Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic Parmesan Cream Sauce
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A complete meal in one! Baked crisp-tender chicken with potatoes and spinach, so good!
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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.
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Made this last night and it was so delicious. I used smaller Yukon gold potatoes and quartered them. I did find they were not cooked enough when the chicken was ready to be removed. What I did was remove the chicken from the pan and place them on a plate and put the potatoes in the pan with sauce back in the oven for about 15 more minutes until they were fork tender. It worked out perfectly and was soooo yummy. I will definitely make this again.
I think that is the difference between chicken thighs and breast meat. The dark meat never dries out, while the white meat will still get dry cooking in the sauce. What a great way to solve the problem though; taking the meat out and letting the potatoes finish is golden! Great idea. Thanks.
I made this recipe WW friendly by using boneless chicken breasts, omitted the cream and used chicken broth instead. While I’m sure it would have been more creamy with the cream, I can’t imagine enjoying it any more. This is a wonderful recipe and I will definitely cook it again.
Easy to put together. I had fingerling potatoes left over from another meal, just added them. I didn’t have half and half so I substituted with regular milk with butter added.
Very tasty!
Easy and delicious!
The potatoes need to be boiled first otherwise they are raw at the time indicated. Even on convection bake, the chicken was still raw. I would almost double the time suggested.
The recipe is delicious though.
Taste was good, but not sure what went wrong. Followed recipe to a t and it turned out way too greasy. Way too much butter.
Delicious! I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and I boiled the red potatoes before adding them to the dish and everything turned out perfectly. I cooked the dish for 30-35 min and chicken was cooked thoroughly and still juicy. I will definitely make again.
This was excellent!! I made it with gnocchi instead of potatoes and it was awesome. Great Sunday dinner.
GENIUS! I saw your comment and decided to make it with gnocchi and it was AMAZING! The only other change I made was boneless skinless thighs. I’m going to try adding a bit of white wine in the sauce next time.
OOOh I am using gnocchi and potatoes! Great idea!
Did you put the gnocchi in frozen?
Made this tonight for Sunday dinner. Amazing! Followed the suggestions of others. Cut my potatoes and put them in the oven while I cooked the chicken and made the sauce. Ended up using more chicken stock than a cup. And I used 2 chicken breasts that I cut in half. Potatoes were done just right with 25 more minutes in the oven.
My sister said she would make this gluten free for her wife and son.
One of the best recipes I’ve found. Many have asked me for it. My favorite is to use red potatoes, I cut bite size and pre cook because they never cook according to recipe directions. I promise you’ll make over and over again and find what variables work for you like I did!
Very good recipe however I’m a little surprised because my halved baby potatoes took 3 hours to cook! I don’t think it had to do with my oven as it could have only dropped temperature to 180 because everytime I checked it was quite hot and I could see the sauce bubbling underneath. I don’t know what I could have done wrong.
Omg! Made this tonight and it was sooooo good! Only thing I did different was I steamed my potatoes until almost done before adding to the casserole. They came out perfect. Can’t recommend this enough!
Yummy! Will do again. Next time I’ll use slightly less butter. Did use just cream and an additional T. flour. Made my own Italian seasoning also.
YES! LOVE THIS!! We found this recipe a couple years ago, and it is a regular dinner meal for our family now. We love boneless, skinless chicken thighs with it. (Great for picky eaters and those who don’t want to have bones and skin to pick off). Tried with thighs, breasts and tenders. If you do tenders…cut your potatoes smaller. Also used, russet, baby dutch, and the bigger red potatoes. All are great, russet take longer to cook. If you can get your timing right with the kind of chicken and potatoes that you use….Yes Ma’am, So Good! 5 stars. A+.
Super simple and quick to make. We loved it!
Absolutely divine!
I now make this dish quite often and make it slightly different each time. Sometimes I add bacon lardons or lift the white sauce with combinations of sherry, white wine vinegar, mustard.. etc Quite often I scallop the chicken and add to the dry rub, dried chill flakes and/or paprika. Sometimes I add white wine rather than stock. All minor changes which add an element of surprise. Great recipe… Winner winner chicken dinner!!!
This chicken dish is so good, I used chicken breast and they were as moist as a thigh would have been. My girls, 13 and 14 ate every bite and sopped up the juice with Bunny Bread! So Damn Delicious!!!
I made this tonight and it was PHENOMENAL! I used chicken breast instead of thighs, personal preference! Even the kids loved it!
Quick and easy and super yummy!!
We laid thinly sliced lemons on top of the chicken and under the potatoes and sauce.
When you say adjust cooking time for chicken breasts, is that longer or shorter?
Delish!! Not a big fan of spinach, but w/this sauce, yum!!
I increased baking time, in oven, to 40 min for thighs to be 100% done & potatoes softer!