Creamy Tomato Chicken Recipe
Transform a can of diced tomatoes into this creamy chicken tomato recipe. This tender chicken coated in buttery tomato sauce with spinach, garlic, and parsley is so easy!
It serves well over Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, Jalapeno Rice, or Cauliflower Mash.
Why Make this for Dinner Tonight?
Made in One Pan – One-pan meals are some of our favorite dinners during the week. Like Thai Chicken and Cabbage Skillet and Chicken and Quinoa in Mustard Sauce. Both are easy, quick, and basic. Now we’re adding this creamy tomato chicken recipe to the rotation. Made in one pan for easy cleanup!
Quick & Simple Ingredients – It’s an incredibly easy recipe with simple ingredients. Perfect for a cozy weeknight dinner.
It’s made with chicken thighs, onions, garlic, spices, fresh spinach, canned tomatoes, and butter. There’s no doubt that tomatoes and butter are the star of this recipe.
Both transform into a velvety, thick, slightly sweet sauce. I mean this stuff is so good. Then when you add some spices, fresh herbs, and bright spinach, you basically get the most perfect meal ever.
Endless Serving Options – I honestly love this chicken with sourdough garlic bread, especially when dipped into the sauce with a side of Kale Caesar Salad.
It also serves amazing over just about anything that can soak up some of those glorious juices. Like pasta, rice, roasted veggies, cauliflower mash, spaghetti squash, and puréed root vegetables.
Makes Great Leftovers – Who doesn’t love leftovers? I know I do and this chicken with spinach and tomatoes is the ultimate meal to keep in the fridge to enjoy over a few days or you can easily freeze it to enjoy later.
Ingredients for Chicken Tomato Recipe
The ingredient list for the chicken spinach tomato recipe is short and sweet and you’ll need the following ingredients for the recipe:
- Chicken thighs
- Onions
- Garlic
- Canned tomatoes
- Chicken stock
- Spices – bay leaf, basil
- Honey
- Spinach
- Butter
- Parsley
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Chicken Tomato Recipe
For complete instructions see the recipe card below.
- Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Cook in a large skillet over medium-high heat. You can use a non-stick skillet or stainless steel. Remove from the skillet.
Prep Tip! The goal here is to get the chicken nicely browned on the outside. It does not have to be fully cooked through. Do not overcrowd and cook in batches.
- In the same skillet, cook the onions until soft. If onions begin to burn, reduce the heat further. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in chicken, tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, basil, and honey. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, until the mixture is reduced by more than half, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add spinach and cook for an additional few more minutes until the spinach is wilted and the liquid is reduced to almost none. Add butter and stir around until melted. Remove pan from heat and stir in parsley.
Storing Leftovers: The leftover chicken will last up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Or it can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw out the frozen chicken in the refrigerator overnight and reheat it on the stovetop over medium-low heat.
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Creamy Tomato Chicken Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Transform a can of diced tomatoes into this velvety chicken with spinach and tomatoes. Tender chicken coated in buttery tomato sauce with spinach, garlic, and parsley. So easy and so good!
Ingredients
- 3–4 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
- 1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, thinly sliced
- 2 medium onions, yellow or sweet, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, do not drain
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp. dried basil or 1 Tbsp. fresh
- 2 tsp. honey
- Fresh baby spinach, two small handfuls
- 4 Tbsp. butter, sliced
- 3 Tbsp. fresh finely chopped parsley
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
Instructions
- Place sliced chicken into a bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. Toss around with a pair of tongs to combine. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the chicken and cook undisturbed for few minutes, then flip and continue to cook until browned on all sides, for few minutes longer. The goal here is to get the chicken browned on the outside. It does not have to be cooked through. Cook chicken in batches if need to. Remove to a plate.
- Reduce the heat to medium, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onions with a generous pinch of salt and cook for about 7-9 minutes. If onions begin to burn, reduce the heat even further. You want the onions soft with slight color to them. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in chicken, tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, basil, and honey. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, uncovered, until reduced by more than half.
- Add spinach and cook for 2-3 more minutes until wilted and liquid reduced to almost none. You want chunky sauce like consistency. Add butter and stir to combine until melted. Remove pan from heat and stir in parsley.
