One-Pan Creamy Garlic Chicken Gnocchi (Printable version)

Tender chicken and fluffy gnocchi in a rich garlic-Parmesan cream sauce with spinach, all cooked in one skillet for easy cleanup.

# Ingredient List:

→ Chicken & Seasoning

01 - 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
02 - 1 teaspoon salt
03 - ½ teaspoon black pepper
04 - 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
05 - 1 tablespoon olive oil

→ Sauce & Gnocchi

06 - 4 cloves garlic, minced
07 - 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
08 - ½ cup dry white wine
09 - 1 cup chicken broth
10 - 1 cup heavy cream
11 - 18 ounces potato gnocchi, fresh or shelf-stable
12 - 3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
13 - ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
14 - ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

→ Garnish

15 - 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
16 - Extra grated Parmesan cheese for serving

# How-To Steps:

01 - Preheat oven to 400°F.
02 - Pat chicken thighs dry and season both sides with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
03 - Heat olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Sear chicken thighs for 2–3 minutes per side until golden brown. Transfer to a plate.
04 - Reduce heat to medium. Add butter and minced garlic to the skillet, sauté for 1 minute until fragrant.
05 - Deglaze pan with white wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom. Simmer for 2 minutes.
06 - Stir in chicken broth and heavy cream. Bring to a gentle simmer.
07 - Add gnocchi to the skillet and stir to coat with sauce. Return chicken thighs and any accumulated juices to the pan, nestling them into the sauce.
08 - Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. Transfer skillet to preheated oven.
09 - Bake uncovered for 15–18 minutes, until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and gnocchi are tender.
10 - Remove from oven and stir in chopped spinach, allowing the residual heat to wilt the leaves. Garnish with fresh parsley and additional grated Parmesan before serving.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • It's genuinely one-pan, which means cleanup won't haunt you later.
  • Chicken thighs stay impossibly tender and juicy while the gnocchi absorbs all that garlicky cream magic.
  • The whole thing comes together in 40 minutes, leaving you time to actually set a nice table.
02 -
  • Don't skip patting the chicken dry; it's the difference between a proper sear and steaming chicken that tastes kind of sad.
  • If your gnocchi are shelf-stable rather than fresh, they sometimes need an extra minute or two to fully soften, so watch them and don't panic if they're still slightly firm at first.
  • Add the spinach at the very end because if it cooks with the sauce for too long, it loses its color and becomes almost army-green.
03 -
  • Buy whole Parmesan and grate it yourself literally five minutes before cooking; it changes the texture of the entire sauce in ways pre-grated cheese simply cannot.
  • If your skillet isn't oven-safe, transfer everything to a baking dish before the oven step, though you'll miss that one-pan elegance.
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