Creamy Whole30 Tuscan Chicken with Artichokes (Paleo)
Posted: 01/10/22
Updated: 01/26/22
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This healthy, creamy, Whole30 Tuscan chicken with artichokes is such an amazing Italian dinner recipe, and it’s good for you, too! Whole30 and paleo, it’s dairy-free but still super creamy, loaded with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. It’s a quick and easy skillet dinner, perfect for a weeknight. One of our favorite paleo recipes.
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- What I really love about this healthy, creamy, Whole30 Tuscan chicken is that it is so dang quick and so dang easy. The ingredients in the recipe are real elements to the dish: chicken, artichoke hearts, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes… There aren’t too many supporting ingredients here.
- Did I mention it’s quick? It comes together in about 30 minutes, which makes it super duper easy to throw together on a weeknight for a quick Italian skillet dinner. It’s really one of our favorite paleo recipes!
- The flavors and textures are everything you want and hope they’ll be! The chicken breasts are cooked perfectly until they’re so tender, not at all dry. The sauce is dairy-free, yes, but still oh-so-creamy, and it’s perfectly flavored with plenty of garlic, fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts.
- It’s a healthy, Whole30, paleo, low carb, keto-friendly, dairy-free, gluten-free, and grain-free recipe, so it’ll suit just about anyone! Don’t you love it when you can cook just one meal and make the whole group happy?
Key Ingredients
Chicken Breasts – Perfectly cooked, perfectly tender, perfectly juicy chicken breasts. If you’d prefer to use chicken thighs, you totally can. Check out the Chef’s Tips section below for specifics!
Coconut Cream/Milk – Don’t worry. It’s not going to make your Whole30 Tuscan chicken super coconutty or tropical tasting. It WILL, however, make the sauce unbelievably creamy and rich, while still being Whole30-compliant, paleo-friendly, and dairy free.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes – Look. I don’t make the rules. But sun-dried tomatoes, chicken, and a rich cream sauce are just meant to be together. Don’t believe me? Check out my reader favorite Marry Me Chicken (Whole30 version coming soon!) and you’ll see exactly what I mean. The slight sweetness coupled with that tart tanginess? Oh, it’s so good.
Chef’s Tips
- This recipe is at its very best when you use all of the ingredients listed. They’re there for a reason! If you really need to, though, you can leave out any one of the three: sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, or artichoke hearts. But I beg you, please only do it if you or one of yours JUST WON’T EAT that ingredient. Trust me, I’ve been there, I get it. Keep at least two, though, so you get a real Tuscan chicken flavor!
- If you eat dairy or are keto, opt for heavy cream or half-and-half in place of the coconut milk or cream. Coconut milk is fine on keto, but it’s just barely higher in carbs than the other two.
- Looking for more fat or a little more flavor? Use chicken thighs instead of the chicken breasts! Sear them skin side down in avocado oil for 8 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Flip and bake in a 375º Fahrenheit oven for 14 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and set chicken thighs aside. Pour off the grease and continue with the recipe, starting with adding the butter or ghee.
Other Paleo Recipes You’ll Love
- Creamy Tomato Artichoke Chicken (Whole30, Paleo)
- Best Ever Paleo Italian Meatballs with Creamy Tomato Sauce (Whole30, Paleo)
- Healthy Zuppa Toscana (Whole30, Paleo)
- Bruschetta Chicken (Whole30, Paleo)
- Whole30 Creamy Garlic Chicken (Dairy Free, Paleo)
- Roasted Air Fryer Carrots
Creamy Whole30 Tuscan Chicken with Artichokes (Paleo)
This healthy creamy Whole30 Tuscan chicken with artichokes is such an amazing Italian dinner recipe, and it's good for you, too! Whole30 and paleo, it's dairy-free but still super creamy, loaded with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. It's a quick and easy skillet dinner, perfect for a weeknight. One of our favorite paleo recipes.
servings
Ingredients
- 4 large chicken breasts uniformly sized; approximately 2 pounds
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon ghee or butter, or avocado oil; see Notes
- 2 shallots minced; approximately ½ cup
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 13.5-ounce can coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk; unsweetened
- 2 packed cups fresh spinach
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes sliced
- 1 14-ounce can quartered artichoke hearts drained
Equipment
- Large skillet
- Plate
Instructions
- Liberally season both sides of each chicken breast with salt.
- Heat avocado oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot and shimmering, place chicken breasts in skillet. Cook 5 to 6 minutes per side, depending on thickness of chicken breast. Once chicken is browned and firm on both sides, transfer to plate and set aside.
- Clean any browned or burnt residue from skillet, then return to heat. Lower heat to medium and add ghee (or butter or avocado oil). When ghee is melted, add minced shallots and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant – approximately 30 to 60 seconds.
- Pour in coconut cream and stir well. Add spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. Stir well, then allow sauce to simmer until well combined and slightly thickened, approximately 5 minutes.
- Return chicken to skillet and turn 2 to 3 times, to coat in sauce. Serve warm with roasted potatoes, cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, or spaghetti squash.
Notes
- If you’re on a Whole30 or are strictly paleo, use ghee here. If you’re not on any particular diet or include grass-fed butter as part of your paleo diet, use butter. If you’re totally dairy free, use avocado oil.
- Make it Keto: Coconut milk is fine on keto, but you can use heavy cream or half-and-half in place of the coconut milk, if you’d rather. Only if you’re not also paleo or on a Whole30, though!
To Make Roasted Potatoes:
- Preheat your oven to 425º Fahrenheit. Slice small yellow or fingerling potatoes lengthwise and toss them with avocado oil until coated. Sprinkle with plenty of salt and place them cut side down.
- Roast until golden brown and crispy on the cut side, about 15-20 minutes. The potatoes should slide around the pan relatively easily when they’re cooked crisp enough. Transfer to your serving bowls and place your chicken on top. Spoon plenty of sauce over!
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 530kcal, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 37g, Fat: 37g, Saturated Fat: 23g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 103mg, Sodium: 454mg, Potassium: 1117mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 819IU, Vitamin C: 22mg, Calcium: 44mg, Iron: 3mg, Net Carbs: 11g
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Really enjoyed this recipe. Was worried that so much coconut cream would overpower the dish but turned out very mild, in my opinion. Instead of pounding the chicken, I sliced them in half lengthwise and they were easy to work with. Thanks for posting, will definitely make it again.
Hi, Susan! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for sharing! 😊
I absolutely love this recipe. I even have to make it without garlic (because it hurts my stomach) and it’s still wonderful.
Omg !!! So good! So easy?! I thought it was going to be more tedious and I was wrong. To help speed things up, I made the chicken in the air fryer and I made the sauce separately. I also added 3 or 4 dashes of worchestire (idk how to spell it) and it was incredible. Served with homemade mashed potatoes 🥔
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
The whole family enjoyed this meal. We do find the coconut cream to be too sweet for us, so we will look for an alternative and try again. We are only on day 3 of Paleo lifestyle and we appreciate all of these paleo recipes. We are working our way through them one recipe at a time.
Prep time was perfect. I was able to make this dish in about 35 minutes.
I absolutely love this recipe! I have made it so many times. Perfect for meal prep during the week. I have been eating mainly vegetarian lately so I swapped the chicken for some cannelloni beans and added some rotini pasta. Also use kale bc that’s what I usually have.
My husband and I LOVED this recipe! The only thing I did differently was to throw in some pine nuts while the garlic was sautéing.
can you make this ahead of time.