Creamy Tuscan chicken recipe made without cream

Mandi Knowles, RDN · Senior Director of Research & Development, Wellina
Published: September 1, 2026

Most Tuscan chicken recipes call for a cup of heavy cream. This one doesn't, it uses 2% or oat milk thickened with cornstarch, which gets you the same glossy, clinging sauce for a fraction of the fat.

The chicken is the easy part. The sauce is where this recipe lives or dies, so that's what's worth understanding before you start.

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Getting the sauce right

Use less cornstarch than you think. The rule is roughly 1 tablespoon per cup of liquid for a sauce that coats the back of a spoon. For the 1½ cups of milk here, 1½ to 2 tablespoons is plenty. More than that and you'll get something closer to gravy: thick, slightly gluey, and hard to thin back out without diluting the flavor.

Whisk the cornstarch into cold milk, never into the hot pan. Cornstarch clumps instantly in heat. Mixing it with the cold milk first is the entire trick, and it takes ten seconds.

Keep it below a boil. This is the step people skip. Milk sauces curdle when they boil, and the acid in sun-dried tomatoes makes it more likely. Reduce the heat to low before the milk goes in, let it simmer gently, and don't walk away. If it does split, pulling the pan off the heat and whisking in a splash of cold broth will usually bring it back.

Oat milk behaves differently. It thickens faster and can turn slimy if overcooked, so start with less cornstarch, about 1 tablespoon, and take it off the heat as soon as it coats a spoon.

About the sun-dried tomatoes

These carry most of the flavor and most of the salt. If you're using oil-packed, drain them well and cut the olive oil in the recipe to 1½ tablespoons, they bring plenty of their own.

Dry-packed need a few minutes in hot water to soften before chopping, and they're the lower-sodium option if that matters to you.

Creamy Tuscan Chicken Recipe

Servings: 4
Nutrition Facts per Serving
Calories: 345
Total Carbohydrates: 17g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Protein: 32g

Ingredients

• 2½ Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 lb. chicken breast
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ cups 2% milk or unsweetened oat milk
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• ½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
• ¼ cup low sodium chicken broth
• 3 cups spinach
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions

1. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the chicken with black pepper and Italian seasoning, then cook until golden and no longer pink, about 5 to 8 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
2. Add the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil to the same skillet. Stir in the shallot and garlic and cook until soft, about 1 minute.
3. In a bowl, whisk the cornstarch into the cold milk until no lumps remain.
4. Reduce the heat to low. Add the milk mixture, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and broth. Simmer gently for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until the sauce coats a spoon. Don't let it boil.
5. Add the spinach and cook just until wilted.
6. Return the chicken to the pan, spoon the sauce over each piece and heat through.
7. Serve topped with parmesan.

What to serve it with

The sauce wants something to soak into. Whole grain pasta or orzo is the obvious answer, and polenta is the better one if you have it.

For a lighter plate, serve it over a bed of the spinach rather than stirring the spinach in, with roasted broccoli or green beans alongside. A crisp green salad with a sharp vinaigrette cuts the richness well.

Make it work for a weeknight

Pound the chicken to an even thickness before cooking. Breasts are thick at one end and thin at the other, which is why one half dries out while the other finishes. Two minutes with a rolling pin fixes it.

It reheats well, with one caveat. Cornstarch-thickened sauces thin out when reheated, so warm it gently on the stove with a splash of broth rather than blasting it in the microwave.

Naturally gluten free, since cornstarch does the thickening rather than flour which is worth knowing if you're cooking for someone avoiding gluten.

A note from the kitchen

At 32 grams of protein a serving, this is one of the more protein-dense things you can make in half an hour, which is what makes it worth the effort on a Tuesday. If half an hour is still more than you have, our freshly made meals and high-protein range get you to the same place in about four minutes.