So you’ve been asking yourself, what is chicken florentine? Here’s a brief overview of the dish. The sauce is thick and reminiscent of cream, so that the white wine will give it an extra kick of flavor. You can substitute the white wine with equal parts of chicken broth and a half teaspoon of Dijon mustard. The sauce is also suitable for other protein choices, including pork chops, chicken thighs, and shrimp.
Heat the same skillet you used to cook the chicken to prepare the sauce. Add two tablespoons of butter. Chop the onions and garlic. Saute for three to four minutes. Then add the white wine. Cook until the sauce is half-cooked. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover it with foil to keep it warm. Next, cut the chicken breast lengthwise and pound it. Then, season it with Italian seasoning and sprinkle it with almond flour.
Chicken Florentine is a rich, flavorful dish with a creamy sauce that swaddles golden, tender chicken and turns every bite into pure bliss. This dish is actual Italian comfort food. All you need is a few simple ingredients and a skillet, and the result is an instant family favorite! Serve it over pasta or potatoes, and you’ve got a delicious dinner ready.
What Is Chicken Florentine?
Golden, pan-fried chicken cutlets are served in a creamy Parmesan sauce with spinach and Italian seasonings as Chicken Florentine. It gets its name from the Florentine cooking style. A dish prepared à la Florentine, or in the manner of Florence, Italy, is referred to as “Florentine style.” The word combines spinach and a Mornay sauce (béchamel sauce with shredded cheese).
This refers to the main dish, such as chicken, fish, or eggs, served atop a bed of sautéed buttery spinach and topped with Mornay sauce and Parmesan cheese. Eggs Florentine, for example, is a variation on eggs Benedict in which a poached egg is served over a bed of spinach on a grilled English muffin with Mornay sauce rather than hollandaise.
Chicken Florentine can now be served over a bed of spinach with Mornay sauce poured over the top, although the pan-fried chicken cutlets are more frequently served straight in the sauce. This approach is my favorite since the chicken comes out more soft and tasty.
How to Make Chicken Florentine?
To make this dish, you’ll need a non-stick skillet. Add two tablespoons of butter and season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Once the chicken has finished cooking, add the white wine and chicken stock. After a minute or two, stir in half, and add the cream cheese.
When the sauce is simmering, add the spinach and the cream cheese and mix well. Serve the dish with a piping hot salad! To make chicken florentine, you must first prepare the chicken. For example, if you’re going to be using a pan with direct heat, you should pound the chicken to be as evenly cooked as possible.
In addition, you should bring it to room temperature before cooking since this will promote even cooking and help limit shrinking. It’s also good to use a sharp knife to cut the chicken breasts.
This Chicken Florentine recipe serves perfectly grilled chicken in a thick and creamy spinach sauce, and it goes well with pasta, rice, and a simple green salad. For extra taste and color, add a squeeze of lemon and some fresh parsley.
Pro Tip for Making Chicken Florentine
- Pound the chicken flat to ensure even cooking; chicken breasts plump up while they cook due to protein gelling, so they will still come out thicker than you expect. Thin cutlets cook faster and are more appealing to the eye.
- Allow the chicken to rest while you prepare the rest of the ingredients; putting the cold chicken in the skillet cools the olive oil/butter, which might result in inconsistent cooking.
- To keep the golden crust that forms on the chicken, leave it alone while it cooks. When the chicken is done searing, it will release from the pan; if you force it, it will tear.
- It’s ideal to use a combination of butter and olive oil. The butter gives the chicken a golden color, while the olive oil prevents the chicken from burning with its higher smoke content. (Reduce the heat to medium if the pan becomes too hot while the chicken is searing.)
- This dish is enhanced with the addition of mushrooms, capers, cherry tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes.
- The cream cheese can be left out; I’ve made it before without it, and it thickens it somewhat and adds more taste and creaminess.
What Is a Florentine Sauce Made of?
The florentine sauce is a breeze to prepare. Heavy cream, white wine, butter, garlic, Parmesan, and fresh spinach are commonly used in its preparation. Many Chicken Florentine recipes, unfortunately, scrimp on the sauce. This Chicken Florentine dish, however, is not one of them! The sauce is a creamy white sauce usually made with garlic, onion, and heavy cream.
