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Chicken Florentine Pasta in a light creamy sauce is an easy 30-minute weeknight meal (it actually doesn’t have any cream in it at all!). In case you’re wondering what in the world “florentine” means: It’s a fancy name for foods that are served with spinach. But doesn’t the name take you to the patio of a bistro in Paris?
The spinach in this pasta is vibrant, healthy and tasty. Also, this method for cooking chicken produces some seriously tender chicken strips and it’s so easy because you don’t have to slice any raw chicken ?. You’ll wonder where this method has been all your life.
P.S. This chicken florentine pasta also reheats really well – creamy as ever!
Ingredients for Chicken Florentine Pasta:
8 oz linguine pasta, cooked to package instructions
2 small/medium boneless skinless chicken breasts
Olive oil to sauté
1 bunch green onion, (1 cup chopped) (green and white parts)
1/2 lb button mushrooms (white or brown)
Ingredients for the Sauce:
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2-3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
4 cups fresh baby spinach, loosely packed
Freshly grated parmesan to serve
How to Make Chicken Florentine Pasta:
1. Cook pasta according to package instructions then drain and set aside (while pasta cooks, continue with step 2).
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2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large, deep pan over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp oil. Add chicken and sauté the first side until golden brown (5 minutes), flip, cover and sauté another 5 min or until done. Remove from pan and rest 10 minutes before slicing against the grain.
3. In the same pan, add 1 Tbsp oil if needed along with sliced mushrooms and green onion. Sauté until soft and golden (5 minutes). Remove from pan and set aside.
4. In the same pan, add 2 Tbsp butter, 3 Tbsp flour and pressed garlic then whisk 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in 1 cup chicken broth then 1 cup milk. Bring to a simmer and whisk until smooth and starting to turn creamy (2 min). Add spinach and stir until wilted (1 min). Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper or season to taste.
5. Add sliced chicken, sautéed mushrooms and drained pasta and toss to combine. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Chicken Florentine Pasta

Ingredients
Ingredients for Chicken Florentine Pasta:
- 8 oz linguine pasta, cooked to package instructions
- Olive oil to sauté
- 2 small/medium boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 lb button mushrooms, white or brown
- 1 bunch green onion, (1 cup chopped) (green and white parts)
For the Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2-3 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach, loosely packed
- Freshly grated parmesan to serve
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions then drain and set aside (while pasta cooks, continue on).
- Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large, deep pan over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp oil. Add chicken and sauté the first side until golden brown (5 min), flip, cover and sauté another 5 min or until cooked through. Remove from pan and rest 10 min before slicing against the grain.
- In the same pan, add 1 Tbsp oil if needed along with sliced mushrooms and green onion. Sauté until soft and golden (5 min). Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add 2 Tbsp butter, 3 Tbsp flour and pressed garlic then whisk 2 min. Slowly whisk in 1 cup chicken broth then 1 cup milk. Bring to a simmer and whisk until smooth and creamy (2 min). Add spinach and stir until wilted (1 min). Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper or season to taste.
- Add sliced chicken, sautéed mushrooms and drained pasta and toss to combine. Season to taste if needed and serve with parmesan cheese.
Nutrition Per Serving
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I put in the search: ‘chicken breast, spinach and pasta’ and got this easy delicious recipe! Why did I just discover it now!! I didn’t have linguini so I used fettuccine and used the cooking cream instead of milk but half a cup and it was great.
Thank you Natasha 🙂
Hi Dania! I’m so glad you found the recipe. Thank you for the feedback!
This is so delicious and easy to make. I’ve made this several times now. I add a little more mushrooms because we love it. Made my chicken broth from better than bouillon roasted chicken baste and used 1% milk( that’s what I had). Chicken tenderloins are also good with this(faster cook time). Making this for dinner tonight and the leftovers are so good the next day!
Thank you for sharing, Sarah! I’m so glad you love the recipe.