- Serve over pasta, rice, or for low carb, try cauliflower mash. This is also really good over crusty toasted bread. The bread soaks up some of the sauce and it’s the best.
Notes
- Chicken: Use boneless, skinless, chicken thighs for the best flavor. I do not recommend chicken breast.
- Honey: You can substitute honey for just about any other sweetener. You basically want something sweet to tone down the acidity.
- Parsley: Not a fan of parsley? Try fresh basil or dill.
- Leftovers: Leftover chicken can be refrigerated for up to 3-4 days when stored properly. Or frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 300
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 314.4 mg
- Fat: 20.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 12.9 g
- Protein: 17.4 g
- Cholesterol: 92.3 mg
Hi! I'm Katya -- a former corporate paralegal turned full-time recipe developer and blogger behind Little Broken. Here you'll find family-friendly and seasonal recipes made from real ingredients.
So god dam tasty. I was meant to freeze this but couldn’t. Sooo good.
One of our very FAVORITE recipes! Sooooo comforting, creamy and delicious. We love it over orzo. AMAZING!
Made this tonight without the spinach because I did not have any and it was amazing. I also did not have a bay leaf. Does it make that much difference in the taste?
Hi April: I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Bay leaf adds level of flavor but can be omitted if you don’t have it.
so easy and very delicious!
Loved loved loved!!! Couldn’t figure out what to do w extra cans of diced toms left over from making chili. Now I’ll b sure to buy extra cans on purpose!! total comfort food. I do recommend waiting until the end to add the 2nd round if salt. I use salted butter & my first time making this it was too salty.
Love this! My husband requests this about once a week. It’s healthy, easy, and delicious! I use a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and serve it over egg noodles.
Delicious! I was trying to get rid of leftovers so I used whole peeled tomatoes instead of diced, used some extra broth, added a few leeks and substituted kale for the spinach. I also threw in some tomato paste before adding the liquids. At the end, with the extra broth I added, I threw in a 17.5oz pack of gnocchi for a few minutes before adding the greens.
This was so delicious and filling! I want to make it every week 🙂
It truly is so creamy and I can’t believe it only has a half stick of butter.
This is a great recipe! I made it last night slightly tweaked. I added a 1/4 cup of heavy cream because I didn’t understand where the name “creamy”came from in the title, but none was in the recipe lol. Great addition came out delicious.
The butter makes it creamy! Delicious recipe!
HUGE hit in our home! Both my picky SO and Picky daughter devoured this dish!! We served it over polenta and cheese ????
Great recipe and sauce! I made it as is and it was tasty.
I also made it with subs for what I had on hand – no spinach- used peas; no honey -used sugar. no chicken broth- used veggie stock. Both versions came out great. One key note- DO NOT skip the butter at the end. I made a plate without it by accident and it was very notably missed. I also think the bay leave is a key ingredient too that should not be omitted or subbed.
Loved this recipe so much! Made it two nights ago and I’m making it again tonight! I serve it over buttered gnocchi, YUM
Very much enjoyed this. There was a bit more liquid than i prefer so we added maybe a tablespoon or so of tomato pastes to thicken. Also, increased the spinach by at least 2 fold. Easy way to “hide” more veggies!
As the house cook, I had tomatoes to use before they went bad. So I substituted canned tomatoes with fresh and added a little tomato juice to mimic the juice from a can. My sometimes discriminant wife and I both loved this dish, which offers a pleasant sweetness to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. Yes, there is a little butter, which totally elevates the already rich flavor, but the calorie count is reasonable even with the extra fat, so enjoy this one guilt free. Thanks, Katya.
That’s great! Thank you.
What do you think about replacing the spinach with collard greens? I just had some fresh collard greens delivered today and only have frozen chopped spinach. Thanks!
I think it should work!
Made this tonight but didn’t have spinach and used dried parsley instead of fresh. It was still delicious! I stirred in some cooked linguine and let it soak up some of the buttery sauce. So good!
Thank you Caroline! So happy you made it work with what you had on hand.
Made this and it’s delicious. Thank you!
Thank you!
Looks healthy and yummy!