Creamy Tomato Chicken Skillet Dinner | The Modern Proper (2024)

September 21, 2023

Tender chicken breasts cook a garlicky, creamy tomato bath, and the addition of kale rounds the creamy chicken skillet meal into a true one-pan dinner. Plus, it’s ready in just about 20 minutes.

Kick Your Pasta Craving to the Curb

Creamy, tomato-y, cheesy meals are definitely our kryptonite. Usually, they come in the form of some sort of baked pasta dish—Baked Penne Alla Vodka or Easy Stuffed Pasta Shells, or regular old Lasagna, we’re really not picky. But when we’re trying to keep things a little lighter and healthier, we turn to Italian flavor inspired chicken skillet dinners like our Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Skillet, Marry Me Chicken and of course this creamy tomato chicken skillet dinner recipe! It truly takes barely 30 minutes to put together—just a single pan full of simple ingredients. Easy, healthy-ish, cheesy, kale-y—it’s a real everyone-pleaser.

What You’ll Need to Make this Chicken Skillet Dinner

We bet you’ve already got everything you need to make this creamy tomato chicken recipe! It’s sort of unbelievably basic. You’ve got oil, salt and pepper, right? You’ll just need a few more things to make this skillet dinner:

• Chicken breasts
• Garlic
• Fennel seed
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• Canned, crushed tomatoes
• Heavy cream
• Parmesan cheese
• Kale
• Basil
• Tomato paste

A Creamy One-Pan Chicken Recipe

Here are the few things you'll need that make this dish so super delicious:

1. Tomato paste! If you’re not in the habit of keeping this superstar ingredient in your pantry, it’s time to pick up a new habit! Tomato paste is essentially tomato concentrate—tomatoes are cooked down for hours until nearly all of the moisture has been cooked out, and all that’s left is a densely flavorful distillation of tomato flavor. It’s a source of umami, and really intensifies the tomato flavor of this dish.

1. Cream! Oh yeah. Heavy cream. It satisfies like none other, and the combination of heavy cream and tomatoes is what makes this dish so comforting, and so reminiscent of your favorite baked pasta dishes (sans carbs!).
2. Cheese! If you’re feeling luxe, spring for a real-deal, grate-yourself hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano. In a pinch, the pre-grated Parmesan cheese will do, though. Just like the tomato paste, Parmigiano-Reggiano is a source of umami, that delicious savory 5th flavor.

How To Make This One-Pan Chicken Skillet Recipe

Grab yourself 20 minutes, and get cooking! Here’s how easy it is:

1. Brown the chicken breasts in a bit of olive oil, to give them a nice crisp outside. Set them aside.
2. Keep the skillet warm, and add tomato paste, garlic, fennel seed and red pepper flakes. Then pour in the crushed tomatoes, and get the sauce simmering.
3. Pour in the heavy cream along with some Parmesan and kale.
4. When the kale looks wilty, add the seared chicken breasts back to the skillet, and cook until the chicken is done!
5. Serve! We like to top the finished chicken skillet with cheese and fresh basil.

Tools You’ll Need:

• Large skillet
• Can opener
• Microplane grater (if you’re using a chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano)
• Tongs
• Sharp knife
• Cutting board

More Skillet Dinner Recipes!

For when you can’t even deal with opening the oven—one-pan, stove-top dinner recipes are what’s up!

• Skillet Chicken Pot Pie
• Sausage, Kale and Potato Skillet Dinner
• Philly Cheese Steak Skillet
• Chicken Enchilada Skillet
  

Save Us, Skillet Dinners!

And save us they do! Week in, week out, we turn to these trusty, easy recipes to get dinner on the table fast. Let us know how you like this creamy tomato chicken recipe! Tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy eating!