Yum! My husband can’t have gluten, so I used Jovial Tagliatelle and thickened the sauce with cornstarch (I mixed a couple of tablespoons with a little milk and stirred a little bit at a time into the sauce mixture until the thickness was just right). I really appreciated this cooking method for the chicken breasts, too. Thank you!!
You’re welcome, Leah! I’m glad you and your husband enjoyed this recipe. 🙂
I made this recipe last week for the first time. I substituted a few things to make it a bit healthier: butter with avocado oil, milk with soy milk, chicken broth with bone broth, and store-bought linguine with homemade wholewheat spaghetti.
It turned out great even without parmesan on top. Definitely I will be making more of it.
Thank you, Natasha.
That’s great, Alla! I’m so glad you loved it.
Can this be frozen in to portions and re cooked and can it re heated for a lunch if so how would I do that to keep it the same way
I have not tested it, but I think it could work.
Made it for dinner tonight and we will make it again. It was delicious!
That’s great, Barbara. So glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Made this Saturday for dinner and my husband and I really enjoyed it. He had the leftovers last night and thought it tasted even better. I will be making your Shepherds Pie tonight.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
Made this with homemade spinach pasta (had to use up a huge container of baby spinach), and it was delicious! Thanks for another fabulous recipe!
You’re welcome, Sarah. I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I would probably try to make this a little lighter by using fat-free evaporated milk or fat-free half & half. Gotta stick with the butter, though. looks & sounds yummy!!
Sounds good, please share with us how it goes if you do an experiment on that.
Hi, so I was planning on fixing this for dinner, but I was wondering if I could double the sauce because I’d be using more than 8oz of pasta, I’d use the entire box actually .
Thanks!
That would work too!
This is the best chicken Florentine pasta i had ever tasted!! It’s delicious! I was looking for a recipe and saw yours and the video and decided to try it. I’m so glad I did. I will also try other recipes of yours as well. Thanks Natasha.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
This is the best chicken florentine pasta i had ever tasted! It’s delicious. i was looking for a recipe and saw yours and the video and decided to try it. I’m sure glad I did. I will be trying other recioes of yours, thanks Natasha.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Patsy! Thank you for the wonderful review!
This was delicious! I substituted almond milk for the regular milk, and it was fine (I’m sure it would have been richer with regular milk, though). Doubled the vegetables. Unfortunately, I had no parmesan here, but that would have made it sublime. Love your recipes!
Hello Jennifer, thanks for sharing that with us. I’m sure there are others who would like to try using almond milk. Thanks for the tip!
I used 4 oz of thoroughly drained frozen spinach instead of fresh, subbed the breasts for boneless skinless thighs and the pasta for angel hair, and chopped and skinned a whole eggplant to fry with the mushrooms and onion.
It couldn’t have been any better, absolutely delicious.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi Natasha, can I use something else to sub the milk?
Hi Ann, to be honest, I’ve never tried that substitution in pasta so I’m not sure how it would affect the consistency. I searched the comments and no one has reported trying that. If you experiment, let me know how it works out!
Natasha,
I was delighted 😀 with the chicken Florentine. It is light, balanced and delicious. I will be back for more recipes, thanks!
Chris
I’m so glad you loved it, Chris!
Love your recipes and videos ! Can this recipe be doubled ? Please advise if ok to do. Just double all ingredients or not ? Ty
Hi Deb, you sure can! Yes, you will double all ingredients.
Forgot to take a picture, food just disappeared from plates!
That’s so awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe Aivars!
Loved the Florentine Chicken Pasta. Do you think it would work well to make it and freeze it in 4 pyrex containers? (Want to make and give it as a Valentine’s present.)
Hi Anne, to be honest I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
This sounds so delicious! I’m making it this weekend for a dinner party. Can I make ahead and then pop in the oven the next day?
Hi Rachael, I haven’t tested it that way to advise. If you experiment, please let me know how you like it