This Baked Tuscan Chicken Breast recipe is an easy meal ready in 30 minutes or less! With a creamy sauce that’s perfect over pasta, it’s one of our favorite chicken breast recipes.
See the step-by-step recipe video on the recipe card.
We’ve always loved the creamy Italian-inspired flavors of these Creamy Tuscan Chicken Recipe, this Crockpot Chicken and Potatoes, this Crockpot Tuscan Chicken and this Tuscan Chicken Pasta Bake!
Table of Contents
This Baked Tuscan Chicken is an Italian-inspired dish that’s as effortless as it is impressive!
Juicy chicken breasts are bathed in a rich, velvety cream sauce infused with the bold flavors of sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan, and fresh baby spinach.
Ready in just 30 minutes, it’s the perfect solution for a delicious dinner that feels fancy enough for guests but requires minimal effort.
Perfect for hosting friends or enjoying a cozy night in, this dish delivers big flavor without keeping you tied to the stove.
Why you’ll love this creamy Baked Tuscan Chicken:
- Quick and easy: Ready in just 30 minutes, perfect for busy weeknights or last-minute dinners!
- Effortless: Almost all of the sauce ingredients are added right to the pan, and everything cooks at once. There’s no simmering on the stove or extra hassle!
- Comfort food: Juicy chicken and a creamy, flavorful sauce make this dish cozy and satisfying.
Ingredients for these baked chicken breasts:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: these are pounded thin for even cooking.
- Spices: I use a simple blend of Italian seasoning, paprika, black pepper, and salt.
- Heavy cream: the base for the creamy sauce! I don’t recommend going with low-fat dairy for this recipe.
- Minced garlic: adds a depth of flavor. You can use pre-minced garlic or mince it yourself.
- Corn starch: this acts as a thickening agent to make our sauce nice and thick.
- Sundried tomatoes: these are more concentrated than regular tomatoes, adding a tart and tangy flavor to the sauce! Use the kind that comes packed with oil and spices for the best flavor.
- Parmesan cheese: shredded parmesan cheese melts right into the sauce, giving it a tangy flavor! You can buy shredded Parmesan or shred it yourself from a block.
- Fresh spinach: adding chopped spinach is an easy way to get your veggies in!
How to make Baked Tuscan Chicken:
This recipe couldn’t be simpler to whip up! Just follow the easy steps below—check out the recipe card for all the details.
- Flatten chicken breasts to an even thickness.
- Whisk cream, garlic, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Stir in sundried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. Pour around the chicken.
- Bake until the chicken is cooked through.
- Stir fresh spinach into the sauce and let the chicken rest, covered with aluminum foil. Stir the sauce again if needed, then serve.
Recipe Tips
- Flatten your chicken breasts so they are roughly the same size: this will ensure they cook evenly and that one side doesn’t end up completely dried out! Simply cover in plastic wrap and use a rolling pin or a small frying pan to flatten the thick end slightly.
- Dry with paper towels: we want our chicken to roast and be golden and flavorful, so we don’t want any of the excess water that might be on it. Drying it before seasoning will give the best results!
- Cover and let rest: at least 10 minutes! You can even let it rest for 20, and I promise it will be so juicy and hot. This keeps the juices inside the meat and gives the spinach a chance to wilt down in the sauce without becoming overcooked and slimy.
- Internal temperature: use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature of the chicken reaches at least 165ºF before eating.
Variations and substitutions:
- Boneless chicken thighs: You can absolutely swap for boneless chicken thighs without changing the rest of the recipe! You will likely want to use twice as many thighs as the breasts called for.
- Cheese: If you don’t want to use parmesan cheese, you could swap it with asiago, Romano, or pecorino cheese!
- Cream: I know it’s tempting to swap the heavy cream for a lighter variety, but be careful because lower-fat dairy cannot be cooked at a high temperature without curdling.
- Sun-dried tomatoes: I know these can be hard to come by at times, but I just love the subtle flavor they add! A couple other options would be fresh cherry tomatoes or jarred roasted red peppers — they’ll both add a nice pop of flavor!
