Creamy Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
Best recipe for creamy boneless skinless chicken thighs! This easy chicken dinner recipe has plenty of rich creamy sauce and goes so well with rice or pasta.
It’s perfect for weeknight dinners and if you have any leftovers, don’t worry! They reheat well in the microwave.
The leftover creamy sauce can also be mixed with pasta and enjoyed as a quick lunch (or next day dinner).
How to make boneless skinless chicken thighs with cream
First, brown the chicken thighs and transfer them to a plate. If you have more thighs, you might need to do this in two batches (do not overfill the pan/skillet as you might end up with steaming these boneless chicken thighs rather than sealing the juices in).
Next, add butter and onion and saute for a minute or two, stirring from time to time. Then, add garlic and stir for a minute before adding diced peppers and sliced olives. Cook for a little bit.
To thicken the sauce, dust everything with flour and pour in cold water, while stirring constantly. Put the chicken thighs back in and cover with a lid. Simmer on low heat for about 12 minutes or until cooked through.
I also like to turn each skinless chicken thigh over – about halfway through the cooking.
Then, add cream and bring it to a boil again. Now, if the sauce is too thin to your liking, add an extra 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour (make a slurry first) and stir it into the sauce.
When you are happy with its thickness, taste it and season with salt or pepper if it is 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!
Top tips
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in the kitchen (unless I am deep-frying), as it is the best and healthiest option. You can substitute it with regular olive oil though.
- 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 would like to cut down some calories, use half and half instead of heavy cream. You can also reduce the quantity of olives and peppers. Also note, that there will be a lot of sauce, which means you probably will end up with some leftovers, so take the nutritional information as a guide only.
What is the best way to cook boneless chicken thighs?
Now, I think you can cook them in many ways and they still will be a hit as they don’t get dry as easily as chicken breasts. One of our favorite recipes is Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs and we make it often, when the weather is good. In winter, we tend to cook chicken thighs in a skillet or instant pot.
Other popular chicken thigh recipes:
- Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
- Spicy Grilled Chicken Thighs
- Instant Pot Chicken Chasseur
- Honey Mustard Chicken
- Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs
Creamy Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1.5 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 red pepper stuffed green olives , 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 + 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 heat and simmer on low for 11 minutes (or until the thighs are cooked through). Move the thighs to a side and pour in heavy cream. Stir and cook until it has thicken. Note: If you feel that the sauce is thinner than you like, add more flour (make a slurry by mixing flour with little water and then stir some of the creamy sauce in. 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.
- Red pepper stuffed olives can be substituted with plain green olives.
- Heavy cream can be substituted with half and half (single cream), if you like to reduce the calories a bit.
Chicken thighs are just so juicy aren’t they. We love using them.
This is fantastic recipe the whole family will enjoy. I really like the olives in it.
Thanks, Andrea!
Delicious! I love creamy dishes with garlic flavor, and have chicken thighs in the freezer. Good timing!
:)
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!
Oh wow, these chicken thighs sound so amazing! I can’t wait to try it out for my family and I.
Enjoy! :)
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%).
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
Excellent recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for your feedback and rating, Vinita!