This simple and easy creamed chicken recipe included tender chicken cooked in flavorful chicken stock and served with a rich velvet cream sauce and fresh basil and grape tomatoes.
In my household, we call this creamed chicken recipe velvet chicken, because that rich velvet cream sauce will have you tempted to lick your plate. This is a low-carb and keto recipe that’s the perfect weeknight meal. In fact, it’s ready to serve in under 30 minutes.
Besides being quick and easy, it’s also super simple and you only need 6 ingredients. This includes chicken breasts, chicken stock, heavy cream, butter, fresh basil, and fresh tomatoes. All you need to do is cook the chicken in a skillet and then add the chicken broth, so it soaks up all that delicious flavor to make the most tender chicken breast possible.
Then we make the low-carb velvet sauce by reducing the chicken broth in the pan and then thickening it with a wonderful heavy cream. I first developed this sauce a few years back for pork chops but since we’ve quit eating pork I adapted it to chicken and was thrilled to find it works just as well.
The final step is to serve the creamed chicken with some fresh basil and tomatoes on top as a garnish. Tomato basil is a popular cream sauce to pair with chicken, so we’re just keeping things fresh this time. It’s the perfect light touch to the rich cream sauce.
Recipe Ingredients
- Boneless skinless chicken breast halves
- Chicken broth
- Heavy cream
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh basil and grape tomatoes for garnish
How to Make Creamed Chicken
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add chicken and salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is golden brown, then flip and salt and pepper again.
Continue cooking until opposite side is golden brown (about 2 minutes on each side).
Pour in the chicken broth, reduce heat to medium and cook until broth is mostly evaporated (about 10 minutes).
Once broth has cooked down, remove the chicken from the pan and turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the stove eye/burner.
Have a wooden spoon handy and pour the cream into the pan. Immediately start stirring and continue until the pan remnants are fully blended in with the cream and cream is warm and thick. This should take just a few minutes.
Serve chicken breasts with delicious cream sauce spooned over them.
Garnish with sliced grape tomatoes and fresh basil.
Velvet chicken is so good! I hope you get to try it soon. It is a satisfying dish and a delicious way to liven up chicken.
Storage
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat either in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. But just note that cream sauces can split once thawed, but usually come back together once reheated. Thaw leftovers overnight in the fridge before reheating as above.
Recipe Notes
- For the cream sauce, you can use heavy cream or even half-and-half.
- You can sub the chicken breasts for skinless chicken thighs. But do note that they might take longer to cook.
- Want to add some extra flavor to the creamed chicken?
- Add a teaspoon or two of your favorite dried herbs and spices: Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, dried rosemary, and/or dried thyme are some popular options.
- For lemon cream chicken, add up to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice when you add the cream to the skillet.
- Add a tablespoon of dry sherry alongside the cream.
- Sprinkle the chicken with cayenne pepper or paprika before serving for a touch of heat.
Recipe FAQs
How do you serve creamed chicken?
The serving options for this main dish are truly endless. If you want to remain low-carb and keto, keep things as is. If you don’t mind a few carbs with your creamed chicken, here are some options:
- Serve the cooked chicken breasts over egg noodles, rice, or a bed of mashed potatoes. A keto option is cauliflower rice.
- Enjoy them for breakfast or brunch over toast, waffles, or homemade buttermilk biscuits.
- Add a simple garnish of chopped fresh parsley and serve the creamed chicken with a different vegetable side dish. This might be zucchini and squash, fresh green beans, or even collard greens.
Here are more easy chicken supper recipes you might enjoy:
Chicken Broccoli Skillet with Pimento Cheese Sauce
Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- fresh basil and grape or cherry tomatoes for garnish
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and salt and pepper them. Cook until golden brown, then flip and salt and pepper again. Continue cooking until the opposite side is also brown (approximately 2 minutes on each side).4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, salt and pepper to taste, 3 tbsp butter
- Pour in the chicken broth, reduce heat to medium, and cook until the broth mostly evaporates (about 10 minutes).1 cup chicken broth
- Once the broth has cooked down, remove the chicken from the pan and turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the stove eye.
- Have a wooden spoon handy and pour the cream into the pan. Immediately start stirring and continue until the pan remnants are fully blended in with the cream and the cream is warm and thick. This should take just a few minutes.½ cup heavy cream
- Serve chicken breasts with delicious cream sauce spooned over them. Garnish with sliced grape tomatoes and fresh basil.fresh basil and grape or cherry tomatoes for garnish
Nutrition
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Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
~Lao Tzu
Can I use skin on chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts? Thank you very much,
Robbyn
What a beautiful presentation…an offering very suitable for company
I am in love already, this looks so good! I am a fan of anything in a cream sauce, so I am putting this on my menu.
I hope you like it when you get a chance to try it!!
This has become one of our “go-to” recipes. Since we are empty nesters we cut back on the amount of chicken and keep everything else the same. We then cook pasta, cut the chicken into pieces, add it to pasta along with the extra gravy to make a one dish meal.
Great idea Larry!!! I am so glad you like the recipe and appreciate you sharing your tip with us!!!
Do you have the nutritional values for this recipe! Gotta try this one!
I don’t Carol but it is easy to get. Google nutritional values and insert the ingredients and it will give you all that you need. There are lots of sites that offer that service for free!
Sounds so good I’m sure gonna try this very soon! I’m new to this low carb but so far everything I’ve tried has been delish!! ❤️ I’m so glad I found Southern Plate….
I am glad you found it too Karen!! So glad you are enjoying the recipes!!
Hi, Christy! Are you still doing low-carb? I know you had great results. I’m thinking of going that route. 43 yrs old and weight is totally stuck. I’d love to lose about 50 pounds. You are such a blessing! I have your pulled lol with clear bbq sauce in my crock pot right now!
I’m working out what I’m going to do, I’m kind of in the in between. I had some serious kidney stone issues and so had to leave low carb for a while and now I’m in the process of getting back in the saddle but I’m not entirely sure which horse that saddle will be on ;). Most likely I will do low carb but have some of the good carbs like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc.
Thanks, Christy! Hope all goes well!