- Seasoning: You can absolutely play with the seasoning as long as you choose herbs and spices that pair well with the sauce.
- Spinach: You can leave it out if you want. I love that it adds a pop of color and a boost in the nutritional value. You can swap for other vegetables if you prefer: green beans or mushrooms could be added at the beginning of the cook time for a new twist!
How to store leftovers:
This Tuscan Chicken Breast is a great option for prepping ahead because it stores easily and is delicious reheated!
You can store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, provided all of your ingredients are fresh.
If you stuck to the recipe and used heavy cream (low-fat dairy cannot be frozen), you can also store it in an airtight freezer container or a freezer bag for up to 3 months!
What to serve with Tuscan Chicken Breasts:
We love this chicken breast recipe with plain, simple pasta, but you can also serve over these Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes for a touch of indulgence or these Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes for a make-ahead option.
This Instant Pot Brown Rice is also a great complement for a healthier, gluten-free option.
You can also keep it low-carb with cauliflower rice!
Also, these Breadsticks do a great job of soaking up all that creamy sauce 😉
Note
The chicken is as saucy as it is in these photos — it is enough sauce for us to serve with pasta, but the pasta is not drowning in sauce. If you want a lot of sauce, I would multiply the sauce recipe by 1.5 (so instead of 1 cup cream, use 1.5 cups, etc.)
Baked Tuscan Chicken Breast
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (breast halves)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Cream Sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅓ cup sundried tomatoes (chopped)
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup chopped fresh spinach
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Place chicken breasts on a cutting board and cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin, smooth meat mallet or small frying pan to flatten the thick side of the chicken so that it is roughly an even thickness.
- Place chicken breasts in a 9×13" baking dish (or a larger one if you are using very large chicken breasts — you don't want them smushed together or they will take longer to cook).
- Combine ½ teaspoon salt, Italian seasoning, paprika and ⅛ teaspoon pepper. Drizzle chicken with oil and rub with seasoning (I just do the top, since the bottom will be sitting in sauce).
- Whisk together cream, garlic, corn starch, salt and pepper until combined. Stir in sundried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese and pour around the chicken in the baking dish (it shouldn't cover the chicken completely, but it won't hurt anything if it does).
- Bake at 425 degrees F for 16-20 minutes, until an internal temperature of 165 degrees F is reached in the thickets part of the chicken (the exact cook time will depend on the size of your chicken breasts).
- Remove pan from oven and stir spinach into sauce. The sauce may separate as it cooks (it is NOT curdled!) — just give it a stir and it will come together. Cover pan and allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes while the spinach wilts.
- Uncover and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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SunniLynn says
I’ve been wanting to try this for forever and finally got around to it tonight. I was a bit nervous that my teen son would not like it, as he is a little picky. He LOVED it! I am not a fan of italian seasoning, so after baking it, I scraped it off. LOL. It will definitely be a regular for dinner.
Ashley Fehr says
Haha, thanks for sharing!
Monica says
My family loved this! I didn’t have shredded parm bc I bought the wrong one, but had grated. It still tasted great. Next time I’ll try fresh. I didn’t do anything else different and it turned out great!
Ashley Fehr says
I’m so glad to hear that!
Dixie says
This recipe was delicious & easy to do ! One I will do again & again ! Thanks to @thereciperebel
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Dixie!
Babs says
Easy and Delicious!! I served on Italian angel hair pasta nests to our Monday night dinner club. I prepped almost everything the night before then popped it into a glass baking dish when I got home from work. I added extra spinach and sundried tomatoes. Served with fruit. One of our guests in his 80’s commented it was the best chicken he’s ever had in his whole life. Ashley is great!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you so much Babs!
Vallorae says
Forgot to add my 5 starts! Thanks again!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Vallorae!
Vallorae says
My family of 6 loved this recipe! I decided to go with bone-in chicken thighs instead, and marinated them in the spices along with some olive oil and some of the sundried tomato oil. Then I pan seared them on both sides for about 3-4 minutes each.
