This creamy paleo tuscan chicken is a super-tasty one-skillet meal that’s perfect for weeknights and full of flavor! Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are seared and cooked with a creamy sauce packed with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Paleo, dairy-free, Whole30, and Keto friendly!
One-skillet dinners make my ain’t-no-time-momma heart sing. That’s a real thing, of course.
And by “heart singing” I just mean I feel approximately 15% less stressed out by the chaos of life when I know I can make dinner in just one skillet. I’m sure there’s at least a few of you ladies out there who can relate!
When there’s only one skillet needed to cook dinner from start to finish, it gives me hope that I can, in fact, make it to 9pm without a complete meltdown. Not anything to take lightly – we need these one-skillet meals.
Okay, hopefully I’ve sold you on the one-skillet thing but if not, I’m sure I will with everything else about the actual recipe.
It’s a creamy Tuscan chicken that’s totally dairy-free, paleo, gluten-free and packed with veggies! It’s relatively low in carbs as well, with the only carb source really being the sun-dried tomatoes.
If you’d like an even lower-carb keto option, you can always use fewer sun dried tomatoes.
For the chicken, I knew from the start I’d have to go with boneless skinless THIGHS, not breasts. Breasts are great if you’re “breading” your chicken but honestly they are way too dry in my opinion for anything else – even a creamy sauce.
The thighs cook almost as quickly and they have 10x the flavor, crispiness, and juiciness of the breasts. We’ll season them, sauté, and then remove from the skillet while we make the yummy sauce.
So yes – it’s one skillet only, but, you’ll need a plate of some sort. Use a paper one if you’re like me and can’t stand the thought of another dish!
The sauce itself is similar many creamy sauces I make – a combination of chicken bone broth and coconut milk, with some tapioca to thicken.
I add a little stone ground mustard and nutritional yeast as well, which, in my opinion, cuts the flavor of the coconut milk enough so that you can barely taste it.
I know many of you are sensitive to coconut flavor, so if you really want to cut the taste, you can use a bit more tapioca to thicken, more broth, and less coconut milk. But, I encourage you to try the recipe as written since the coconut flavor is really quite minimal!
I hope you’re ready for a full-of-flavor, one-skillet meal that you’ll want to throw right into your dinner rotation ASAP! Grab your chicken and a nice big skillet because it’s time to cook – let’s go!
Creamy Tuscan Chicken {Paleo, Whole30, Keto}
Creamy Tuscan Chicken {Paleo, Whole30, Keto}
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil plus additional if needed
- Sea salt and pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp tapioca flour or arrowroot
- 1 cup chicken bone broth
- 1/2 cup coconut milk full fat, blended before adding if needed
- 1/2 Tbsp stone ground mustard
- 1 1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast optional
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning blend
- 1/4 tsp sea salt or to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper or to taste
- 2/3 cup sun dried tomatoes roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 cups baby spinach roughly chopped
Instructions
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Season the chicken with sea salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder. In a large skillet add the coconut oil and cook the chicken thighs on medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until browned and no longer pink in center. Remove chicken and set aside on a plate.
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Add additional oil if necessary and cook the onions over medium heat until soft, then stir in the garlic and cook another 45 seconds.
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Whisk in the tapioca or arrowroot, the add the broth and coconut milk. Stir to combine, then stir in the mustard, yeast, Italian seasoning, sea salt and pepper. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until it starts to thicken.
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Add the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes and allow mixture to simmer until spinach is wilted and tomatoes are softened. Add chicken back to the skillet and simmer another 2 minutes. Serve over cauli rice, zucchini noodles, or with roasted potatoes. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Nutrition
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Want More Paleo Chicken Recipes?! Try One of These!
Honey Mustard Chicken in the Instant Pot
General Tso’s Chicken in the Instant Pot
Chipotle Lime Chicken in the Instant Pot
Chicken Pesto Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Chicken Broccoli “Rice” Casserole
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My family really enjoyed this – even the kids. I am grateful that it is possible for us to eat healthier. Thank you!
I made this for dinner last night for my family and they loved it, even my picky eater!! It was delicious!
Wonderful! Making it again today for a quick, premade early weeknight meal. Followed directions exactly as written except only had 1/2 C sun-dried tomatoes. Served over seasoned cauli rice. Still super tasty and even better next day. No coconut flavor detected at all. Just rave reviews! Thanks much!
this recipe is AMAZING!!!! i used chicken tenders instead of thighs just because i cook with them more frequently and it was still so good!!! i paired it with zucchini noodles which was perfect😍
Hi, Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe! Can I use ghee instead of coconut oil? I prefer using ghee since I came to know the ghee health benefits. Will it be fine?
So I just want to put out a warning about using coconut oil on medium high heat…I have a fairly new glass stovetop in America and I set my heat to “5” (which is medium level heat; it’s not even “medium high” heat). I preheated my stainless steel pan on the level 5 heat, tossed in the 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, it melted immediately, smoked and within seconds, it quickly caught fire. Apparently the smoke point of coconut oil is 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Thankfully, the fire was quickly dealt with and everything is okay. I just wanted to impart that following the instructions to a tee might be dangerous. I would use a lower heat setting if using coconut oil, or I would use an oil with a higher smoke point like avocado oil. Otherwise, the recipe turned out beautifully and it tasted good. I restarted it with a new pan on a level 2-3 setting (low-medium heat) and it might have taken a tad longer, but it looked like the picture when it was done.
Oh my goodness! This is so flavorful! I seriously thought I was in Italy!! PLEASE stick to the recipe!!! The only thing I did differently was cut the chicken in large cubes. 😋 and I have extremely picky eaters.
This recipe is DELICIOUS!!! I made a double recipe half for mevhalf for my aunt. I want to keep the whole thing!! I’m getting some more chicken to make a batch to freeze!
Very clear and detailed instructions. thank you for sharing!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! My 4 year old said it was the best dinner he’s ever had lol I doubled the sauce per some of the comments and I’m glad I did because we served it over some brown rice pasta and it was just the right amount. I’ve been making your recipes for years and this one was so good that I hand wrote it to put in our family recipe book 🙂 Thank you!