Creamy Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
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These creamy boneless skinless chicken thighs make an easy dinner with plenty of rich sauce. They go especially well with rice or pasta, and leftovers reheat nicely the next day. For best results, warm them gently in a skillet with a splash of water.
If you end up with extra sauce, stir it through pasta for a quick lunch.
How to make creamy boneless skinless chicken thighs
Brown the chicken thighs first, then transfer them to a plate. If you have a lot of thighs, do this in two batches so the pan stays hot and the chicken browns instead of steaming.
Sauté onion in butter, then add garlic. Stir in the chopped peppers and olives and cook briefly.
Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, then slowly pour in water while stirring to avoid lumps. Return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer on low until cooked through, turning the thighs once halfway through.
Stir in the cream and bring it back to a gentle simmer. If you want a thicker sauce, make a small slurry (flour mixed with a little water) and stir it in gradually. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Serving suggestions
I like serving these creamy boneless chicken thighs with rice or pasta as I think those two options work the best.
However, potatoes are also an option.
Helpful tips
- I usually cook with extra virgin olive oil, but regular olive oil works fine here.
- This recipe will yield a lot of creamy sauce packed with olives and peppers, so if you add one or two extra chicken pieces, you should still have plenty for serving.
- Bone-in and/or skin-on chicken thighs also work great in this skillet chicken recipe, so feel free to use those, if you like.
- In this boneless and skinless chicken thighs recipe I used baby bell peppers, but you can substitute them with large bell peppers, if that’s what you prefer. However, in that case, you might want to use one color only as you will end up with a lot of leftovers.
- If you prefer a lighter sauce, use half-and-half instead of heavy cream. The sauce will be a bit thinner. This recipe makes plenty of sauce, so you may have some leftover.
What is the best way to cook boneless chicken thighs?
Now, you can cook boneless chicken thighs in plenty of ways, and they tend to stay tender. For grilling, this grilled boneless chicken thighs recipe is one we make often when the weather is good. If you prefer a one-dish oven recipe, try my lemon rosemary chicken thighs.
More chicken thigh recipes to try next
- Air Fryer Chicken Thighs: Crispy outside, juicy inside, with minimal prep.
- Spicy Grilled Chicken Thighs: Easy grilled thighs with a spicy finish.
- Honey Mustard Chicken: Sweet mustard sauce, easy weeknight dinner.
- Instant Pot Chicken Piccata: Lemon and capers, with a quick Instant Pot finish.
- Instant Pot Chicken Paprikash: Creamy paprika sauce and tender chicken.
Creamy Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ pound boneless skinless chicken thighs see note 1 (650 grams)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 onion minced, see note 2
- 2 tablespoons butter see note 3 (30 grams)
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 4 baby sweet peppers finely chopped, see note 4
- ½ cup green olives stuffed with red pepper sliced, see note 5 (70 grams)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup heavy cream see note 6
Instructions
- Drizzle the thighs with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season them with salt, pepper and basil on both sides.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet/frying pan and brown the thighs on both sides (if your pan is smaller, you might need to do this step in 2 batches). Transfer them onto a plate and set aside.
- To the pan, add minced onion and butter, and sauté until translucent (about 3 minutes), stirring regularly. Stir in minced garlic and sauté until it releases its aroma (about 1 minute).
- Then, add finely chopped peppers and sliced olives and sauté for about 2 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add flour and 1 and ¾ cups of water, while stirring. The sauce will thicken at this stage a bit. When it has thickened, place the thighs on top and cover with a lid.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer on low for 11 minutes, or until the thickest part reaches 165°F (74°C). Move the thighs to the side and pour in heavy cream. Stir and cook until it has thickened. Note: If you feel that the sauce is thinner than you like, add more flour (make a slurry by mixing flour with a little water and then stir in some of the creamy sauce. Only then add the slurry to the sauce, while stirring). Once it reaches boiling point, turn off the heat.
- Best served with rice or pasta.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- You can use bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs, if you prefer. Just bear in mind that the cooking time will be longer. I’d add an extra 5 minutes and check with a food thermometer to see if the thighs are cooked through.
- 1 medium onion = about 1 cup minced.
- Make sure to use real butter, not butter substitutes.
