This creamy tomato chicken is an easy dinner that comes together quickly. In this recipe, skinless, boneless chicken thighs are cooked in a tomato sauce flavored with onions and plenty of garlic. Then it’s finished with spinach and creamy half and half.
Combining pantry items with fresh ingredients is a great way to put together quick dinners, even on busy weeknights. Like this chicken recipe, this chili cornbread casserole and artichoke chicken pasta are made with a mix of convenience ingredients, fresh produce and proteins, yielding delicious results in a short amount of time.
We serve the chicken thighs and tomato cream sauce over pasta, but it’s just as good on its own with a piece of crusty bread to soak up the sauce.
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Ingredients
- Chicken – boneless, skinless chicken thighs work best.
- Seasoning – salt, oregano, and black pepper.
- Oil – we use olive oil since we’re not going to cook the chicken or the sauce at high heat, but any oil suitable for sauteing and without a strong flavor will do; use your favorite.
- Produce – onions and garlic add plenty of flavor to the tomato cream sauce, spinach adds a touch of color and some extra nutrients.
- Pantry – we’ll need canned crushed tomatoes (we use crushed fire roasted tomatoes), tomato paste and chicken broth from the pantry. This recipe also calls for white wine, substitute chicken broth if you don’t use/have wine.
- Cream – use half and half or heavy cream. We use half and half because it gives us the creamy touch we’re looking for but it’s lighter than heavy cream.
Prep work
- Add the salt, pepper and dried oregano to a small bowl, stir to combine.
- Trim any fat off the chicken.
- Season the thighs on both sides with the prepared mix.
- Finely dice the onion
- Mince the garlic.
- Gather and measure out the remaining ingredients.
Recipe Tips
Use chicken thighs instead of chicken breast because they are less likely to dry out. Chicken thighs are excellent to cook with because they’re pretty hard to mess up. Even with long cooking times they don’t dry out. Use them to make these fried chicken thighs and bacon wrapped chicken thighs and see for yourself.
Things move quickly at the beginning of this recipe, so it is best to have all the ingredients prepped before you start cooking. Having everything gathered, measured and ready to use takes the stress out of cooking.
Go easy on the salt when making the chicken and the tomato cream sauce. Prepackaged ingredients like the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken broth all contain a good amount of salt already. We can always add more at the end if needed.
Use a non-stick skillet if you have a large one available. The chicken thighs are not going to brown that long so they might not release from the pan and tear when it’s time to turn them. If the chicken is stuck to the bottom of the skillet, continue cooking until it releases, then turn them.
Instructions
- Cook the chicken until browned on both sides (about 5 minutes per side). Remove the chicken from the skillet and keep warm.
- Do not wash the skillet. Add the onions and cook for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and tomato paste, cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Cook until the liquid cooks out about 1-2 minutes, stir frequently.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth and the reserved chicken thighs to the skillet. Lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes to finish cooking the chicken and let the flavors to come together.
- Add the spinach to the sauce and cook until completely wilted.
- Lower the heat to low. Stir in the half and half and cook 3-5 minutes until warmed through. Don’t let the sauce come to a simmer.
Taste the creamy tomato sauce and add salt if needed. As a reference, we added ½ teaspoon to ours.
Serve over pasta or on its own with a piece of crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce.
You may also like:
Creamy Tomato Chicken
Ingredients
- 1¼ – 1½ pound Chicken Thighs boneless, skinless and trimmed of fat (6 pieces)
- 1 teaspoon Salt plus extra if needed at the end
- ½ teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 medium Onion finely diced
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- ¼ cup White Wine
- 1 (28 ounce) can Crushed Tomatoes (we used fire roasted crushed tomatoes)
- ¼ cup Chicken Broth
- 3-4 ounces Fresh Spinach
- ¾ cup Half and Half
Instructions
- Add the salt, pepper and dried oregano to a small bowl, stir to combine. Season the chicken on both sides with the prepared mix.
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep, non-stick skillet over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken. Cook for 5 minutes until browned.
- Turn each piece cook 5 minutes until browned on both sides. (Don’t worry that the chicken is not cooked through, it will finish cooking in the sauce.)
- Remove the skillet from the heat and remove the chicken from the skillet. Place on a pan or plate and cover loosely with foil and keep warm.
- Do not wash the skillet, place it back over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook for 3 minutes until they are translucent and start to soften, stirring frequently.
- Add the garlic and tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Stir, while gently scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook until the liquid cooks out about 1-2 minutes, stir frequently.
- Add the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth. Stir well and add the chicken thighs back in along with any juices collected on the plate. When the sauce comes to a simmer (about 2-3 minutes), lower the heat to medium-low and cover.
- Cook the chicken for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure the internal temperature of the chicken is at least 165°F at the thickest part of the largest piece; use an instant read thermometer to make sure.
- Add the spinach to the sauce and stir until it starts to wilt. Cook another 1-2 minutes until completely wilted.
- Lower the heat to low. Stir in the half and half and cook 3-5 minutes until warmed through. Don’t let the sauce come to a simmer.
- Taste the creamy tomato sauce and add salt if needed. As a reference, we added ½ teaspoon to ours.
- Serve over pasta or on its own with a piece of crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce.
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