The chicken and spinach are then combined with the sauce and mushrooms. Fresh spinach and Parmesan cheese are also added to the sauce for additional flavor and shine. If you’re looking for a healthier alternative to traditional chicken dinner, chicken florentine is excellent. Aside from being a delicious dish, chicken florentine is also a perfect choice for a weeknight dinner.
The final Florentine sauce is delectably creamy (even creamier than sauces made entirely of heavy cream! ), rich, and downright delicious! I kept the taste profile conventional but left out the wine and thickened the sauce with chicken stock and cornstarch, so there’s plenty to go around. The cornstarch also prevents the sauce from becoming weak and runny.
You’ll need the following items:
- Butter- Butter will be used in the sauce and sear the chicken, and excellent butter is just as crucial as quality olive oil. Danish Creamery is my favorite butter brand. Their European Style Butter has an 85% butterfat content making it ideal for sauces, baking, or simply spreading over toast.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil- Olive oil is recommended for the best flavor. When cooking, combining butter with olive oil enhances the taste and prevents the butter from burning.
- Heavy Cream: is called “heavy whipping cream” at your grocery store.
- Chicken Broth: is more flavorful than just milk or cream. Please make sure you use low sodium broth so we can control the salt.
- Cornstarch: helps thicken the sauce, so it’s lusciously creamy instead of watery. It allows you to use chicken broth instead of all heavy cream.
- Parmesan cheese- adds a beautiful salty nuttiness to the sauce. Use only freshly grated Parmesan cheese for the best results.
- Shallot- a single shallot will suffice. Regardless of how many cloves are in the bulb, one shallot is considered the entire bulb.
- Garlic- I use four garlic cloves, and it is delicious, but you may use fewer if you wish.
- Red Chili Pepper Flakes- add a little zing to the sauce. Red pepper can also be added to individual meals.
- Seasonings- parsley, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper are used to season this Chicken Florentine to perfection. To taste, add more or less.
Spinach: you can use baby spinach or mature spinach, but you’ll have to tear the mature spinach into smaller pieces. - Tomatoes: are optional, but their sweet pops of flavor add so much! Please use ripe cherry tomatoes because they are inherently sweeter than grape tomatoes.
What Does Florentine Mean in Food?
The term “florentine” refers to a dish served in the style of the Italian city of Florence. Spinach is a common element in Florentine cuisine. In most cases, chicken Florentine is served with a creamy spinach sauce. In these circumstances, I’ve also included mushrooms. The mushrooms give the dish a lot of flavor and texture, and they go so well with spinach.
What Chicken Should I Use for Chicken Florentine?
Chicken Florentine is traditionally made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts split in half to make chicken cutlets. Compared to full chicken breasts, thin cutlets cook more uniformly, are softer, and absorb more flavor. You may either make your chicken cutlets by slicing two large chicken breasts through the equator or buy pre-sliced cutlets in a package.
Pound the cutlets until they’re an equal thickness. This is how you do it quickly: 1) tenderizes the chicken by breaking up the tissues, and 2) the uniform thickness helps the chicken cook uniformly all over without the thinner bottom becoming overcooked while, the thicker top finishes cooking.
Conclusion
This chicken Florentina recipe will be great for your next potluck or holiday dinner. The chicken should be seasoned with salt and pepper before dredged in flour. After this, stir the sauce and cook until the chicken is doYou’llu’ll need to buy boneless, skinless chicken to make this disease. Add some white wine and a little extra broth if you like a thicker dish. Once cooked, chicken Florentine can be frozen or refrigerated.
If you plan to make it in advance, don’t forget to keep the sauce chilled or frozen. If you want, add additional spinach and mushrooms to your chicken before baking. It will keep well for up to 5 days or even for a couple of months. It’s also easy to reheat leftovers, so don’t skip the step of dredging in flour! If you want to avoid a fatty sauce, you can substitute a dry one for white wine.
The sauce should have a rich flavor but not overpower the chicken. You can also use any neutral-flavored oil for cooking. Add a few drops of white wine, but you don’t need to buy expensive wine for this dish. For the white wine, you can use Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. Fresh lemon juice also works well.
