10 Chicken And Spinach Recipes To Add To Your Dinner Rotation
Chicken and spinach are a match made in heaven. Typically paired with a rich, creamy sauce, there are so many variations on this theme that also check a lot of the boxes we're looking to tick off for both weeknight and weekend meals. In terms of flavor, chicken and spinach dishes lean toward the brighter side, with typical notes of citrus and salty cheese. Red meat is plenty tasty, but not everyone wants that heavy feeling that beef and pork give you. Let's not forget the nutritional benefits, either.
Chicken is a great source of lean protein. There's a reason the fitness scene loves to pack their diet full of chicken breast. And everyone knows that spinach is good for you, thanks to the old Popeye cartoons. Rich in iron, bursting with antioxidants, and chock full of fiber, spinach is one of the best leafy greens you can get your hands on. The addition of heavy cream and cheese in several of these recipes does tick up the calorie count a bit, but it's pretty easy to substitute out lighter options if you want.
Results may vary depending on the exact recipe, but coconut cream is a good heavy cream alternative, for example. Still, you can't go through life endlessly optimizing your macros while sacrificing the pleasure of a good meal. There's a reason chicken and spinach are so often paired with a creamy sauce – it's delicious. And there's plenty of nutritional benefit here to be proud of.
Creamy Chicken Spinach Pasta Bake
An excellent option for meal prep, this pasta bake recipe developed by Jennine Rye comes together quickly and rewards you with a mighty big pan of healthy, delicious food that's sure to please even the pickiest people at the table. The recipe combines penne pasta, bacon lardons, and sun-dried tomatoes alongside the chicken breast and spinach all in a creamy sauce to create something truly heartwarming. Most of the cooking is done in the oven, so this is just as good on a busy weeknight as it is for a big Sunday dinner.
Spinach And Tomato-Stuffed Chicken Breast
You've probably heard of stuffed peppers, but have you ever tried stuffed chicken? This simple recipe created by Jennine Rye is versatile and ingenious. Simply slice open the chicken breast, stuff it with delectable herbs and spices, and bake it in the oven. These are tasty enough to serve as your main dish alongside a salad or pasta, but you could also upgrade a different recipe that calls for chicken breast with these bad boys for maximum flavor. Once you get accustomed to how this is made, you can also branch out into different types of filling.
One-Pan Chicken, Spinach, And Feta Meatballs
This decadent little number developed by Kara Barrett brings the beauty of chicken and spinach together with feta to create one of the culinary world's most fearsome contenders: meatballs. Tender, crisp, and supremely flavorful, these chicken meatballs get cooked in a lemon cream sauce, which means this dish is a wonderful blend of bright citrus notes and rich textures bordering on comfort food. Just be careful, because there is actually a maximum amount of spinach you can eat in a week, and there's no telling if you'll be able to stop yourself once they're made.
Crockpot Spinach And Artichoke Chicken
Cooking with a Crockpot feels like cheating, given how easy it is to concoct a hearty, delicious dinner while simultaneously deep cleaning your refrigerator. This recipe created by Alexander Roberts of Alexander Bakes ups the ante with the addition of artichoke, which gets combined with cream cheese and Parmesan cheese for a hearty main that goes great over pasta or rice. If you don't have a Crockpot or some other slow cooker appliance, you can still make this dish on the stove.
Creamy Chicken Spinach Soup
If you've been eyeing the creamy sauces that these other chicken and spinach recipes have been using and wishing it was given a stronger role in the dish, this creamy soup recipe developed by Kristen Carli of Camelback Nutrition and Wellness has you covered. Primarily using a chicken broth base, the recipe adds some heavy cream to the dish for a heartwarming soup that's full of veggies such as onions, mushrooms, and, of course, spinach. Perfect on a cold day when you need a boost, this goes great with a slice of fresh bread and butter.
Recipe: Creamy Chicken Spinach Soup
Shortcut Chicken And Spinach Lasagna
Lasagna is universally loved for its rich sauce and meaty texture, but sometimes it can come across as a bit heavy. This recipe created by Leah Maroney of Mini Pie Kitchen is a great way to still enjoy the bold flavors of your favorite pasta dish while giving the classic formula a lighter touch. The shortcut here is to use rotisserie chicken to cut down on cook time, which is pretty smart. There's even a fun tip on how to turn this recipe into lasagna roll-ups for when you don't want or need a full pan of lasagna.
Copycat Olive Garden Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
Olive Garden has a great chicken and gnocchi soup that inspired this copycat version developed by Alexander Roberts of Alexander Bakes, which would be great either as a main plate or as a side dish. We think gnocchi is a criminally underrated type of pasta, and we love to see it branching out into soup territory. Creamy, chunky, and easily adapted to a dairy-free or gluten-free version, this soup is versatile and delicious. The fact that it's a one-pot recipe is simply the icing on the cake.
Spinach And Feta Chicken Pot Pie
The traditional chicken pot pie recipe combines chicken with peas, carrots, and a creamy base beneath a crisp pie crust. This version created by Michelle McGlinn isn't exactly reinventing the wheel, but by swapping out the peas and carrots for spinach and feta you get something with a little bit of Mediterranean zest. It's a great way to spice up a recipe that has, for many of us, become a touch rote. Who says you can't teach an old pie new tricks?
Recipe: Spinach And Feta Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Florentine Meatballs
Not altogether dissimilar to the previous chicken feta meatballs recipe we mentioned above, this version developed by Michelle McGlinn moves away from the sharp bite of feta and heads to France for something a bit more indulgent. Although Florentine usually refers to the cooking style of the Italian city of Florence, this recipe uses a type of béchamel sauce known as mornay, which is distinctly French. This recipe goes great over pasta and should be served with a side of veggies and bread if you want to make it a full meal.
Recipe: Chicken Florentine Meatballs
Air Fryer Stuffed Chicken Breast
The air fryer craze has died down somewhat in recent months, but these neat little gadgets are still plenty useful. This is another stuffed chicken breast recipe, only this one developed by Kit Hondrum of Kit's Kitchen is faster and more energy friendly, thanks to our good friend the air fryer. The filling is somewhat similar here as well, using spinach and sun-dried tomatoes for flavor combined with Parmesan, mozzarella, and cream cheese for body. Like the other stuffed chicken recipe, this would go great with a side plate of pasta or veggies for a simple weeknight dinner.
Recipe: Air Fryer Stuffed Chicken Breast