A quick 20 minute chicken dinner that’s simple enough for midweek but elegant enough for company – my versatile Creamy Mushroom Sauce served with a lightly crusted chicken breast. It’s very, very, very good.
Quick Chicken Breast recipe that’s good enough for company!
This is a recipe I shared on Good Food Australia last month which I saw made their list for the 20 Most Popular Recipes for September. Actually, it topped the class!
Thus I’ve deemed it a recipe I must also have on my own website!
The Creamy Mushroom Sauce is the real hero in this dish. It’s an excellent sauce option for lean chicken breast meat, adding richness and wow factor!
What goes in Chicken Breast with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
The creamy mushroom sauce in this recipe is an excellent sauce for chicken breast, adding richness to an otherwise very lean meat.
And it’s a notch above the usual basic mushroom sauce recipes thanks to a splash of white wine, parmesan and chicken stock/broth. These are all well established flavour enhancers / umami boosters that I use regularly and I don’t hold back!
- Chicken breast – just 2 which we cut in half horizontally to make 4 steaks (which will serve 4 if you used big breasts). Boneless thigh fillets work as well but I recommend pounding to even out the thickness and for more flat surface area so it pan fries crispy more evenly;
- Flour – this is to dust the chicken which gives it a light crispy coating and gives the sauce something to cling on to. Without it, the sauce just slips off the surface of the chicken – not a big deal as such, but it is nicer when the sauce stays on the chicken when you spoon it on!
- Mushrooms – any type of small sliceable mushrooms will work here. Swiss/Cremini mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms – I’ve just used standard white button mushrooms;
- Garlic – because where there are mushrooms, there is always garlic! (At least, in my world…)
- Butter – because where there are mushrooms and garlic, butter tries to make an appearance too, because butter is flavour. However, olive oil, margarine and other alternatives will work just fine too because this sauce has other flavourings in it (ie cream and parmesan);
- Cream – because we’re making a creamy sauce here! Lower fat alternative: evaporated milk. This actually works better than low fat cream because the consistency is thicker, and is ~30% lower calories than full fat cream.
- White wine – ah, the secret ingredient! A little splash of white wine goes a long way to add depth of flavour to simple sauces like this, especially when used to deglaze the pan which is when you use a liquid (wine in this case) to dissolve the golden bits stuck on the base of the pan after pan serving the chicken. Those gold bits -called fond – is free flavour and forms the basis of the incredible flavour in this otherwise simple creamy sauce!
- Parmesan – for flavour plus also for this recipe, it helps thicken the sauce rather than using gallons of cream; and
- Chicken stock/broth – to add even more savoury flavour into this creamy sauce!
How to make Chicken in Creamy Mushroom Sauce
This is a nice quick chicken recipe:
- 4 minutes to make the chicken golden
- 5 minutes to sauce the mushrooms
- 3 minutes for the sauce
- Split chicken: Cut chicken in half horizontally to form 2 thin steaks per breast so you have 4 steaks in total. Cutting breast in this way is an excellent way to cook chicken breast on the stove because it cooks faster and more evenly. In contrast, a whole breast is much thicker so the outside rim and the thin tail end overcooks and dries out before the middle in the thickest part cooks through (unless you pound them to even thickness);
- Season & dust: Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, then flour;
- Panfry chicken in butter until golden and crispy – just 2 minutes on each side will do because the chicken is nice and thin;
- Cook mushrooms: Remove the chicken then melt some more butter to cook the mushrooms until golden. Pro tip: Add the garlic towards the end otherwise it burns well before the mushrooms are done;
5. Deglaze pan: Add the wine – it will be steamy! We’re going to simmer rapidly to cook out the alcohol and just leave behind the flavour. Also, as it simmers, all the brown stuff on the bottom of the skillet from browning the chicken AND mushrooms (this is called fond) will dissolve into the liquid which makes the sauce even tastier!
6. Make it creamy: Add the cream and parmesan;
7. Simmer for a couple of minutes to reduce and thicken; and
8. Serve! Return the chicken to the pan to warm through and coat the base with sauce. Then serve!
Oh – just in case you are in any way concerned – this dish comes with plenty of sauce. Nobody has ever accused me of skimping on sauce! So rest assured that whatever starchy vehicle of choice you serve this with will be well soaked with the creamy mushroom sauce.
This rich, creamy Mushroom Sauce is particularly excellent with lean chicken breast!
What to serve with this dish
A sauce this good calls for something worthy for soaking / mopping!
- Creamy Mashed Potato rates highly (and here’s the low carb version – Creamy Mashed Cauliflower)
- Pasta, polenta, mashed beans or plain rice (brown, white, jasmine, basmati – find them all here)
- Crusty bread or soft dinner rolls for mopping
Then something green to complete your plate. It’s pictured with store bought mixed greens with my reliable Everyday Salad Dressing (any vinegar, oil, mustard). Use for everything – and I really do. Fresh leafy greens, chopped juicy veg (cucumber, tomato), shaved raw veg (fennel, asparagus), or even steamed vegetables (broccoli, beans, peas!). Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
CRISPY CHICKEN
- 2 chicken breasts, large (~600-700g / 1.2 – 1.4 lb total, Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 1/4 cup flour
- 15g / 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Mushroom Sauce
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 300g / 10 oz mushrooms , sliced (button or swiss brown)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (sub more chicken stock, Note 2)
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock , low sodium
- 1 cup thickened / heavy cream , full fat (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup parmesan , finely, freshly grated (Note 4)
For serving
- 2 tbsp chives , finely chopped (optional – sub parsley, green onions, or omit)
Instructions
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Split breast: Cut each breast in half horizontally to form 4 thin steaks in total.
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Dust: Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with flour and use your fingers to spread it all over the surface.
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Cook chicken: Melt 15g butter in a large non stick fry pan over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook each side for 2 1/2 minutes until golden brown and just cooked through. Remove from pan, cover and keep warm.
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Cook Mushrooms: In the same fry pan, add remaining butter and increase heat to high. Add mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes until starting to turn golden brown on the edges.
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Add garlic later: Then add garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper, then continue cooking for another 1 minutes until garlic and mushrooms are golden.
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Deglaze skillet: Add white wine – it will be steamy! Cook for 30 seconds, scraping the bottom of the pan, until it’s mostly evaporated and the winey smell is gone.
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Make creamy sauce: Add chicken stock, cook for 1 minute so it mostly evaporates. Then add cream, lower heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes until it reduces and thickens slightly.
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Add parmesan: Stir in parmesan, taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
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Chicken in sauce: Return chicken into sauce for 30 seconds (to warm through slightly). Then garnish with chives and serve like that, for people to help themselves (or transfer to serving platter). Or put a piece of chicken on each plate, spoon over sauce and garnish with more chives.
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Sides: Ideal served with mashed potato or rice – something to soak in that amazing sauce! See Note 5 for suggestions.
Notes
- Creamy Mashed Potato rates highly (and here’s the low carb version – Creamy Mashed Cauliflower)
- Pasta, polenta, mashed beans or plain rice (brown, white, jasmine, basmati – find them all here)
- Crusty bread or soft dinner rolls for mopping
Nutrition
This is a recipe I originally created for Good Food Australia which I deemed to good to not share on my own website!
Life of Dozer
Dozer on the job, using his highly developed palette to ensure the chicken is perfectly cooked. (He gobbled it down so fast he wasn’t sure, calling for another piece to try again… and again and again….)
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