An Even Better Chicken Florentine

Over three years ago, I made Chicken Florentine for the first time, and ever since then, it’s been the most frequently viewed recipe on this site. By a landslide. The people, they love Chicken Florentine. But I’ve never been entirely happy with that recipe. And let’s not even talk about the photographs in the post; they make me cringe. In the years since, I’ve made Chicken Florentine a handful of times again, and I’ve tweaked the recipe here and there each time. I just knew it could be even better, and I was right. My friends, I think I finally have my best Chicken Florentine recipe, and I knew I had to share it with all of you.

The original recipe uses more pans than I think is really necessary. It uses more butter than I think is really necessary. It asks you to cook chicken breasts whole, which introduces the opportunity for undercooked chicken and lengthens the cooking time, again, unnecessarily. I prefer this recipe with fresh spinach, so I made adjustments for that. And frankly, I prefer to drink my wine than cook with it, so I adjusted the amount of wine in the sauce, which luckily, also provides for more balanced flavor. Yes, this Chicken Florentine is even better. And I think the photos are nicer, too.

I still love this recipe because it is simultaneously virtuous (spinach!) and decadent (heavy cream!). Although it’s probably only virtuous in my own head. It’s not difficult, but it still feels special, which means it’s terrific for when you want an at-home dinner that feels a little more fancy pants than your average Monday meal. And it’s an AWESOME thing to cook when you want to impress someone.

The one thing that can make this recipe feel more difficult is not doing your prep thoroughly. This is one recipe that benefits immensely from getting your mise en place set up a bit. Once it’s going, it’s going fairly quickly, so don’t stress yourself out by trying to chop garlic and brown chicken at the same time. Take your time before you light any fires, and everything will move along smoothly.

I like this chicken served over pasta, and I think long noodles work better than short for this dish. But I suspect it would be equally good served over polenta, or perhaps tucked into a crepe or a calzone. Once you’ve got the sauce down, you can experiment any old way you want. Over the years, I’ve read comments from lots of people who’ve constructed their own variations on this recipe. That’s the way it’s meant to be: Make it your own, and I’m sure you and your peeps will fall in love with it as much as I have.

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If you’ve tried the older Chicken Florentine recipe here, check out this new one; I think the changes make it easier to cook, not to mention tastier. If you have a favorite variation on this classic dish, share your comments below! And if this recipe brought you here to The Kitchen Illiterate for the first time, here are a few other favorite recipes that you might enjoy:

• A really simple pasta sauce for store bought ravioli
• Johnny Marzetti: A Casserole with a Past
• Another classic pasta dish, Chicken Provencal
• Can you tell I like cream sauce? Here’s a great Mushroom, Chicken, and Spring Pea Penne
• And because everyone needs dessert, Mayan Chocolate Brownies