My kids had never had Chicken Florentine before until this recipe, and trying a new food, they all 3 loved it, especially the picky eater. In fact, this recipe is a nice one for me because I got one kid who needs to be low carb and another kid who wants to watch her diet in regards to acid reflux.
Chicken Florentine
Easy to make. Delicious. All 3 kids approved the first time they tried it.
Ingredients
- Chicken Boobs (4-6 breasts)
- 3 TBSP Butter
- 3 TBSP Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp Weber Roasted Garlic and Herb Seasoning
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 - 3 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese finely grated
- 4 spoonful's of minced garlic
- 1½ cups of white wine
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup softened cream cheese
- 3 cups of fresh spinach
Instructions
- Plug in electric skillet or use a regular skillet, set to medium high heat. Plop 3 TBSP of butter and drizzle olive oil until feels even with the butter.
- While that's heating, pour almond flour into a bowl, and add garlic salt, Weber seasoning, pepper, Italian Seasoning and Parmesan. I personally just sprinkled garlic salt over the top. The Weber over the top. Grated pepper over the top. Then I dump some Italian seasoning into the palm of my hand, rub it to bring out the flavor, and add it.
- Coat the chicken by smashing the boobs into the grainy flour, both sides.
- Set the chicken in the skillet as you coat them, and then sear for about 6 minutes per side. Make sure your chicken is cooked. Other recipes say when the internal temp reaches 165° but I just make sure the chicken is done by taking the one I want to eat, and cutting into it.
- Remove chicken from the pan, set on a plate, and sit it in the oven or microwave so it stays warm and somewhat untouched from the environment.
- Dump 4 spoonful's of minced garlic and allow to cook for a minute or so.
- Add 1.5 cups of white wine.
- With a rubber spatula, scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet to bring it up and mix into the wine. Do this a couple more times while it's cooking.
- Cook for about 5 minutes (until half of the liquid is gone), and then reduce heat to low.
- Add the heavy whipping cream, stirring it in. Let cook for a couple minutes.
- Then add the cream cheese in little chunks (I cut them into small chunks with a butter knife as I drop them in from the package) and stir until smooth.
- Add spinach and cook 2-3 minutes (or until wilted)
- Put the chicken back into the pot, and cook until the chicken is warm again.
Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 692Total Fat 59gSaturated Fat 27gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 28gCholesterol 135mgSodium 2675mgCarbohydrates 15gFiber 3gSugar 4gProtein 15g
Where did I get this recipe?
I found it on The Cozy Cook and I didn’t veer much from hers. Now I’m going to put the recipe down in the post the way I made it because this blog is my recipe box, and I surely cannot put my notes on her page; however, I want you to click to her site because I didn’t change it much, and she deserves the traffic. Her recipe is still fairly easy, but I skipped some of her steps for pure underachievement. She also has a free meal plan. Worth checking out.
Also I used the Keto Chicken Florentine recipe from Delicious Little Bites as a reference. It was very similar (almost the same) as the other. Her site has a lot of keto and gluten free recipes. And it’s worth looking through as well. Please click through to her site as well.
Both of these women have amazing websites, and you never know, you may prefer the structure in their recipes better than my hot mess version.
Ingredients for Chicken Florentine
The basic ingredients seem to be…
Chicken
Coating (optional): Almond Flour, Seasoning (garlic salt, Weber Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning, pepper, Italian Seasoning), and Parmesan Cheese
Sauce: Garlic, White Wine, Heavy Cream, and Cream Cheese + spinach
Truly, it was the cream cheese that made me want to try this.
Substitutes
For the chicken, you can use chicken breasts or chicken thighs, or any boneless chicken chunks. Seriously, this meal might not be as good, but not ruined, if you used Tyson Chicken Tenders.
I used Almond Flour to make it a Keto, low carb Chicken Florentine Meal. Most people use white flour. But I prefer the almond flour because Italian cuisine usually has a nice almond flavor to it. And because its grainier than white flour, it sears better on the chicken.
Seasoning is very optional. Salt and pepper by itself is fine. I like Pink Himalayan Garlic Salt and Weber Roasted Garlic & Herb seasoning, but you could use garlic powder or anything garlic flavor. And Italian Seasoning is an easy go to here, but it really is just oregano, basil, thyme and rosemary, so any combo of those could be used instead. You can also consider marjoram, parsley, crushed red pepper, onion salt or onion powder, fennel seeds….
Instead of heavy cream, you can consider half n half, and possibly almond milk. Dishing out Health has a more robust recipe that includes bacon and use of cashew milk.
What white wine should I use?
I used Espritza Bubbly White Wine – “This fruity Italian White is refreshing and lively with crisp notes of lemon zest and a vibrant acidity.”
I chose this wine because it was bubbly, it came in cans, and it had the word Italian on it.
Apparently, each can is slightly more than a cup (like 20 ml more than 1 cup, which is about 4 tsp more). So for most situations, one can is one cup.
Each can has 250 mL to be specific here.
This chicken florentine recipe calls for 1.5 cans of this wine, so that means, someone has to drink the rest of the second can. It’s just as fun as licking the bowl.
But any white wine will do. But you want to go white wine instead of red wine because you are cooking with a white meat in a white sauce.
For the most part, wine pairing with Italian cooking is simple. Match the color of the meat and/or sauce to the wine. White meat in a white sauce goes with white wine. Red meat in a red sauce goes with red wine. If you have a white meat in a red sauce, or a red meat in a white sauce, then go with a Blush.
So the obvious wine pairing to this meal is to finish any wine you have leftover 🙂
Chicken Florentine Process Summary
- Coat the chicken
- Cook the chicken
- Remove chicken and cook the sauce
- Put the chicken back until warm
I love my electric skillet because it’s bigger than a regular skillet, so I like to use that. But you could do this in any skillet or pot or pan.
First you want to use butter and olive oil because it makes the chicken sear better than just using one or the other. I’m not sure how that works, but I’m sure it’s science.
Coat the chicken in the flour, seasonings, and parmesan. And then pan fry until they are cooked thoroughly.
Then remove the chicken, and sauté the garlic for a minute. Then add the white wine, and cook until about half of it evaporates. Then reduce heat and add cream, and let that cook for a minute. Then add cream cheese, and mix that until smooth. Add the spinach and cook until it wilts.
Then return chicken to the pot and cook until re-warmed.
Side Dish Ideas
For the keto side dish to serve with Chicken Florentine, I like a salad with Italian dressing. I think a Caesar salad would go well with this too. Also anything vinaigrette. In the fall, it would probably be banging with some Wendy’s Apple Pecan Salad.
I think most people serve Chicken Florentine with noodles or pasta of some sort for the sauce. Dishing out Health’s recipe suggested orecchiette, fusilli or rotini.
I also think good side dishes might entail something green and garlic flavored, like some collard greens and garlic, or green beans with bacon and garlic, or maybe some kind of Asparagus covered in extra Florentine sauce.
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