Creamy Chicken and Asparagus
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Chicken and asparagus cook together in one skillet — seared on the stovetop, finished in a hot oven, all in a lemony crème fraîche pan sauce. Have this dish on the table in 30 minutes, start to finish.
Serve the chicken straight from the pan as a complete weeknight dinner — the sauce is substantial enough that it doesn’t need much alongside. If you want to stretch it, serve it over herb butter orzo.
Featured review
Excellent recipe, my family loved the dinner! I used fresh lemon juice and heavy cream and omitted the herbs and served the meal over pasta. A quick prep for a very tasty meal!!
Maureen M.
Ingredient short list, explained
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts: Look for medium-size breasts, totaling about 1 3/4 pounds. The chicken is seared on the stovetop, then it finishes cooking in the oven along with the asparagus.
- Fresh asparagus: Thin or medium spears work best in this recipe — thick stalks need longer oven time than the chicken can give them without overcooking. I look for tightly closed tips, and snap or trim the woody ends before cutting into 2–3-inch pieces.
- Creme fraiche: Along with its delicate and nutty taste, I use crème fraîche instead of sour cream or heavy cream because it’s more stable under heat. Crème fraîche won’t break or curdle when it goes into a hot oven, which means the sauce stays smooth rather than separating into a greasy puddle. If you can’t find it, heavy cream is the better substitute — it also holds well under heat.
How to cook it
1. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper on both sides — seasoning before the flour goes on means the flavor is built into the crust, not sitting on top of it. 
2. Dust both sides lightly with flour. The flour does two things: It helps the chicken develop a golden crust in the pan and thickens the pan sauce as it bakes.
3. Sear over medium-high heat until deep golden brown — about 3 minutes per side. The chicken should release easily from the pan when it’s ready to flip. 4. Add the shallot and cook until softened. The shallot is also picking up the browned bits left from the sear. 5. Pour in the white wine to deglaze — the browned bits stuck to the pan are the flavor base.
6. Scatter the asparagus around the chicken and add the broth. Thin spears will be fully tender by the time the chicken is done. 7. Add the crème fraîche. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.
Creamy Chicken and Asparagus
Chicken breasts and fresh asparagus in a lemony crème fraîche pan sauce that's rich enough to spoon over everything on the plate. All you need is one skillet and about 30 minutes of cooking time.
Equipment
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (about 1¾ pounds)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) flour (all-purpose or gluten-free)
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot finely chopped, or ¼ cup chopped yellow onion
- ¼ cup (60 ml) dry white wine
- ½ cup (120 ml) chicken broth
- ½ pound (225 g) fresh asparagus sliced into 2-inch pieces
- ½ cup (115 g) creme fraiche or heavy cream
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme or tarragon, plus a teaspoon chopped herbs for serving
- Fresh lemon wedge
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 (220 C) degrees.
- Season 4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts both sides with the salt and pepper. Sprinkle them with 1 tablespoon flour (all-purpose or gluten-free) and flip to coat both sides.
- Place a large ovenproof skillet or saute pan on the stovetop and turn the heat to medium-high. Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. When the butter is melted and starts to bubble, add the chicken breasts to the pan. Cook until one side is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts and cook 1-2 minutes on the other side.
- Add 1 shallot finely chopped to the pan, stirring into the fat. Cook until softened, 1-2 minutes. Pour in ¼ cup dry white wine and let it bubble for 30 seconds. Add ½ cup chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Scatter ½ pound fresh asparagus sliced into 2-inch pieces around the chicken breasts. Spoon ½ cup creme fraiche or heavy cream evenly around the chicken. If you're using cream instead, pour it over the chicken. Put 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme or tarragon on top.
- Bake the chicken 15 minutes, or until the pan juices are bubbling and the chicken is firm and cooked through. Remove the herb sprigs and add a squeeze of lemon juice over the chicken.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- The cooked chicken, asparagus and sauce will keep refrigerated up to 5 days. The bright green color of the asparagus will fade, but it will still taste delicious.
- To warm it up for serving, cover and place in a preheated 350 oven until hot, about 10-15 minutes.
Nutrition per serving
Calories: 243kcal Carbohydrates: 6g Protein: 27g Fat: 11g Sodium: 857mg Fiber: 1g Sugar: 2g
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
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Can this recipe be made ahead and frozen?
Hi Tara – I don’t recommend freezing this one. Mostly because the cream sauce will separate and the asparagus tends to become very mushy once it thaws.
I loved this! I had a recipe that was similar but couldn’t find nor remember it, so tried this..with substituting the chicken broth with a can of cream of chicken used some savory spice, thyme, lots of garlic and salt & pepper. IT was absolutely delicious over long grain rice. Thanks for the help!
Thanks for sharing your your photo, Karen. I’m glad you made this recipe work with your personal tweaks!
Made this tonight and it is so simple but SO TASTY! I served with couscous and fresh peas! Delicious.
As others have said, we loved this recipe. I subbed sour cream for the heavy cream/creme fraiche, and it was great. My husband really doesn’t like chicken, and he had two huge helpings. We had it with orzo and a salad. Perfect dinner.
How can it be made dairy free?
Gloria, to make this without dairy, you can omit the butter and use an extra tablespoon of olive oil. Instead of the cream, you can thicken the sauce with full fat coconut milk (it will give the dish a subtle sweet flavor), or blend 1 tablespoon cornstarch with the chicken broth before adding to the pan. I hope you try it!
Oh my! Never thought of coconut milk. Thank you so much.
the food was pretty sigma!
Dish was very good, but the creme fraiche curdled when I stirred it into the finished dish. It did not melt like I thought it would
Hi Doreen – Did the wine or lemon juice bubble and reduce before you added the creme fraiche? Creme fraiche is usually more stable than heavy cream when combined with acid, but it can curdle sometimes.
I made this tonight
Used lemon and cream not sure if that was why it didn’t taste good at all. Surprised because it had 5 starts it seemed!
Hi Julie – Lemon and cream are a pretty classic combination. I’m really sorry you didn’t enjoy the flavors of this dish. 🙁
Delicious and pretty easy to make! The chicken was tender and juicy and the sauce was divine. I used cream as listed. The sauce is so wonderful – I’ll triple it next time. This one goes in our regular rotation. Thanks for an outstanding recipe!
This was very good and simple
Delicious. Everyone agreed.
Absolutely amazing! I added halved cherry tomatoes and then I thickened the sauce with cornstarch and added cooked Orzo. The flavor of the sauce was wonderful. Everyone in the house loved it! This recipe is a keeper!
Very delicious, easy and super fast!
Quite enjoyed this. Thanks for posting.
Excellent recipe, my family loved the dinner! I used fresh lemon juice and heavy
cream and omitted the herbs and served the meal over pasta. A quick prep
for a very tasty meal!!
Light, healthy, quick and easy to make – so delicious. I served brown rice with quinoa to the pan the last 5 minutes before done.
It was absolutely delicious!
WOW..I make a lot of chicken dishes with spinach..tomatoes ,etc!! But this is the BEST!!! Mt husband had 2 servings and practically moan with every bite ( and he is not one for vocalizing)…I used dried thyme and it blew me away! The asparagus was so tender and tasty…may need to add crusty bread to sop up the broth!!
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed it!
Didnt have the cream on hand , but modified without it. Was still delicious wish fresh light flavors.
what can you use in the place of the cream?
Will half n half work?
Half and half will make a more liquidy sauce. If you want to use it, try dissolving 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in the half and half, then pour into the pan. Sour cream or mascarpone would be better.
Loved this recipe! And my kids loved it too!!!
That’s great to hear!