This spinach artichoke chicken dinner is one of our favorites. It comes together quickly with a few ingredients from the pantry and the freezer, but is delicious and company-worthy. You can use a store-bought spinach artichoke dip in a pinch but it’s so much better when made from scratch.
Ingredients:
- 1 shallot (or use 1/2 of an onion)
- 2 minced cloves of garlic
- 14 oz. can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 10 oz frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
- 2 heaping tbsp cream cheese
- 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan
- salt, pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp butter
For the chicken:
- 2 large chicken breasts, each cut in half horizontally to have 4 thin cutlets.
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar (red wine or balsamic vinegar also works great)
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp each dried oregano, basil, thyme (or use Italian herbs mix)
- 1 tbsp canola oil
Instructions
Chicken:
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or a large ziplock bag and let marinate for 15 – 30 minute (not overnight – it will make the chicken tough).
- Heat a large skillet on medium high heat and sauté the chicken for 3- 4 minutes on each side (a couple of minutes longer for really thick chicken breasts).*
Spinach Artichoke Sauce:
- Sauté the shallot and garlic in butter on medium high heat for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Onion is fine if you don’t have shallots.
- Add a drained can of artichoke hearts (run a knife through them) and spinach.
- Mix in cream cheese and Parmesan
- Add salt, garlic powder, onion powder to taste.
- Mix everything thoroughly until melted and gooey and delicious. Add pasta water if you’d like thinner sauce.
- Serve over pasta with the chicken.**
Notes:
* Make sure the chicken is not wet when adding it to the skillet. Pat it dry as best as possible.
** Save pasta water to thin the sauce if needed. I use a measuring cup to scoop out the water before draining the pasta.
Other ways to use this spinach artichoke sauce
- As a topping for oven-roasted salmon: season salmon filets with salt, top with 1-2 tablespoons of the spinach artichoke mixture, and bake at 400 F for 13-15 minutes (depending on the thickness of the salmon)
- As a topping for pizza: prepare pizza dough your usual way, brush some olive oil over the top and pre-bake for 5-7 minutes. Top with the spinach artichoke mix and extra mozzarella, bake another 7- 10 minutes, or until the dough is done (I bake mine at 500 F on a cast iron pan, so it bakes very quickly).
- As a dip with crackers or baguette (always a favorite).
I post my recipes as I make them on my Instagram page, I’d love it if you follow me there.
Here are more quick and delicious recipes using spinach:
Crock-pot Bean and Spinach Enchilada Casserole
Quiche Florentine (store bought crust makes it quick to prepare)
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