Fragrant and oh-so-delicious, this creamy chicken with herbs de Provence is perfect for a comfort food dinner! Super easy to make with fridge and pantry staples, this skillet chicken recipe doesn't require any fancy equipment and comes together in about 30 minutes.
Making herbs de Provence chicken with a cream sauce isn't too typical or a classical French recipe, but it gives such an indulgent feel and flavor. And given the popularity of my creamy tarragon chicken I think you'll love this herb cream sauce version too!
Much like my paprika chicken recipe and my turmeric chicken thighs, this juicy chicken with herbs de Provence is just what you need for a quick weeknight dinner. It's super simple, has just a few ingredients, is made on the stovetop and is so delicious!
And the best thing about this one pan meal? Less clean-up of course!
Herbs de Provence is a fragrant herb blend that most of us already have in the pantry and it gives so much flavor. You can of course mix together the usual herbs if you prefer too (more on that below!).
Have a peek at my nectarine chicken, chicken pesto risotto, turkey rissoles and my turmeric turkey for more tasty dinner ideas!
Jump to:
🌿 What is herbs de Provence?
Herbs de Provence (also spelt herbes de Provence) is a blend of herbs from 'plants that grow abundantly on the hillsides and in the fields of Provence, in southern France' (Martha Stewart).
Traditionally herbs de Provence includes the aromatic herbs of thyme, oregano, summer savory and rosemary (Martha Stewart), but you will often find blends in stores that also include marjoram and basil and sometimes tarragon, parsley and lavender.
⭐ Why this recipe is so good
Flavorful herbs. The herbs de Provence blend is so fragrant and delicious, and easy to use as a pantry staple.
Indulgent dinner idea. Don't you find that a creamy herb sauce makes a meal feel a little more special? This creamy chicken with herbs de Provence is equally delicious as a weeknight meal as to serve at a dinner party!
Quick and easy. Cook up this skillet chicken recipe on the stove top in about 30 minutes.
🐓 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Chicken - we are using boneless skinless chicken breasts for this recipe, which are sliced into a few pieces for ease of cooking.
- Herbes de Provence - the fragrant blend of herbs you can easily find in stores, or make your own blend if you like!
- Heavy cream - we use a little heavy cream to make the sauce. My UK readers will want to use double cream rather than single cream, as the latter can easily split.
A note for my low histamine readers: The traditional herbes de Provence blend is thyme, savory, rosemary and oregano, which are low histamine on the SIGHI list. Some blends contain herbs that are not mentioned on the list, such as marjoram. I suggest to make your own blend to the same overall quantity for the recipe using the low histamine herbs. If dried herbs do not work for you, use fresh herbs in a higher quantity.
📖 Swaps and variations
Swap chicken breast for chicken thighs. If using chicken thighs for extra juicy chicken flavors, you will need a longer cook time, so adjust the timings accordingly.
Swap heavy cream for coconut milk. Using coconut milk will give you a dairy-free sauce.
Swap herbs de Provence for another herb blend. Do check out my herbs de Provence substitute post for some ideas!
🔪 Step by step instructions
Making this herbs de Provence chicken breast is super simple and comes together so easily in your skillet on the stovetop. No fancy equipment or hard to find ingredients needed!
All the instructions are in the recipe card below, but these photos should help guide you.
Step 1: Cook the chicken
Pat dry the chicken with paper towel and slice into 2-3 pieces, lengthways. Season with salt and black pepper. Heat olive oil in your skillet and sear, then cook the chicken breasts for 5-6 minutes each side on a medium to high heat (or until they reach an internal temperature of 165F at their deepest point) (image 1).
Step 2: Cook onion and garlic
Remove the chicken breasts from the skillet and set aside. Add a little more olive oil if the skillet seems dry, then cook diced onion for 2-3 minutes, add garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes (image 2). If needed, lower the heat - we don't want burnt garlic!
Step 3: Add heavy cream and herbs
Pour chicken broth into the skillet and sprinkle in the herbs de Provence. Increase the heat a little so the chicken broth is lightly bubbling. Cook for 3-4 minutes to reduce the sauce, then pour in the heavy cream (image 3).
Step 4: Add the chicken to the skillet
Stir the broth, cream and herb sauce well, then use tongs to place the chicken breasts back in the skillet (image 4). Cook for 4-5 minutes at a low to medium heat to thicken the sauce. Then serve up and enjoy!
💭 Recipe tips and notes
- Adjust the amount of herbs de Provence used to taste preference.
- To thicken the herb cream sauce, simply allow to cook on a low to medium heat for 4-5 minutes, giving it an occasional stir.
- My UK readers will know that heavy cream isn't a 'thing' in the UK. You want to use double cream for this recipe. I don't recommend using single cream as it can easily curdle.
- It's always best to use a meat thermometer and check the internal temperature of the chicken breasts for a reading of 165F at their deepest point to ensure they are cooked through.
📋 Frequently asked questions
The typical herb blend is thyme, oregano, savory and rosemary (Martha Stewart), but you may also find blends that contain tarragon, basil, marjoram and lavender.
