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!
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.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I thought this was absolutely delicious! After reading the reviews, I made sure to parboil the potatoes, and the 30 min in the oven was great. I also added mushrooms after sautéing them. I used 3 heaping spoonfuls of minced garlic and it didn’t seem to be too much/too little.
The sauce is AMAZING! So so so good. I had to run and look for bread to soak some of it up!
Next time, I think I might make a rice side dish (and skip on the potatoes) or keep the potatoes and have a nice piece of French bread ready for dipping! I would also be interested in using a chicken breast, but wouldn’t know how to adjust the time.
My boyfriend and I ate it up, and I took it to work and haven’t been able to concentrate otherwise!!! I think it will be just as good today and I cannot wait.
We made this meal for family dinner last Saturday. Took us a bit longer for preparation and for cooking time. about 1.5hrs in total.
also, small red potatoes (cut into fourths!) were still a bit hard after about 50 min of baking!
but it wasn’t a big issues for us.
The sauce (gravy alike) turned to be really delicious 🙂
Also, we added one chopped brown onion to step. 4, just cooked, stirring it for 1 minutes before adding the spinach.
Thank you for the recipe!
We will be doing it again, just allow for longer time for cooking and preparations :-))
Can you please tell me what half and half is? I am u. Australia and not sure what this is.
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.
I’m so looking forward to making this (with the milk and heavy cream I have on hand), but not sure about your description of half and half (at the end of the recipe and in this reply). You say it’s EQUAL parts, but 3/4 cup does not equal 1/4 cup and 2/3 does not equal 1/3. So do you just mean half and half is PART milk and PART cream and not really EQUAL parts, or should I make them equal: 1/2 cup = 1/2 cup? Thank you so much for clarifying!
Yes, half and half is equal parts milk and cream, but I find that adjusting the amounts ever so slightly (3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream) can create a heavier and richer taste. You can read more about it here. Hope that helps!
Will this recipe still be good with boneless chicken breast?
I meant to say boneless chicken thighs.
Yes, absolutely.
This was absolutely delicious!!! Seriously amazing!
Yummy!
I’m super stoked about the sauce. It was fantastic when I tasted it before pouring it over the chicken and potatoes. Not so stoked about the cooking time. I cut the potatoes into small pieces so they would cook as the chicken finished (I used chicken breast, slightly seared before adding to the casserole dish). I’m in the oven 20 minutes already and my potatoes are rocks. I’m worried about over-cooking the chicken – and having underdone potatoes. I might try giving the potatoes a turn in the saute pan prior to adding to the casserole next time. Worth trying again.
mmmm looks amazing im gonna half to try it !
I’m making this as we speak (as I type?). I had to make a couple changes based on ingredients I have…or don’t have, I should say. I only have skinless, boneless chicken breasts, which is odd because I usually always have thighs and/or drumsticks. I also don’t have spinach or basil and i used half 2% milk and half light cream and used red skinned potatoes. It’s been in my oven for 40 minutes. I just had to sample the chicken and sauce and it is absolutely delicious! I can’t wait until dinner tonight. My issue is the potatoes – if I mal this again, I think I will parboil then because right now, 40 minutes later, they’ve barely begun to soften. I’m going to make a side of rice pilaf (because I don’t like potatoes) and trying to decor between corn or green beans.
Forgot, I also added 1/4 cup white wine (chardonnay, to be specific) as I was preparing the sauce. Delicious!
Can this be done in the slow cooker?
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!
Hi Holly did you try this in slow cooker and if so how did it come out please ??
This prepares so quick you really don’t need a slow cooker. It heats up great the next day if you are lucky to have leftovers!
I just put this in the oven. Started cleaning the counters and there sat my Parmesan cheese. I sprinkled to on top and let it get melty then I flipped the chicken over so that the cheese is now under the thigh and they are still skin side up. I like the flavor I have taste tested so far
Ok I totally screwed up this recipe and it was still DELICIOUS. found the spinach in the fridge when I was cleaning up after dinner
This was so good! Doubled the spinach, and browned the potatoes face down, and used fresh herbs. Husband and 7 year old twins gobbled it up!
Made this last night and this was amazing. I too used more seasoning but we like a lot of flavor in my house, definite keeper. THANK YOU…..
Can you clarify something please?
I printed this recipe on May 13th and it called for 1.5 cup milk (4th ingredient for sauce), but now I see chicken broth. Which ingredient had you used?
I tried this recipe using milk and it was amazing. I also used a rounded 1 TBSP for the chicken and close to 1TSP each of the dried herbs in the sauce. The smell in the whole house was gorgeous.
Due to time constraint, screaming toddler, ingredients on hand etc I used frozen crushed garlic cubes, (thawed/Pressed) frozen chopped spinach, and accidentally let sauce get a bit thick… Was a household hit! The sauce over the potatoes became and baked cheesy awesomness.
I used my 12″ cast iron pan for all the searing and sauce making, even after cleaning up the pan, it smells great.
I seared each boneless/skinless thigh side longer: 3/3/2/2 and oven bake time was the same as recipe. I’m a a bit overly concerned for food illness from past food misadventures. Chicken was still tender and no knife needed to eat.
We had family over to help with some construction and they got a chance to try my 2nd batch – this is a winner for both my family, the In-laws, and cousins.
Thank you, your blog is helping me become a better, more confident cook.
Suzanne, the recipe has been updated. I have tried both milk and chicken broth and found that chicken broth yielded better results, but if you prefer the milk version, you can use that instead – it’s up to you! 🙂
Hi. Made this tonight. For us the amount of herbs overwhelmed the dish. Will try again but with less tyme and basil. I ended up just picking out the chicken and potato so not to get too much sauce. Apart from that it was nice.
I cooked 5 thighs and found 45-50 min bake time was more accurate for chicken to be cooked and potatoes to be edible. I even cut my potatoes in 1/6ths. Flavor of sauce delish.
I agree. Cooking this right now and 35 minutes gave me raw potatoes and chicken breasts. Cooking for another 25. The sauce is amazing though
That cooking time seems more accurate with boneless skinless chicken breast. If you get chicken with skin and bone it will take longer. I am attempting to try this tonight. I love the reviews. I will boil my potatoes haha.
This looks delicious, I’ve never heard of the brand of potatoes you mentioned, can your use russet or red potatoes?
Yes, absolutely.
I love this but the cream sauce makes my thighs start screaming! I lightened it up by replacing the cream sauce with puréed steamed cauliflower and mixed that with the chicken broth, Parmesan and garlic. It made a great ‘cream’. ahhhhmazing!!
Fantastic recipe! My husband loved it. Sauce was amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, I plan on making this dish this weekend. What do you suggest for a side dish.
Thanks!
You actually don’t need a side dish since you have the potatoes and spinach baked right in – that’s the beauty of this dish! 🙂
I made this last evening. I could have eaten the Parm sauce in a bowl with a spoon all itself it was that good. I’m already thinking of using this sauce for a chicken parmesan pot pie. Thank you for the recipe!