- I used baby peppers as you only need about 4 for this recipe, which is about 1 cup. If you can’t find these, grab large ones instead. You can also reduce the quantity slightly.
- Green olives stuffed with red pepper can be substituted with plain green olives.
- Heavy cream can be substituted with half and half (single cream).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and may vary based on ingredient brands, substitutions, and portion sizes.
Excellent recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for your feedback and rating, Vinita!
So yummy! This will be my go-to for saucy chicken thighs. They were so moist and the sauce thickened up nicely even without cream. I tweaked a bit by deglazing with lemon and juice and white wine, but omitted the peppers and olives. Also seasoned chicken with Italian instead of basil. Lastly, I used milk instead of cream and added a bit more butter at the end. Easy to cook and customize.
Disappointing. I expected a lot of creamy sauce, should’ve realized from the ingredients it’s BS. First, adding butter to the super hot pan – BAD idea. Second, after sauteing onion and garlic, there is NO sauce to thicken. And burned butter, flour and water do not make for creamy sauce… Eeew.
I scrapped that mess, started fresh, sauted onion on medium heat on olive oil. After I sauted peppers and olives, I added chicken broth, no flour. I added meat (and all it’s juice from the plate where it rested), cooked uncovered for approx 12 ,minutes, stirring and adding broth as necessary – in the end I used 0.5 liter (2 cups). Then I turned the meat, added 250 ml (1 cup) of half and half, cooked uncovered for another 12 minutes, added 1tbspbof butter at the end. No flour. It turned out well, though there isn’t much sauce.
Hi Orville. I have checked the recipe and have to say that there was a mistake – it should be 1 and a 3/4 cup. I appologize for the error – it has been fixed now! I don’t know how that happened. However, there should not be any sauce after sauteing onion and garlic. The creamy sauce is not made of water and flour but by adding cream at the end like it says in the recipe.
This is such a quick, easy and delicious dish. I really enjoy good home cooking but haven’t the time I would like to spend in the kitchen. This recipe is the first I have tried from this author but is definitely not going to be the last. I am always looking for simple dishes, preferably with sauces and this fit the bill perfectly. Comments were made while cooking about the delicious smells emanating from the kitchen. The sauce is light and creamy and beautifully flavorful and the chicken fork tender. Many thanks to the author; I look forward to trying more recipes.
Thanks for your feedback, Claire. Hope you try other instant pot recipes from our blog!
to make this in the instant pot would you just add chicken broth? Like the Instant pot chicken paprikish recipe?
Hi Sabrina. I haven’t tested this recipe for instant pot so not sure how would it turn out. However, I guess I would omit the flour and add 1 cup of water/broth instead of the stated amount (you would thicken the sauce with flour at the very end). The cooking time might be tricky as the peppers will more likely be completely overcooked under pressure. Hope this helps a bit and please let us know if you do give it a try.
Made this tonight with chicken breasts (cubed). Added a little more milk so it was saucier and served over pasta. DELICIOUS!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Shana!
It’s so delicious I made it twice in 2 weeks. The second time I added pasta to the pan. The last time I put it on top of rice but absorbed too much of the creamy sauce.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Uyshica! Hope you try some other recipes from our blog. Happy cooking!
I made some minor adjustments to make this dish a little lighter, but we loved it and I will be making it again.
Thanks for your feedback, Steven!
Can you sub green olives for black olive?
Yes, you can, if you prefer them. The taste might be lighter though as they are milder than green olives though.
Please explain what is half and half in the recipe Creamy Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs.
Yours Sincerely
Carl Prescod.
Hi Carl. Half and half is single cream (cream with a fat content between 10 – 18%).
Oh wow, these chicken thighs sound so amazing! I can’t wait to try it out for my family and I.
Enjoy! :)
We made this and served it over egg noodles and it was a HUGE hit! So creamy and delicious!!
That’s great to hear, Jen!
Delicious! I love creamy dishes with garlic flavor, and have chicken thighs in the freezer. Good timing!
:)
This is fantastic recipe the whole family will enjoy. I really like the olives in it.
Thanks, Andrea!
Chicken thighs are just so juicy aren’t they. We love using them.