Cream of Mushroom Chicken is a classic dish that many of us grew up eating. This skillet meal is traditionally made with canned condensed soup, but this recipe is made healthier and tastier by making a cream of mushroom sauce from scratch.
It’s really not hard to make this creamy, savory mushroom sauce. Just a few simple ingredients and a few minutes in a skillet on the stovetop are all it takes to make chicken in cream of mushroom soup from scratch.
This is a quick dinner that your family will love. After you’ve tried this one, make my other skillet chicken dinners. Creamy Garlic Chicken, Marry Me Chicken and Creamy Lemon Chicken are flavorful one-pan meals that are always a hit.
This Cream of Mushroom Chicken is very similar to my other Mushroom Chicken recipe. The difference here is that we are using chicken tenders rather than chicken breasts, and we’re dicing the mushrooms and adjusting the seasoning to be more like canned cream of mushroom, but way better.
The Chicken was great! I’ll be putting this recipe in my forever file!
Penney
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Simple Ingredients: You don’t need anything fancy to make this mushroom sauce that tastes like it simmered all day. Simple pantry staples, regular mushrooms, and chicken come together to make a masterpiece.
- No Canned Soup: Cream of mushroom chicken with no canned soup is healthier and more flavorful. You won’t go back to the old way after trying this.
- Ready Fast: It takes about 35 minutes to make this delicious recipe from start to finish. Quick cooking chicken tenders mean that dinner will be ready fast!
- A Complete Meal: Serve with pasta to create a filling and hearty full meal. Garlic Butter Pasta is the perfect side dish to soak up all of this yummy sauce.
Chicken Tenders for making Mushroom Chicken
Chicken tenders are literally the most tender cut of chicken, which makes them a delicious choice for dinner. I love using them to make dinner quickly. Garlic Butter Tenders is a very popular dish on the blog and at my house. You can use these to make an easy Chicken Scampi dinner too.
Want more chicken dinner ideas? See all of my Easy Chicken Recipes!
Overall, chicken tenders are a great choice for making cream of mushroom chicken. Other cuts of chicken can be used as well, just slice them thinly so they cook quickly.
Ingredients Needed
The ingredients in cream of mushroom chicken are really so simple.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Chicken Tenders: Pick up a package of fresh chicken tenders that is about 1 ½ pounds/700 grams (they’re called mini fillets in the UK). Trim and remove the tendon from each. You can also use chicken breasts, cut into strips.
- Butter: Cooking the mushrooms and chicken in butter will brown them up nicely. Later in the recipe, the butter mixes with flour to make a thickening roux.
- Mushrooms: Choose either white button mushrooms or cremini (baby bella) mushrooms for this recipe. Dice them into small pieces.
Tip!
Cremini mushrooms are the darker button mushrooms at the store, commonly called Baby Bella mushrooms. They have more flavor than white mushrooms and are a great choice here.
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder are the simple seasonings that make this dish sing.
- Chicken Stock: Use canned or boxed stock, or some that you have frozen from your last soup making session.
- Milk: Milk makes this recipe nice and creamy. Use 2% or higher for best results. Skim milk won’t give you the right texture.
How to Make Cream of Mushroom Chicken
- Brown Chicken: Melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat, add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and brown for 3-4 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
- Cook Mushrooms: Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes until browned and tender. Add flour and cook for 30 seconds.
- Deglaze: Slowly add the chicken stock to the pan while stirring to deglaze the pan. This will create a thick sauce.
- Season: Add the milk, garlic powder, and onion powder. Stir everything together and stir for one minute, or until the sauce thickens.
- Finish and Serve: Add the chicken back to the skillet, and let the sauce come to a gentle boil. Remove from heat and serve with buttered noodles, rice, or potatoes. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve with extra sauce.
Top Tips
- Remove the Tendon: The tendon inside each chicken tender should be removed for best results. You can’t eat the tendon, so if it’s not removed before cooking you’ll need to cut or chew around it, and that’s not fun.
- Don’t waste the sauce: The chicken is good, but the sauce is the real star here. Spoon the extra sauce over your pasta or rice when serving.
- Sliced is Fine: You can leave the mushrooms in larger slices if you prefer. I like how the small pieces blend into the sauce, but this is your dinner, so do what you like!
What to Serve with Cream of Mushroom Chicken
Carbs: You must eat this meal with some sort of pasta, rice, or potatoes. The creamy sauce requires it! Try Garlic Butter Pasta, Mashed Potatoes, or Mushroom Rice as a side.
Vegetables: Mushrooms count as veggies in this meal, but for some extra nutrition, add a Simple Tossed Green Salad, or some Steamed Broccoli.
Bread: The sauce works wonderfully as a dip for some fresh bread. Make some Olive Garden Breadsticks or my Easy Garlic Bread to enjoy with Cream of Mushroom Chicken.
FAQs
I don’t recommend freezing this recipe, as the cream sauce will likely separate when reheating.
Save leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. This dish makes an excellent lunch the next day.
There are a few different ways to do this. One is to just use a small sharp knife to slice under the tendon, separating it from the tenderloin. Another way is to use a fork. You slip the end of the tenon through the center tines of a fork, and then hold the tendon while you use the fork to push the chicken.
This is to be expected! The tendon helps to hold that muscle together. I left the tendons in for photography purposes, but I do recommend that you take them out at home. The chicken will be extra tender and easier to eat without the tendon.
Chicken tenders are very lean and healthy. They are also low in calories since they’re skinless.
Enjoy this comforting, delicious meal! It’s a classic, made even better.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Cream of Mushroom Chicken
Recipe Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds (650g) chicken tenderloins they're called mini chicken fillets in the UK, or use chicken breast cut into strips or thin cutlets
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 ounces (225g) cremini mushrooms chopped into small pieces (about ½ inch pieces). Chestnut mushrooms in the UK.
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ½ cup semi skimmed milk
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat, add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and brown it (3-4 minutes per side).
- Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add flour, and cook for 30 seconds.
- Gradually add the chicken stock while stirring, this will deglaze the pan and you’ll get a thick sauce.
- Add the milk, garlic powder, and onion powder. Stir everything together, and cook for 1 minute. The sauce will thicken.
- Add the chicken back to the skillet, and let the sauce come to a gentle boil. Remove from heat and serve over buttered spaghetti, mashed potatoes, or rice. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
Notes:
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Penney Wiley says
The Chicken was great! I’ll be putting this recipe in my forever file!
Reesa says
We had some fresh mushrooms and this was perfect!
Amanda says
I like the flavor of mushrooms with chicken and this creamy sauce is totally my taste!
Deborah Brooks says
What an easy, tasty weeknight meal. Thanks for sharing this
Anne says
I love this recipe! Ditching the unhealthy canned soups is so important to me and this tasted better than they do anyway!