Creamy roasted garlic tomato basil chicken with spinach. This easy chicken recipe uses roasted garlic cashew cream mixed with a jar of flavorful tomato basil sauce for a quick weeknight dinner! Serve it over cauliflower rice with fresh basil.
This post is sponsored by Lucini Italia, using their organic tomato sauce.
We've started weaving in some recipes a few nights a week without grains or added sugars works. You do what works for you and your family. I base my personal approach to food on my own trajectory toward becoming a happier person.
I seem stuck in the throes of postpartum depression - it's been brutal this time around. I'm ready to make changes and I'm on a journey back to a place where I'm happy, where I love myself, and where I love my body.
A couple of weeks ago, I confessed on Instagram Stories that I hate exercise. I always have. So many of you replied with encouraging messages (thank you!). Plenty of folks suggested that I need to find exercise that I like, but I've tried...and tried...and honestly, for a couple of very random health reasons I won't go into in detail here, I just don't like the way I feel while exercising, no matter what activity.
Sure, I definitely should be kind to myself because this body birthed two children, but I think much of my happiness is trapped in all my clothes that don't fit and the extra chin that shows up when I smile in pictures. I don't feel happy - both on the inside and the outside - and I'm hopeful exercise can help with both.
So I literally googled, "what to do if you hate exercise?" And I decided that I need to build a habit of exercise before I set any big time goals. When I think about running for 30 minutes every day for five years, it seems impossible, so I put it off. Instead I'm starting with the goal of putting on my work out clothes and running for 5 minutes a day. My brain can handle that. So far it's working - I've run (or danced) every day since then, each time lasting at least 15 minutes when my goal was just 5.
I'm coupling the exercise habit building with those good-for-you eating choices I talked about above. When dishes come out as delicious as this creamy tomato basil chicken and spinach over cauliflower rice, it's an easy choice.
Tomato Cashew Cream Sauce: Creamy Chicken Recipe
It's all about the sauce. This creamy chicken recipe is simmered in a creamy roasted garlic tomato basil sauce that is completely dairy free.
Instead, the tomato basil chicken sauce gets its creaminess from homemade roasted garlic cashew cream sauce. I've folded that with a jar of Lucini's organic rustic tomato basil sauce for a super easy weeknight dinner that has layers of flavor.
The seasoned organic Lucini sauce tastes like it's been simmering for hours, only you don't have to do that part!
How to Cook Chicken in a Skillet
For this creamy tomato basil chicken recipe you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs - your choice! To cook boneless skinless chicken in a skillet without ending up with dry chicken with a thick burnt crust, start it on the stove and finish it in the oven.
Season it well with salt and pepper, then give it a good sear to brown the outside of the meat. Quickly pop it in the oven to cook it all the way through. This method retains more of the juices from the chicken. It also cooks the chicken more evenly without it developing a thick dry layer on the outside.
Chicken Recipe
Transfer the chicken to a plate then mix and heat the sauce in the same pan with the spinach before nestling the chicken back into the pan to coat.
Serve the chicken and sauce over cooked cauliflower rice with plenty of fresh herbs on top, as I've done here.
It also goes great spooned over pasta. Looking for more veggies?
Disclosure: Special thanks to Lucini Italia for providing the ingredients for this recipe and sponsoring this post! And thanks to you for supporting the companies that keep Snixy Kitchen cooking!
Recipe
Creamy Tomato Basil Chicken and Spinach
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews
- ½ cup hot water
- 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled (or an entire head, for roasting)
- Pinch kosher salt
- 2¼ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, 4-6 breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 25.5 oz jar Lucini organic tomato sauce, I recommend Lucini's Organic Rustic Tomato Basil
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups spinach
- ¼ cup fresh basil
- Salt & pepper
- Chopped parsley
- 2-3 cups cooked cauliflower rice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Pour the hot water over the cashews in the jar of a high powdered blender or food processor. Let it sit while you roast the garlic. Note: I use the small blender jar, but if you only have a large blender or food processor, double the cashew cream recipe, then remove half and save it for later (freeze it for up to 6 months!)
- If using just cloves, rub them in olive oil and wrap them in foil. If using a whole head, slice off the very top ½-inch of the head and pour a teaspoon of olive oil into the garlic. Wrap the head in foil. Place the garlic in the oven and roast for 30-45 minutes, until beginning to turn golden brown and soft.
- Meanwhile prepare the chicken breasts. Pound the chicken until it's an even 1-1½-inch thickness. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.
- In a large oven proof skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken breasts and let sear for 2-3 minutes until it begins to brown and lifts easily from the skillet. Flip the chicken and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven alongside the garlic and let cook for 13-20 minutes (depending on the size of your breasts) until the thickest part of the breast reads 165°F on an oven thermometer. Remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the chicken to a plate, leaving any juices behind.
- Meanwhile, prepare the cashew sauce. Add the three cloves of garlic and a pinch of salt to the blender or food processor with the cashews and water. Blend until completely smooth and creamy. If you had to double the cashew cream, remove half and save it for later.
- Heat the same skillet you used to cook the chicken over medium heat, add the jar of Lucini tomato sauce and the roasted garlic cashew cream. Clean the jar of the sauce out with ¼ cup of water and add that to the pan as well. Bring to a low simmer, stirring until completely smooth.
- Add the spinach and toss it gently to wilt for 1-2 minutes. Nestle the chicken back into sauce, covering it completely. Garnish with fresh basil and, if using, parsley. Serve over cauliflower rice.
Cynthia -
Hi Sarah! I came across your recipe while trying to find new ways to vary our dinner menu (my partner and I are getting a little bored of the same meals). This was absolutely delicious. The cashew cream and the basil flavour, omg, my partner loved it. I didn't have a basil tomato sauce jar available so I blended some canned crushed tomatoes with fresh basil and I think it worked pretty well. Thank you so so much for sharing this recipe. We have added it to our menu :)
Nova @ The High Strung -
Oh my, this looks fantastic. You absolutely had me with those cherry tomatoes that burst but stay whole – those things are like candy to me. I’m all over a skillet meal and will definitely be trying this with my family.
Elizabeth -
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about the PPD. I didn’t realize it at the time, but absolutely had it when my first daughter was born and then again, and very bad, when she started to wean. It can feel so overwhelming and awful, so I hope your support system is there for you. And, always, I’m here for you too. I’d be happy to chat, and listen, anytime. Sending love!
This dish, and your approach to incorporating Whole30 meals a few times a week, is wonderful. This is just the kind of thing we make for family dinners, and I can’t wait to try it out.
Diane -
Hi Snix, I love your blog and aspire to make many of the extraordinary recipes you share. I feel compelled to reach out and share with you that I too suffered post partum depression and it was also partly due to my body image. We know the physiological reasons we gain weight... we can concentrate on how essential is it for a healthy pregnancy, labor, and birth. And sure there’s much about the birth of baby for feeling gratitude; but that doesn’t help us fit into our jeans again. We still desire to express our individuality, our sexuality, and the essence of who we are apart from being a Mom. May I humbly suggest and support you in taking all the time you need to perhaps reconnect with your inner-self; and rekindle the love in your heart for the beautiful Devine being you are as you navigate this. As a mom of two young women, I eventually found a peace in better accepting (the aging process) more gracefully that which is not mine to control. May I say with love in my heart, you are lovely in your skin as it is, and will be ???? ... and please forgive me if I have overstepped.