You can use chicken thighs, but they have a longer cook time of around 5-8 minutes each side, or until they are cooked through to 165F at their deepest point using a meat thermometer.
It's on my list of recipes to test, but I think a swap of cream for coconut milk would work really well! It does in my creamy sage chicken recipe!
🍽 How to serve herbs de Provence chicken
Creamy herb chicken recipes work well with a variety of different side dishes:
- Pair with couscous, rice or quinoa to 'mop' up the creamy sauce.
- Learn how to cook frozen cauliflower rice for a low carb side dish option with my easy guide!
- Serve with vegetable sides such as my roasted Tenderstem broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes and zucchini, roasted carrots and asparagus, roasted carrots and cauliflower or my air fryer baby carrots.
🥣 More tasty chicken recipes
Choose from so many tasty chicken recipes here, including my quick and easy air fryer boneless chicken thighs, rosemary thyme chicken thighs and my no mayo chicken salad for a fun lunch. Some recent recipes:
I'm always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes! And I love to hear from you - so please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Chicken with Herbs de Provence
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves sliced
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoon herbs de Provence
- ½ cup heavy cream
- parsley optional, to garnish
Instructions
- Slice the chicken breasts into two pieces, lengthways. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil into the skillet and cook the chicken breast pieces for 5-6 minutes, each side, on a medium to high heat so you have browning (cook for longer if they are larger in size). Use tongs to remove from the skillet and set aside.
- If the skillet seems dry, drizzle in a little more olive oil and take the heat down if needed. Saute the diced onion for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the chicken broth and sprinkle in the herbs de Provence. Stir well, then bring the heat of the skillet up a touch so it is lightly bubbling. Cook down the broth for 3-4 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to lift any brown bits from the pan.
- Pour the heavy cream into the skillet, stir well, then place the chicken breasts back into the skillet. Cook for 4-5 minutes at a very light simmer (not a hard boil) to thicken the sauce, or until the chicken reads 165F at its deepest point using a meat thermometer. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, spoon onto your serving plate and sprinkle with fresh parsley.
Notes
- Adjust the amount of herbs used to preference.
- My UK readers will want to use double cream not single cream, which would likely curdle.
- Nutritional information is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- herbs de Provence as a blend isn't mentioned. It typically contains thyme, marjoram, rosemary, oregano, savory, basil and sometimes tarragon. Neither marjoram or tarragon are mentioned on SIGHI, so you may prefer to make your own blend with the other herbs.
- garlic, which scores 1.
- I suggest to use a white onion, which scores 0.
- black pepper, which scores 2.
- chicken broth will depend upon ingredients used.
- cream scores 0, with notes on additional ingredients you may wish to check.
Sue says
Lovely flavourful chicken dish. Easy to cook. Has become a regular favourite.
Claire says
Lovely to hear that you enjoy it so much Sue!
Mary Thomas says
Absolutely smashing! I doubled the recipe and it was a little soupy but still an amazing taste and so so easy to make!
Claire says
So glad you enjoyed it Mary! Perhaps reduce the broth and cream by a touch if you're making extras. Glad you found it so easy to make too 🙂
Alice Landoch says
My husband and I both loved this recipe. It reminded me of the chicken my grandmother used to make when my family visited.
Claire says
Oh how lovely it brought back those memories! So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Alice.
Olivier-Florienne says
As a long covider with mastocytosis, the fact that I was able to stand and cooky own meal.that tasted decadent amd didn't make me extremely ill was....mind boggling. I'll have to make it a few times to really adjust it to my own taste preferences and play around with a couple things ; I may have to cut back on the amount of garlic and onion because my wife is sensitive, and I wanna try a coconut milk and coconut cream blend to experiment with dairy free, and i put way too many herbs in last time (while delicious, some bites were a bit overpowering).
Also, I now season almost everything with these herbs! I got a bag off of Amazon because it was the only way I could find a mix that includes lavender and it's so flavourful and aromatic!
This is probably the best new-to-me recipe I've tried in years! Who says lower histamine eating has to be bland??
Claire says
This comment made me smile so much! So happy to hear that you enjoy it, and that it doesn't cause any issues for your symptoms. And yes (yes yes!), I'm so hoping that we can find fun meals that are far from bland yet suit our health too. Happy cooking!
Jeanne says
This is delicious!! The chicken was tender and the spices were wonderful. I loved that this was a one pot dish! Excellent taste and easy, that is a WIN WIN!
Claire says
Thanks so much for the kind review Jeanne! And so glad you enjoyed it. It's always good to have some one pot meals for a busy day isn't it, and I'm happy you enjoyed this one so much 🙂
Lollie says
Was good and a quick meal. Nice to have something else to do with chicken breast. The only thing I would change next time would be to only add 1tsp of Herb De Provence. Thanks for sharing!
Claire says
Hi Lollie, so glad to hear you liked the herb chicken! And of course, adjust seasoning to preference, we all like different levels of herbs don't we!
Kim says
This is unbelievable! So delicious and super easy. I love that I can use chicken that I have baked in the past and frozen with this recipe. Everything you make it GOLD!
Claire says
Aww so glad you like the recipe Kim! Thanks for the kind words 🙂