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A thick and lightened up Creamy Parmesan Herb Mushroom Chicken with a kick of garlic is your new favourite dinner recipe! With a NO heavy cream — or ANY cream — at ALL option!
Crispy skinned chicken simmered in a beautifully thick and creamy sauce, using NO cream, with a mixture of herbs, a good kick of garlic and parmesan; simple ingredients for maximum taste. Creamy Parmesan Herb Mushroom Chicken with so many flavours in the one pan.
Chicken Thighs
This is the first recipe I’m sharing with you all for 2017. A low fat alternative without depriving us of any flavours.
This chicken was SO GOOD, I had to make it a second time right after everyone had eaten, because they ALL wanted MORE. And since then, we’ve made it at least once a week since I first introduced the family to all of these flavours (back in October, 2016). It seems totally unfair I’ve been holding onto this for so long without sharing it. Truth be told, I didn’t think the photos were good enough to share them. Well, must’ve had rocks in my head.
As with all of my chicken thigh recipes, you start this one off by searing them first to get the skin nice and crisp. After that; make your sauce and finish it all off in the oven until the chicken is completely cooked through. Of course, if you want to use chicken breasts you CAN do so without baking. Just continue simmering them in the sauce until they are completely cooked through.
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Creamy Parmesan Herb Mushroom Chicken
Ingredients
FOR THE CHICKEN:
- 6 chicken thighs skin on or off, bone in or out
- 2-3 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 400 g mushrooms sliced
- 1 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1½ cups evaporated milk half and half or cream if using: see notes
- 1 teaspoon chicken bullion powder or stock powder
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- 1 pinch pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons of extra 2% milk
- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese fresh grated, divided
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped, to serve
OPTIONAL ADD IN:
- 2 cups spinach
- 2 cups broccoli florets lightly steamed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C | 400°F.
- Season chicken with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Heat cooking oil spray in a large, non stick and oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Sear chicken thighs until golden and crispy on each side (about 3-4 minutes each side).
- Transfer chicken to the oven and roast until completely cooked through, (about 25-30 minutes).
- Once chicken is done, transfer to a warm plate and set aside. Drain some of the excess fat from the skillet, reserving 2 tablespoons for added flavour.
- Return skillet to the stove over medium-high heat and sauté the garlic in the pan juices until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add the mushrooms, herbs and 2 teaspoons of parsley and fry until mushrooms begin to soften.
- Reduce heat to low-medium heat, add the milk (or cream) and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, and being careful not to boil. Add in the bullion powder and season with salt and pepper to your taste.
- Pour the milk/cornstarch mixture to the centre of the pan, and continue to simmer while quickly stirring the mixture through until the sauce thickens.
- Add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese; allow sauce to simmer for a further minute until cheese melts through the sauce. Add the chicken back into the pan and allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes in the cream to take on the flavours. Taste test and add extra salt or pepper, if desired.
- At this point, add in the optional add-ins, if desired. Allow spinach to wilt (if using).Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of parsley and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
- Serve with steamed rice, over steamed vegetables or pasta.
Notes
*If you don't have to oregano and dried basil leaves, use 2 teaspoons Italian herbs.
*For DAIRY FREE OPTIONS: Substitute evaporated milk with almond, coconut or rice milk.
SIDE NOTE: Alternatively, replace the evaporated milk with half and half, heavy cream, thickened cream or a reduced fat cooking cream. If using any of the creams suggested, do not add the cornstarch mixture. You won't need it.
*For a gluten free option, find GLUTEN FREE Cornstarch where available PLEASE NOTE: Due to some readers having difficulty with this recipe, I have retested it and found the original recipe posted works fine, as it has for many other readers. However, I have modified the recipe since posting for a better outcome for future readers! ENJOY!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was fantastic! I only used 3 thighs, but made the recipe for all the sauce to make sure there was plenty to mix with our penne pasta and steamed broccoli. I used the evaporated milk and the sauce had great consistency. It had such great flavor, we couldn’t get enough! I will definitely be adding this to my rotation.
Awesome meal. I also threw in some cherry tomatoes with the spinach near the end, not long enough to cook them all the way down but enough to almost blanch them in the sauce. Super quick and easy, served over linguini.
Be light on the salt when reducing the sauce, you are getting quite a kick of it from the bullion powder and later on the parmesan cheese. If you do go over a quick hit of fresh squeezed lemon will bring you back into balance (and also adds a nice bit of brightness to a lot of cream sauces.)
WOW!! This turned out SO GOOD!! I used half thighs and half chicken breasts and after I threw the mushrooms in, the fond wasn’t being deglazed with the moisture of the mushroom so I threw in some white wine to deglaze and then used the heavy cream instead of evaporated milk. The sauce was so good!! Such a GREAT RECIPE!! THANKS FOR SHARING! 🙂