Creamy Tomato Chicken Skillet Dinner is a one-pan balanced meal, made with tender chicken breasts, rich tomato sauce with wilted kale, and melted Parmesan cheese. Serve this comforting dish in just 40 minutes with a low-carb side dish or over pasta or rice.
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- This one-pan chicken skillet dinner is low-carb - perfect for those following the keto diet.
- This no-fuss, one-pan recipe ensures minimal mess or time spent in the kitchen.
- Creamy tomato chicken pairs beautifully with pasta, rice, vegetables, or mashed potatoes.
This easy tomato chicken dinner is rich in flavor, calls for inexpensive ingredients, and accommodates low-carb diets!
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this recipe ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- olive oil
- boneless skinless chicken breast -- 4 medium size or 2 large halved
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- tomato paste
- fresh garlic
- fennel seeds
- crushed red pepper flakes
- crushed tomatoes
- heavy cream
- parmesan cheese
- kale -- may substitute baby spinach if you like
- basil leaves
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Heat skillet with oil over medium-high heat.
- Season the chicken breasts and add them to the heated skillet.
- Cook the chicken until golden on both sides (5 minutes per side).
- Remove the chicken and add tomato paste, garlic, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes.
- Cook until fragrant (about 1 minute).
- Add crushed tomatoes and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Stir in ¼ cup parmesan cheese.
- Stir in the heavy cream.
- Add kale.
- Cook for 3 minutes, until kale is wilted.
- Return chicken to the skillet with the sauce and cook for 5 minutes or until internal temperature of chicken registers 165F.
- Serve topped with basil and remaining cheese.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- large skillet
- sharp knife
- cutting board
- tongs
- measuring spoons
- liquid measuring cup
- dry measuring cups
- instant read thermometer
🤔 FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making our chicken and kale in a creamy tomato sauce recipe.
Half and half, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sour cream, evaporated milk, or even coconut milk, are all great alternatives to heavy cream when making creamy tomato sauce for this dish.
Yes, but it will need to be diluted due to the high concentration of salt and sugar. After diluting the tomato sauce, thicken it with flour, cornstarch, heavy cream, or tomato puree.
Chicken thighs can be used but opt for skinless, boneless chicken thighs otherwise, this cut of meat will take longer to cook.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- You can test if your tomato basil chicken has cooked sufficiently by inserting a food thermometer in the chicken breasts. The thermometer should read 165F.
- A medium-large heavy skillet, such as a cast iron skillet, is best when making this chicken tomato recipe. You can’t go wrong with a 10-inch skillet with dual handles!
- Leftover chicken skillet dinner can be reheated in the oven with the sauce and an extra sprinkling of shredded parmesan cheese, covered with aluminum foil to prevent the chicken from drying.
📚 Variations
- Use coconut milk instead of heavy cream if you are lactose intolerant.
- Vegetables such as sliced mushrooms and diced onions can be added to this dish. It’s best to saute them before searing the chicken.
- Make the tomato sauce lighter by using Greek yogurt instead of heavy cream.
- Keep this dish low-carb by serving it with a side of vegetables. Spiralized zucchini is a great alternative to carb-rich pasta.
- Add extra spice to this dish with some cayenne pepper.
- Sprinkle nutritional yeast over the dish when serving for an added dose of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.
- Some recipes dredge the chicken in flour before searing it to create a crust. I haven’t done this, but you can if you want.
🥫 Storage
Leftover chicken and tomato sauce can be stored in an airtight container (with the sauce) for 3-4 days in the refrigerator or the freezer for up to 1 month.
Make sure to reheat the chicken and sauce slowly, frequently stirring to prevent the sauce from separating.
📗 Related Recipes
Chicken skillet dinners come in all flavors and ingredient add-ins to suit your family. Here are some of my favorites:
- Marry Me Chicken - Chicken breast cooked in garlic sun-dried tomato and parmesan cheese sauce will inspire a marriage proposal!
- Chicken Parmigiana - Also known as chicken parmesan, consists of chicken breasts with marinara sauce, and a baked cheese topping - served over pasta!
- Creamy Tuscan Chicken - A 30-minute chicken dish with spinach, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes.
- Chicken With Gnocchi - A comforting and well-balanced dish, bursting with a creamy aromatic sauce, soft gnocchi, and tender juicy sliced chicken.
- Chicken Marsala - Is a one-pan chicken dish that is smothered in a rich mushroom wine sauce.
🍽 Serve with
This one-pan dish can be enjoyed with a side of Roasted Asparagus, Grilled Vegetables, or over rice, pasta, quinoa, or mashed potato!
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
Nothing gets me quite excited than a one-pan meal, especially for those busy midweek dinners! And if you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I never compromise on taste for an easy and relatively quick meal.
This creamy tomato chicken skillet dinner proves that you can make a hearty and comforting main meal that the whole family will love with little fuss, mess, or long hours in the kitchen!
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
📝 Recipe Card
Creamy Tomato Chicken Skillet Dinner is loaded with rich and creamy tomato sauce with juicy chicken breasts nestled in the sauce, wilted spinach, and grated Parmesan cheese. Serve it over pasta, rice, or mashed potato.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
📖 Recipe
Creamy Tuscan Tomato Chicken Skillet Dinner
Equipment Needed
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds Chicken breasts (4 medium)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes more if you like it spicy
- 14 ounce crushed tomatoes 1 can
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup parmesan cheese divided
- 4 cups kale, packed ribs removed and torn into small pieces
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves thinly sliced
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat, heat until glistening.
- Season the chicken breasts with ½ teaspoon salt and pepper.
- Add the seasoned chicken to the skillet and cook until golden on the bottom, about 5 minutes. With tongs, flip the chicken and cook the other side until golden. About 5 minutes.Remove the chicken and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add tomato paste, garlic, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes and cook about 1 minute, just until fragrant.
- Add the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Allow to cook for 3 minutes.
- Stir in the heavy cream, ¼ cup parmesan cheese and kale. Stir until kale is wilted, about 3 minutes.
- Season with remaining ½ teaspoon salt and return the chicken back to the skillet with the sauce.
- Allow the chicken to cook for 5 more minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken breasts reaches 165℉ with an instant read thermometer.
- Serve topped with fresh basil and remaining parmesan cheese.
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