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Ready to meet your new favorite weeknight dinner recipe? This Creamy and Healthy Chicken Florentine Skillet is it! In addition to being dairy-free, paleo, and Whole30-approved, it’s absolutely delicious and the epitome of a healthy comfort meal that takes just 30 minutes to make.
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Florentine Skillet
This is the kind of recipe you should save in your bookmarks, pin to your Pinterest boards, and print out to put in a physical cookbook or recipe binder because you’re going to love it!
I’ve taken a classic Italian comfort food dish — Chicken Florentine — and made it dairy-free, paleo, and Whole30-friendly without sacrificing any flavor. I’d go as far to argue that this is better than the traditional recipe!
This healthy version is just as creamy as the original thanks to the coconut-cashew cream sauce. It also features the classic additions of spinach, garlic, mushrooms, and juicy pan fried chicken breasts. I mean, does it get much better than that?
What Is Chicken Florentine, Exactly?
In the world of cooking, “à la Florentine” refers to a recipe that is prepared in the style of the Italian region of Florence, which means one major thing — it features spinach and a cream sauce. Specifically, a dish prepared à la Florentine will feature a main protein, like chicken, that’s served on a bed of spinach and topped with a creamy, cheesy, buttery white sauce before being browned in the broiler before serving.
Chicken Florentine is a popular Americanized dish at most Italian-style restaurants, often served with long pasta. However, this paleo version is served as-is or atop a bed of cauliflower rice.
Key Ingredients
This Healthy Chicken Florentine recipe is twofold — the pan fried chicken breasts and the creamy, dairy-freesauce.
For the chicken, you’ll need: boneless, skinless chicken breasts (four total, or two large ones cut in half), Italian seasoning, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, and gheeor olive oil (or another light-tasting oil with a high smoke point).
And for the dairy-free cream sauce, you’ll need: sliced mushrooms like baby portobello or button mushrooms, fresh garlic cloves (about five), coconut milk (or coconut cream), raw cashews, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, chicken broth, baby spinach, sea salt, and black pepper.
How To Make Healthy Chicken Florentine
Prepare the Sauce: Blend the garlic cloves, coconut milk, cashews, lemon juice, and chicken broth together in a blender until smooth so that there are no cashew pieces remaining. Leave the sauce in the blender, and set aside.
Cook the Chicken: Season the chicken breasts generously on both sides with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper. Heat oil over medium heat in skillet. Sauté the chicken breasts on each side for 6-8 minutes, or until chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit and is browned. Transfer cooked chicken breasts to a plate, and set aside.
Cook the Veggies: In the same skillet, over medium heat, melt ghee and sauté the mushrooms for 2-3 minutes until soft. Pour the sauce into the skillet and simmer for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Reduce heat to low, and stir in the spinach until just wilted (but not overcooked).
Bring Everything Together: Return the chicken to the skillet, and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, and enjoy!
Store any leftover Chicken Florentine in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freeze this cooled, cooked Paleo Chicken Florentine recipe in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 1 month.
Reheat this Chicken Florentine dish from frozen by letting it thaw in the fridge or at room temperature, then warming in a skillet over medium-low heat or in the microwave until bubbling and heated through.
Ready to meet your new favorite weeknight dinner recipe? This Creamy Chicken Florentine Skillet is it! In addition to being dairy-free, paleo, and Whole30-approved, it’s absolutely delicious and the epitome of a healthy comfort meal.
Ingredients
Scale
For the chicken:
4 small-medium boneless skinless chicken breasts, or 2 large halved
Make the sauce by blending together the garlic cloves, coconut milk, cashews, lemon juice, and chicken broth in a blender. Blend until smooth, so that there are no cashew pieces remaining. Leave the sauce in the blender, and set aside.
Season the chicken breasts on both sides with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper. Heat oil over medium heat in skillet. Sauté chicken breasts on each side for 6-8 minutes, or until chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer cooked chicken breasts to a plate and set aside.
In the same skillet, over medium heat, melt ghee and sauté the mushrooms for 2-3 minutes until soft.
Pour the sauce into the skillet and simmer for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
Reduce heat to low, and stir in the spinach.
Return the chicken to the skillet, and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
