This keto friendly Cheesy Chicken & Spinach Skillet is basically a big pan of super flavorful, super easy, cast iron skillet comfort food.
Here’s a flavor explosion of a recipe for those of you looking for low carb, high protein, keto friendly dinner options! This Cheesy Chicken & Spinach Skillet is all of the above, and a great way to make use of part of a big family pack of chicken (if you happen to find one on clearance at ALDI like I did recently…)
Keep this keto chicken dinner both simple & low carb when you serve with a side of broccoli or cauliflower rice, for a complete & filling meal.
Cheesy Chicken & Spinach Skillet
Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 Tbsp diced yellow onion
4 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp)
8 oz fresh spinach
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs of chicken)
1/2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp paprika
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
4 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz shredded mozzarella
Directions
Take cream cheese out to soften, then chop the garlic and onion. Shred mozzarella, if not using pre-shredded.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Trim the chicken and slice it lengthwise so that you have four thinner pieces, then season on both sides with sea salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and paprika.
Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a 12″ cast iron skillet over medium heat for about one minute, until shimmering. Add onion and saute for one minute. Stir in the spinach, garlic, and optional crushed red pepper and saute for about three minutes, stirring often, until spinach wilts. Remove spinach to a separate bowl.
Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to the skillet and swirl to coat. Add chicken and brown for three minutes per side over medium heat.
Turn off the heat under the pan. Spread each piece of chicken with cream cheese (this doesn’t have to be perfect — I cut mine into little chunks to make it easier), then top with sauteed spinach and sprinkle with mozzarella.
Move skillet into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Broil on high for one minute to brown the cheese.
Note: It’s easiest to flip chicken with tongs, and I generally season it on one side, place it in the pan seasoned side down, then season the other side while the chicken is already in the skillet — just to make things simpler.
Keto Chicken Skillet Fun
This keto friendly Cheesy Chicken & Spinach Skillet is basically a big pan of super flavorful, super easy, cast iron skillet comfort food. I’ve been all about the comfort food lately on these chilly Chicago winter evenings, so… What’s not to like?
This cheesy chicken skillet recipe is also naturally gluten free, and the chicken stays nicely moist and juicy under its blanket of spinach and cheese.
Cheesy Chicken & Spinach Skillet, printable recipe
- 2 Tbsp olive oil divided
- 2 Tbsp diced yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic minced (about 2 tsp)
- 8 oz fresh spinach
- 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper optional
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts about 2 lbs of chicken
- 1/2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp paprika
- Sea salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 oz shredded mozzarella
-
Take cream cheese out to soften, then chop the garlic and onion. Shred mozzarella, if not using pre-shredded.
-
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-
Trim the chicken and slice it lengthwise so that you have four thinner pieces, then season on both sides with sea salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and paprika.
-
Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a 12″ cast iron skillet over medium heat for about one minute, until shimmering. Add onion and saute for one minute.
-
Stir in the spinach, garlic, and optional crushed red pepper and saute for about three minutes, stirring often, until spinach wilts. Remove spinach to a separate bowl.
-
Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to the skillet and swirl to coat. Add chicken and brown for three minutes per side over medium heat.
-
Turn off the heat under the pan. Spread each piece of chicken with cream cheese (this doesn't have to be perfect -- I cut mine into little chunks to make it easier), then top with sauteed spinach and sprinkle with mozzarella.
-
Move skillet into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
-
Broil on high for one minute to brown the cheese.
It's easiest to flip chicken with tongs, and I generally season it on one side, place it in the pan seasoned side down, then season the other side while the chicken is already in the skillet -- just to make things simpler.
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Lynn says
December 19, 2018 at 4:24 pmThis was very tasty, will be using the leftover in vegetable pot pie recipe.
Tayelor says
January 4, 2019 at 10:54 amRachel,
I am so grateful for your site! Over the last 3 months I have routinely opened the weekly ad, started my meal plan, then opened a new tab for your site to round out my list. Thank you for all the great ideas!
This chicken recipe garnered instant “yummms” from the whole family, and had no left overs! Needless to say, it was immediately written down and transferred into my staple meals binder. I did choose to use chicken tenders since I already had them, but otherwise exactly as written. I used asparagus and risotto rice for sides.
Thank you again for taking the time to gather and create so many good meals!
Tina says
January 10, 2019 at 5:40 pmGreat flavor, love the 1-dish!
Carol Horzempa says
June 29, 2019 at 7:01 pmMy husband and I love this recipe! He can’t handle spices so I went very light on garlic and paprika and no red pepper. With the cream cheese, spinach and topping of more cheese, it had plenty of flavor for us. The chicken was also very tender. This dish looked so pretty with the golden cheese that I had to take a picture of it! This would be a great recipe to serve too company also.
Cadie says
July 24, 2019 at 7:46 pmI just found your page about a week ago and I am so excited to try to follow the weekly meal plans. We were a little behind on getting to the grocery store and starting the week off. But we made this tonight and it was delicious! Most of the ALDI prices matched here in Rochester, NY. I had a few items that were less than listed so I was overall happy with the total for groceries for him and I to eat for the week. Thank you for putting this together weekly!
Maran says
December 5, 2019 at 3:29 pmThis was really good. I used a spice rub I keep on hand (Williams Sonoma smokehouse rub which is good on everything, especially roasted veggies). Since my hubby is lactose intolerant, the cream cheese was out so instead I used just a little bit of mayo spread on top of the chicken. I think the tangy mayo tied the chicken and spinach flavors together nicely and kept the chicken juicy.
Oh, and I made three chicken breasts and only needed half the bag of spinach. This one is a keeper in my recipe binder!
Sonya says
December 9, 2019 at 6:40 pmHi Rachel. Thank you for an easy, delicious recipe. I was nervous was a lot of my meals lately have not been great due to timing (rushing to cook after work). My kids love it!! I will be adding this recipe to my list. Thanks again!
Wendy says
December 10, 2019 at 5:07 pmI didn’t see how many carbs and calories this recipe is?
Mary says
January 17, 2020 at 6:52 pmMade this on the stovetop, using left over rotisserie chicken. It was pretty good, came out nice and saucy too.