This is one of those recipes that looks really elegant and your family will feel like it’s a special night, but you won’t have to tell them that it wasn’t that hard. So serve it on a weeknight or a special weekend dinner. Skillet chicken is smothered in a creamy wine sauce seasoned with herbs and served over rice or noodles.

I love making dishes like this. Cooked up in one skillet using wholesome ingredients, it comes together and makes everyone happy to be at the dinner table. Served with noodles or rice, it is gobbled up quick.

The other part about recipes like this is they are not usually measured with spoons and cups at my house. While I gave measurements in the recipe, know that I am pouring in the white wine to look and feel and sprinkling on the herbs until it looks and tastes right each time.

Feel free to throw out the measuring spoons and cups too and measure with the heart.

Serve skillet chicken over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

Ingredients for Skillet Chicken with Creamy Wine Sauce

Chicken breasts, cutlets, or tenderloins
Butter or olive oil
Sliced white or baby bella mushrooms
Minced garlic
White wine or chicken broth
Heavy cream
Flour
Shredded parmesan cheese
Herbs de Provence blend
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Salt and pepper
Cooked rice or noodles to serve

Skillet chicken with fresh mushrooms, garlic, and a creamy white wine sauce.

How to Make Skillet Chicken with Wine Sauce

Sear the Chicken

Heat up your largest skillet to a medium/high heat and then add in the butter or olive oil. When the butter/oil is melted and hot, add in the chicken to the sear on each side for a few minutes. Remove the chicken pieces once browned on each side and mostly cooked through. Work in batches to prevent the meat from steaming instead of searing.

Cook the Mushrooms and Make the Sauce

Once all the chicken is cooked and removed to a dish, add in more butter. Once the butter is nice and hot, add in the mushrooms and stir them around. After a few minutes of cooking, add in the garlic. Now is the time to splash in the white wine. Since the pan is quite hot, the wine will steam up. Use a metal spatula so scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan as you move around the mushrooms and garlic. You may choose to use chicken broth instead of the wine.

Once the wine has cooked off a bit, sprinkle the flour over the top of the mushrooms. Let it cook for about a minute and then pour in the heavy cream. Whisk together and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes until it thickens up.

Sprinkle in the parmesan cheese, herbs, salt and pepper and mix in.

Put it all Together

Return the cooked chicken to the sauce and allow a few more minutes of cooking.

Serve the chicken and sauce along with cooked rice or noodles.

Side dishes that are great with this are steamed green beans or carrots, or a green salad.

Creamy skillet chicken is a family favorite and comes together easily.

Do I Have to Use Wine?

Does this sauce have to use wine?

You do not need to use the white wine in this sauce and can instead use chicken broth in its place. I do however, love the depth of the flavors when I use white wine in a sauce like this.

When you deglaze the pan with wine in this stage of cooking (after browning the meat) it does two different things for your dish.

Since the meat was browned at a high temperature, it has probably left the pan with some browned pieces. By throwing in the wine at this point, the temperature in the pan is lowered before the browned goodies with all the flavor cook too long and burn.

The most important part, in my opinion, is that the deglazing of the pan with the wine infuses the sauce with more flavor as it picks up all the flavor stuck to the pan that would have burnt without the addition of the wine.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Skillet Chicken with Creamy Wine Sauce

This skillet seared chicken with creamy white wine sauce and mushrooms is an elegant yet easy dinner great served over rice or noodles.

Ingredients

3-4 large chicken breasts or equal amount of cutlets or tenderloins
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
8 ounces sliced white or baby bella mushrooms
4-6 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1-2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence blend
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Cooked rice or noodles to serve or mashed potatoes

Instructions

First, if you are using large chicken breasts, you will want to pound them down a bit and cut them into smaller pieces. I like to have many small pieces of chicken instead of a few large pieces for this dish. It makes it easy to serve up and you get more sauce on each piece.

Heat up your largest skillet to a medium/high heat and then add in the butter or olive oil or a combo of both. When the butter/oil is melted and hot, add in the chicken to the sear on each side for a few minutes. Remove the chicken pieces once browned on each side and mostly cooked through. Work in batches to prevent the meat from steaming instead of searing.

Once all the chicken is cooked and removed to a dish, add in more butter. Once the butter is nice and hot, add in the mushrooms and stir them around. After a few minutes of cooking, add in the garlic. Now is the time to splash in the white wine. Since the pan is quite hot, the wine will steam up. Use a metal spatula so scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan as you move around the mushrooms and garlic. You may choose to use chicken broth instead of the wine.

Once the wine has cooked off a bit, sprinkle the flour over the top of the mushrooms. Let it cook for about a minute and then pour in the heavy cream. Whisk together and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes until it thickens up.

Sprinkle in the parmesan cheese, herbs, salt and pepper and mix in.

Return the cooked chicken to the sauce and allow a few more minutes of cooking.

Notes

Serve the chicken and sauce along with cooked rice or noodles.

Side dishes that are great with this are steamed green beans or carrots, or a green salad.

Tips for Making Skillet Chicken

If you want to make this skillet chicken dairy free, you can! I just leave out the cream and add chicken broth instead. My husband can’t have it with the cream so I take his portion out before adding the cream. I could also make the whole dish without the cream and parmesan and add chicken stock for everyone. It is still good, just not quite as creamy.

If you need gluten free, you can do that too. Use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour or any type of gluten-free noodles for serving. Or you can stick with rice instead of noodles.

You can also serve with mashed potatoes instead of rice or pasta. The sauce is great on top.

Steamed green beans or carrots are an easy side for this dish and pair well with the creaminess.

If you aren’t sure if your chicken is cooked through, test with a thermometer. Chicken done at 160 to 165 degrees.