Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions - Tender, juicy chicken breasts, pan-seared to perfection, caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms, paired with a silky balsamic cream sauce. This dish will have your loved ones feeling like they are eating at a fine dining restaurant. The pan drippings from cooking the chicken, paired with the acidity of the balsamic vinegar and the richness of the heavy cream come together to make an incredibly flavorful sauce that also doubles as an amazing gravy.
Ingredients in Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce
Ingredients Notes
This Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions is one of my oldest, and dearest recipes. It's a quick and easy one pot chicken recipe that only takes minimal ingredients, but will have you feeling like you are eating in a fine dining restaurant. In fact, I love it so much, that I made it the cover recipe of my book Craveable Keto. Let's talk about some of the ingredients...
Step by Step Instructions
How to make Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce
STEP 1: Lightly season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.
STEP 2: In a large sauté pan over medium-low heat, add 2 tablespoons of the butter and the onions. Cook until the onions are nice and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.
STEP 3: Increase the heat to medium-high heat, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and pan-sear the chicken on both sides until it is a deep golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside. (Chicken will not be fully cooking during this stage)
STEP 4: De-glaze the pan with chicken stock. Using a rubber spatula, scrape up and mix in any remaining bits of chicken stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
STEP 5: Reduce the heat to medium-low to low, add the heavy cream, parmesan, balsamic vinegar, mushrooms and a little salt and pepper. Let simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by half and thickened.
STEP 6: Add the chicken and caramelized onions back to the pan, and simmer until the chicken is cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes or until it has reached an internal temperature of 165°F. Garnish with fresh parsley before serving.
Recipe Tips and Variations
Side Dish Suggestions
Frequently Asked Questions
When in doubt, use a meat thermometer. Chicken is fully cooked once it has reached an internal temperature of 165°F.
If you do not have balsamic vinegar, you could substitute red wine vinegar and add a little bit of sweetener.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy
REVIEW AND FOLLOW: Have you tried this recipe? If so, please leave a comment and ⭐️ rating below. If you make our recipes and share them, be sure to use our hashtag #peaceloveandlowcarb on social! We love seeing what you are making. FOLLOW us on FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST for more delicious recipes.
Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions - Tender, juicy chicken breasts, pan-seared to perfection, caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms, paired with a silky balsamic cream sauce. This dish will have your loved ones feeling like they are eating at a fine dining restaurant. The pan drippings from cooking the chicken, paired with the acidity of the balsamic vinegar and the richness of the heavy cream come together to make an incredibly flavorful sauce that also doubles as an amazing gravy.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts (4 total) (I get my organic, pasture raised chicken here)
- sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- 5 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Lightly season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. In a large sauté pan over medium-low heat, add 2 tablespoons of the butter and the onions. Cook until the onions are nice and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.
- Increase the heat to medium-high heat, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and pan-sear the chicken on both sides until it is a deep golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside. (Chicken will not be fully cooking during this stage)
- De-glaze the pan with chicken stock. Using a rubber spatula, scrape up and mix in any remaining bits of chicken stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low to low, add the heavy cream, parmesan, balsamic vinegar, mushrooms and a little salt and pepper. Let simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by half and thickened.
- Add the chicken and caramelized onions back to the pan, and simmer until the chicken is cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes or until it has reached an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Garnish with fresh parsley
Notes
- net carbs per serving: 6.7g
- Storage: Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Reheating: I recommend reheating this on the stovetop and adding a little extra cream to the sauce to help revive it.
- Use chicken thighs: I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe, but chicken thighs would work also. You've gotta love the crispy skin on bone-in chicken thighs. Yum! (Keto Chicken Recipes)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Chicken Recipes
- Method: Saute
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 618
- Fat: 44.2
- Carbohydrates: 7.8g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 44.9g
**Recipe originally posted January 24th 2012 - Updated June 3rd 2021**
Jennifer Swedlund says
I'm going to make something like this tonight (sans mushrooms), and here are a few recommendations: brown the chicken in the pan BEFORE you cook the onions, and use the chicken fat and butter to cook the onions. You can add the browned chicken back in. Secondly, I don't recommend using unenameled cast iron. Too much iron leeches into the food when you use acids like lemon or vinegar. Stainless steel would work, though!
Anonymous says
This was yummy! My husband doesnt like chicken breast but the sauce was rich enough to satisfy his craving. I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream and made 1 1/2 the recipe for more sauce to toss with some linguine. I also added in one can of mushrooms in addition to the fresh mushrooms. It was delish. Thanks!
Anonymous says
This dish is wonderful. I made it completely as instructed except I only used one skillet. I used my iron skillet and simply cleaned it after cooking the onions. It reminds me of chicken marsala, only much, much better. I served with roasted asaparagus and could barely finish my plate. So rich, but low carb. It's a keeper!!!
Anonymous says
I just made this last night and it tasted so good! I left the Parmesan cheese out because this dish doesn't need it, it's already creamy enough (plus I'm lactose intolerant so I can do without).
Will definitely be making this again some time!
Lyric says
Oh my gosh this was amazing, I am eating it right now!
Anonymous says
Delish!!!! This is wonderful.
Kim Hinton says
wow this was AWESOME!!! super easy to make and absolutely delicious.
Anonymous says
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Kyndra Holley says
Then perhaps you should have used the "print friendly" button instead
Anonymous says
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
. says
this looks so yummy!
Anonymous says
when I added the balsamic vinigar it caused the sauce to separate and kind of curdle (I had added the cream just before that and itadded in perfect -did not curdle) is this supposed to happen? I tried twice with the same results both times. All ingredients were fresh. The second time I tried I lowered the cooking temp and added the vinigar more slowly wisking as I added it in. still seemed to "curdle"
Kyndra H says
Not sure. I've never had that happen when making this dish. Perhaps it was a temperature issue?
Anonymous says
I had the same thing happen to me, as soon as I added the Balsamic the sauce curdled. I used 5% half & half at room temperature. I looked odd but still tasted great. Next time I am going to add the Balsamic ahead of the cream and see what happens. Thanks for the recipe!
Anonymous says
Me too. Curdled as soon as I added the balsamic. I even threw it out and restarted (making sure it stayed warm and NOT hot)but got the same result. But the flavor was unaffected (and Yum-o!) I was also using 1/2 & 1/2 though.. maybe it's to do with less fat? I will make it again and try cream. But either way it was so good.
Anonymous says
It happened to me as well. I just let it cook on a low bowl and it eventually formed back together. Another option is to mix the cream and balsamic together first as this will turn into a paste like cream and then add it to the broth. It seemed to me it was the broth making it curdle.
Eugenia Finlay says
This was delicious, I did sautee the mushrooms first, other than that, folowed your recipe to the T. Perfect, thanks so much! Everyone loved this~a real winner!
Anonymous says
yes- same here... I used 1/2 & 1/2 but it curdled- not terribly, mind you.. and I could have got past it if it tasted ok- but it didnt have a great flavor... I will try again with heavy cream and hope that fixes it.