and seasoned that myself on my own..I love a lot of seasoning. Everything else I did the same….Will definitely be making again. Thank you!!!!
I also decided to PREBOIL the potatoes b/c of some of the reviews saying it was a little hard. I believe that helped b/c after the baking my potatoes were SOO soft and yummy. Thanks again.
Thank for sharing the recipe, it looks so delicious !
Cannot believe how good this was, husband and I almost finished the whole pan. I used chicken breast instead of thighs, I love how the ingredients in your recipes are things I already have or just need a thing or two from the grocery store. The chicken, potatoes, and spinach were so complimentary of each other, but that sauce was the highlight of the dish, finger licking good.
Can this recipe be made with chicken breast? My family does like thighs.
Yes, absolutely.
Delicious flavor and I will definitely make it again with some adjustments:
First, I had to increase the cooking time by quite a bit. The potatoes need to be cut into bite-sized pieces so they don’t come out hard. I’d double the spinach next time and decrease the butter a bit. I love butter as much as anyone, but it seemed a little much…
I liked the fatty, sauciness of it, but I can see why it’d be too much for some. Served with ciabatta, or some other crusty bread, I love it.
Evening at the improv over here.. Really wanted to make this recipe tonight but had to do some subbing. Still came out really good. Didn’t have fresh parsley used dried, found that the box of chicken stock in the pantry was open (did I do that?) so threw it out and used whatever pan juices and water. I used boneless skinless chicken breasts. Since I had much less liquid, I only used one tablespoon on flour. Also a splash of good Chardonnay to deglaze. Frozen spinach instead of fresh which may have helped the liquid situation…Lastly I had to sub the break-in-case-of-emergency grated parm in a can but it was still fine. I had Yukon gold potatoes on hand, cut them into bite size pieces (8ths) and roasted them on a sheet pan with olive oil and salt and a little parm till they had a little color and would release from the pan. I felt they wouldn’t cook in time in the chicken pan and wanted a little texture so this worked really well for me. I added them in for the last five mins or so, so they could soak up the flavors. I used a cast iron skillet btw. So really didn’t change the bones of this recipe, and even my picky five year old liked it.
I made this without the spinach (I ran out!) And the color, as expected, was very bland. But the dish wasn’t! The only thing I would do differently is boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes before baking it. Definitely adding to the recipe book!