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Tuscan Chicken Thighs with White Beans is an elevated weeknight dish that gives deep, rustic Italian flavor with minimal cleanup because it’s made in one pot. Serve it with crusty bread to soak up the luscious sauce or serve it over rice, mashed potatoes or creamy Italian polenta.
As you all know, I’m a huge fan of dutch oven dinners, many of my elevated recipes are made in this Staub Braiser, that you can get on Amazon (even better if you can get an open-box deal). If you’ve ever wondered if it’s worth it to invest in a piece like this–I can assure you the answer is yes.
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Anyway, let’s chat a bit about this recipe and why I love it.
And why you'll love this recipe:
It’s made with chicken thighs, which are relatively inexpensive, easy to get, and they’re foolproof, you can’t overcook them. With the addition of a creamy Italian sauce, white beans, and spinach, it’s a complete one-pot meal.
I like to serve it with bread on the side, but you could also serve it over a bed of rice, creamy polenta, or mashed potatoes.
Ingredients + substitutions
- Bone-in chicken thighs - I use these because they’re super easy to get at the grocery store, and they’re relatively inexpensive. However, if you have boneless, skinless thighs–those work just as well! Or you could use a mix of legs and quarters, whatever you have will work (as long as it comfortably fits into the dutch oven or oven-safe skillet.
- Seasoning blend - I recommend mixing together a blend of garlic powder, italian seasoning, kosher salt, onion powder, and pepper to sprinkle on your chicken. But you could just use salt and pepper (if that’s what you have) or use a premade Italian poultry blend (as you see fit).
- Olive oil - for searing. You can use olive oil like I did or just use whatever oil you like. You could even swap the oil for a few tablespoons of butter.
- Sun dried tomatoes and oil - I used presliced sun dried tomatoes, if they’re big you might want to chop them up a little bit.
- Shallot - sliced, or if you don’t have a shallot, just use ½ of a white or sweet onion.
- Chicken stock - this is the base of the sauce, you could swap it for vegetable broth although chicken tastes better for this recipe.
- Heavy cream - to thicken the sauce and add creaminess. You can swap it for half and half or whole milk to lighten things up a bit. I wouldn’t swap it for skim or a reduced fat milk because it’ll separate and end up looking weird.
- Parmesan - freshly grated is best because it melts beautifully. If you don’t have parmesan cheese, I’m a big fan of using what you have so you could swap it for Pecorino or Asiago.
- White beans - I used Cannellini beans, which are medium-sized kidney-shaped bean with a velvety interior. They’re perfect for this dish because they’re stable and won’t fall apart, they’re also the white bean used in most Tuscan-inspired recipes. But any white bean that you have will work and will not take away from the flavor. This is a flexible recipe, please use what you have in your kitchen!
- Spinach - I used baby spinach, you can just toss it in whole, no need to chop anything unless you want to. Kale would also work here, but full transparency: kale is not as good. Swiss chard might also be nice but I haven’t tried it, it sure would be pretty, though!
- For garnish: fresh thyme and lemon wedges, for a pop of flavor and color and totally optional.
How to make this recipe
Making this dish is surprisingly simple considering how elegant it looks. You can do it even if you're a beginner in the kitchen.
- SEASON + SEAR THE CHICKEN - you’re going to season your chicken and sear it in an over-safe skillet or dutch oven. I’m a fan of the dutch oven, personally. Get the skin crispy then remove it from the pan.
- MAKE THE SAUCE - the tuscan cream sauce is all about layering in those flavors from the shallot and sun-dried tomato, you’re going to saute those together. Then deglaze the pan with chicken broth. After that you’ll add the heavy cream and melt down the parmesan.
- PUT IT ALL TOGETHER - finally add in the beans and spinach. Stir it until the spinach wilts and return the chicken to the pan, bake it.
- FINALLY - garnish with some fresh thyme (if you have it) and some lemon wedges (again if you have them), and serve!
Personally I don’t think you need to make a side dish, you could just serve this with some fresh bread. But of course it goes wonderfully over a bed of rice, polenta, or mashed potatoes.
Do you need anything special to make this recipe? Nope, but...
You don’t need anything special or fancy to make this recipe. Any large, oven-safe pan will do. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I use my Staub Braiser for almost all of these elevated chicken recipes that I make.
It’s very much worth the investment and you can get it right here on Amazon.
Variations
- Without beans - you can make this recipe without the beans, of course you can just leave them out and follow the recipe without adding the beans. Maybe add a little extra spinach.
- With pork - bone-in pork chops would be a great swap but you will need to watch the cooking time to be sure they don’t dry out. I would probably just sear the pork chops until the internal temperature of 145 degrees F is reached, then tent with foil and follow the rest of the recipe without baking it in the oven.
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If you're a fan of using a dutch oven to elevate your weeknight dinners, you're going to LOVE these recipes, specifically my Dutch Oven Chicken Thighs with Mustard Sauce and the Dutch Oven Meatballs. They've gone viral many times over!
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs or use a mix of bone-in legs and thighs
- ½ tsp EACH: garlic powder, Italian seasoning, kosher salt, onion powder, and pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil or any neutral-tasting oil
- ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes + 1 tsp of the oil from the jar
- ½ shallot sliced
- 1 cup chicken broth or stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup parmesan freshly grated
- 1 can (any) white beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup baby spinach
- optional for garnish: fresh thyme and lemon wedges
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Pat the chicken dry and season the chicken with the spice mixture. Use more or less as needed to suit your preferences.
- Drizzle olive oil into a large oven-safe pan (or dutch oven) over medium-high heat and sear the chicken on both sides for 5-8 minutes or until the skin is golden and crispy.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and add the sun dried tomatoes (with the oil from the jar), and shallot. Saute for 3 minutes or until the shallot is fragrant.
- Add the chicken broth and let it bubble down as you scrape the sides and bottom of the pan.
- Turn the heat down to low and add the heavy cream and parmesan. Stir until the parmesan melts.
- Add the beans and spinach, stir for a minute until the spinach wilts.
- Return the chicken to the pan and bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees F.
- Finish it off by garnishing with lemon wedges and fresh thyme.
Notes
Nutrition
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Michelle
I love that the beans and chicken are together.