I then doubled the recipe and poured the mixture over top the thighs and baked for the 20 minutes. Boiled my pasta (I chose a short reginette pasta)
After they came out of the oven I took the chicken out and set it aside. I seared some chopped Spinach in butter and garlic salt and then poured it in the creamy sauce along with the pasta and stirred everything up! It was divine!!
Thank you so much for a delicious new recipe to add to my rotation! We’re in love!
Jo Ann says
Absolutely delicious, my family loved it! I didn’t have sundried tomatoes on hand, but I had sundried tomato pesto — threw in a few tablespoons and it was amazing. Thank you for the recipe, I’ll be stocking my pantry with sundried tomatoes so I have them on hand next time.
Ashley Fehr says
That’s a great idea!
Carol says
We loved this recipe! I made it per the recipe with one exception: I added 8 oz of sliced baby bella mushrooms, and I didn’t measure the sun-dried tomatoes – just added as much as looked good to me. I served it over angel hair pasta.
Fortunately, I made 1.5 times the amount of sauce (because that’s all the heavy cream I had on hand), and I’m glad I did – we drenched the pasta!
Next time I will double the sauce for sure and add a bit more garlic (personal preference/taste).
I would be proud to serve this to company! Thank you for the recipe!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks for sharing Carol!
Linda says
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Linda!
Tina Peterson says
This recipe is phenomenal! We served it over pasta, with garlic bread to sop up all the yummy sauce. I loved the spinach and tomatoes in it so much that I’m going to double that part of the recipe the next time I make it.
Heather says
I tasted this after my dil made it and had to have the recipe….cooking it as we speak….can’t wait for my family to try it….wish me luck!!! Lol
Ashley Fehr says
Enjoy!
Ginger says
I made this recipe but my sun dried tomatoes I thought I had, turned out to be sun dried tomato pesto. So I used a couple teaspoons of this and then cut some cherry tomatoes in half and added those. I also did not have fresh spinach but I did have fresh kale so I used that. This still turned out very tasteful.
Ashley Fehr says
That sounds delicious!
Karen Black says
This was very easy to prepare and extremely flavorful. My husband, who isn’t a huge fan of chicken absolutely loved it. I am elevating this recipe to my “prepare for company” collection. I made homemade wide pasta to serve with it. Yum!!!!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Karen! I’m so glad!
Robert says
Love this recipes
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Robert!
Alexa says
Recipe looks delish! I was going to prepare this to deliver to a friend that recently had a baby. Do you think it would be better to make ahead and have her cook it? Or cook it and have her reheat it?
Ashley Fehr says
I think either would work fine actually! If you prep it and bring it over just when she can put it in the oven, that might be the best way.
Sharon says
It’s delicious! Double the sauce though!
Shelby Williams says
The sauce was thin even after stirring. But the flavor was great.
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Shelby! That does seem a little strange. Was it heavy cream that you used? It tends to thicken a lot as it is heated.
Linn Stanley says
My family, including picky kids, liked this recipe a lot. It was easy to make. We ate it over egg noodles, which was perfect for soaking up the sauce. I usually have sundried tomatoes on hand, but didn’t this time and it still was very flavorful. I’ll definitely make it again.
Ashley Fehr says
THanks Linn! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Amanda says
Hi! This was an easy and flavorful dish. However , my sauce didn’t stay creamy like pictured. It was somehow greasy and separated. I stirred real heard and not much combined. My family still ate it with pasta. I even used the full two cups of heavy whipping cream. Any idea on what may have happened?
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Amanda! I’m sorry that happened. I have never had this happen, and I’m not sure what would make it greasy since there isn’t any butter in the sauce. Is it possible that the sundried tomatoes were still quite oily when added?
Christine Yanes says
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I love trying new recipes, especially when we hsve dinner guests. This is one that even after my husband was having a hard time (he choked on a piece that was a wee too big to go down). He reassured me that it was not the chicken and how much he loved this delicious taste. He said and I quote, “This is one of the best chicken recioes that you have tried! I love it.” That compliment alone is music to any beginner chefs ears! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Christine! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it!
Heather says
Thanks Ashley for sharing I had one of those nights where I had no idea what to do with chicken and didn’t have much time. I found this recipe and it was delicious and dinner was on time.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Heather!