Creamy Tuscan Chicken Thighs

close up photo of chicken thigh in tuscan cream sauce

These Creamy Tuscan Chicken Thighs are easy to make and come out juicy and full of flavor. The creamy sauce is made with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic and parmesan cheese – so delicious and perfect for THM/Keto/low carb diets.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Difficulty Easy

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Baking 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 399kcal

Author Nora

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons ground paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt or less to taste
black pepper to taste
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)
2 tablespoons olive oil OR oil from the sun-dried tomatoes

For the sauce

2 cloves sliced garlic
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 (7-oz) jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil (OR 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes NOT packed in oil, sliced in half)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon glucomannan
3 cups baby spinach

Instructions

Heat oven to 400°F.
Combine ground paprika, onion an garlic powder, salt and pepper. Rub all over the chicken thighs.
Heat oil in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Place chicken thighs skin-down in the skillet and brown for around 5 minutes. Flip and brown for 2-3 minutes on the other side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Drain excess fat from the skillet, leaving back around 2 tablespoons. Add garlic, Italian seasoning and sun-dried tomatoes and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
Pour chicken broth and heavy cream into skillet. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Add chicken thighs, skin-side facing up. Bake in the hot oven for 15-25 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165°F.
Carefully remove skillet from oven. Remove chicken to a plate. Whisk glucomannan into a couple of tablespoons cold water, then immediately stir into the cream sauce. Stir in spinach. Nestle chicken on top and finish under the broiler for 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Notes

Ingredient notes

Chicken: I prefer this recipe with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Feel free to use boneless, they take around 5-10 minutes less to cook. You can also make the recipe with chicken breast if you prefer. For these, the cooking time will greatly depend on the size/thickness of your chicken breasts, so check on the chicken often.
Sun-dried tomatoes/oil: I had sun-dried tomatoes on hand that were NOT packed in oil. The recipe tastes perfectly delicious using this “dry” kind of tomatoes and regular olive oil. If you have sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, use 2 tablespoons of their oil in place of the olive oil for extra flavor!
Cream: You can vary this according to your needs. I like using 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup chicken broth for a richer sauce, 1 1/2 cups chicken broth and 1/2 cup heavy cream for an everyday kind of meal. If you’re doing heavy Keto, you could even use all cream. Evaporated milk can be used in place of the cream if you want to have less fat/calories in the dish.
Glucomannan: This is my favorite thickener here. I hear Xanthan gum works in this recipe in place of the Glucomannan. If you don’t care about the small carb count, you could also use 1 tablespoon arrowroot OR 1 tablespoon organic cornstarch in place of the Glucomannan.

Recipe tips

Do not skip browning the chicken – it brings out so much flavor and really enhances the texture of the chicken skin, too. Keep in mind, you don’t need to cook through the chicken yet, you just need to brown and crisp up the outside. The inside will finish cooking in the oven.
Do not burn the garlic – only use medium heat and sauté no longer than 1-2 minutes. If you burn the garlic, it will ruin the entire dish with a bitter taste.
I do strongly recommend removing the extra fat from the skillet after browning the chicken. I usually leave in around 2 tablespoons and discard the rest. Even for a Keto diet where you want a lot of fat in the dish, you want the sauce to taste creamy and not greasy.
Make sure to dissolve the glucomannan (or any thickener, really!) in a couple of tablespoons of cold water before adding it to the sauce. You need to act fast, the glucomannan thickens very quickly and it’s easier if you work fast. If you sprinkle the glucomannan directly into the hot sauce, you risk ending up with lumps.

Nutrition