This recipe for chicken Florentine is golden brown chicken breasts, topped with a creamy mushroom, spinach and parmesan cheese sauce. A classic dinner that will have you licking your plate!
You can never go wrong with chicken, I make our favorite chicken meals almost every week including slow cooker whole chicken and lemon pepper chicken. This chicken Florentine is smothered in the most delicious sauce, even my kids love it.
I love chicken for dinner as much as the next person, but sometimes it can get a little…boring. I get in a rut and make the same chicken recipes over and over, because it’s just easy that way. But this chicken Florentine? Is anything but ordinary. It’s chicken with spinach and mushrooms in the MOST AMAZING white wine cream sauce.
What does Florentine mean in food?
Florentine refers to a recipe that’s prepared in the style of the Italian region of Florence. The common ingredient in Florentine style food is spinach. Chicken Florentine is typically served in a creamy spinach sauce. In this particular cases, I’ve also added mushrooms. The mushrooms add a lot of flavor and texture to the dish, and mushrooms pair so perfectly with spinach.
How do you make chicken florentine?
This recipe starts with chicken breasts, which are seared until golden brown. A simple sauce is made with butter, flour, white wine, garlic and heavy cream. The sauce is flavored with fresh spinach and sauteed mushrooms. Spoon the creamy sauce over the chicken, add a sprinkle of parsley, and you’ll be ready to eat!
Tips for chicken florentine
- I prefer to use fresh spinach, as the flavor and texture are much better than frozen. That being said, frozen spinach will work if it’s what you already have on hand!
- This recipe will also work with boneless skinless chicken thighs, or even boneless pork chops.
- I like to use thin cut chicken breasts for this recipe, simply because they cook quickly and evenly – some of those giant thick chicken breasts can take ages to cook through.
- You can add other ingredients to this dish to make it your own. I often add sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, diced red onion or sliced zucchini.
What is in Florentine sauce?
Florentine sauce is typically a thick sauce made with cream, white wine, and butter. I kept mine traditional with just a handful of ingredients, but you could also add other flavorings such as herbs, spices or other types of cheese such as mozzarella, asiago or fontina.
You can serve this chicken Florentine as-is for a one pan meal, or boil up a pot of pasta or mashed potatoes to serve it with. However you serve it, this classic recipe is sure to be a hit!
More chicken recipes
- Firecracker Chicken
- Cashew Chicken
- Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Shells
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Chicken Florentine
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts I prefer to use thin cut chicken breasts
- 3 tablespoons butter divided use
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 ounces white mushrooms sliced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 3 cups baby spinach leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a large pan. Season the chicken breasts to taste with salt and pepper.
- Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and cooked through.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and cover with foil to keep warm. Add the mushrooms to the pan.
- Cook the mushrooms for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Remove the mushrooms from the pan. Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.
- Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute more.
- Add the wine to the pan and bring to a simmer.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes or until wine is reduced by half.
- Stir in the cream and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the sauce has reduced by about half and has started to thicken. Stir in the parmesan cheese. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
- Add the spinach to the pan. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until spinach has wilted. Stir the mushrooms into the sauce.
- Place the chicken breasts back into the pan and spoon the sauce over the top of the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley, then serve.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on December 13, 2016 and was updated on December 2, 2019 with new photos and content.
Christine Erickson says
I made this recipe because it appeared as a pop-up yesterday. Really excellent flavor without it being over the top. The only thing that happened for me is the sauce wanted to set up quickly and rapidly thickened, which I resolved by adding a little more water as I went along. I then turned off the stove, placed the chicken back in the sauce, and let it rest covered for 15 min so the flavors could come together a bit more. Knocked it out of the park with this one! Good Job!
Peggy says
Made this tonight. Big hit with hubby. Added 2 small zucchini to the mushrooms and spinach and spooned everything onto angel hair pasta. Absolutely delicious. Used Butter Chardonnay – some for the recipe and some for the cook. Wonderful.
Sean says
What other cheese can i substitute parmesan with?
Sara says
Any similar hard cheese such as romano or asiago!
Dani says
Hello, I’ve tried a couple of your recipes with success..I’m also a mom of little girls, we have 4 and 2 of them eat more than I do! My issue with finding good recipes is I need more than 4 servings! We are 6, so usually 4 is too little and double is over kill. I have 6 chicken breasts I’d like to use, would your advice be to double the sauce? Or would it be enough with the extra chicken.
Thanks!
Sara says
You can adjust the number of servings in the recipe to 6, and then the ingredient amounts will automatically recalculate!
Jessica says
This was delicious and not hard at all. I even forgot to add flour and it was still a hit!
Flora says
What would you recommend using if I can’t use white wine to cook ?
Sara says
Just use chicken broth!
Taylor says
That creamy sauce is what dreams are made of. Seriously so delicious!
Cathy says
Oh my goodness – that sauce!!! So simple and flavorful. This is a must make.
Toni says
Such a delicious meal for weeknights! Yummy!
Catalina says
Easy and delicious! This is my kind of weeknight dinner!
Beth says
This chicken looks so tasty! Love the mushrooms and spinach!
Dorothy Reinhold says
This looks so perfectly creamy! I had forgotten how much I love this dish! Perfect reminder!
Annie says
This is a major crowd pleaser! We had no leftovers!
Jessica says
Chicken Florentine is one of my absolute favorites yet I forget about it all the time. I definitely need put this into the rotation.
Zanab Abu says
What alternatives are there to the wine please?
Sara says
I’d use chicken broth!
DRENA says
I’m interested in making this for dinner. can you suggest a white wine to use with this meal and pasta meals.
Sara says
I’d use any white wine that you enjoy drinking, I used a Cupcake Winery Pinot Grigio!
Valentina | The Baking Fairy says
This looks absolutely delicious! It’s full of things I already love. Definitely adding this to the dinner rotation!
Greg says
Looks amazing! I love those flavors. I NEED this!