This cream cheese chicken is your answer to boring weeknight meals! Seasoned with 5 flavor-packed spices, it’s creamy, indulgent & full of savory goodness.
Lately, I’ve taken on a bunch of extra recipe development work which has left me with ingredients I never typically buy in my fridge, like cream cheese and heavy cream.
There could be way more unfortunate foods to be stuck with, right?
Five Spice Cream Cheese Chicken
After a week of a tablespoon of heavy cream in my coffee (omg, delicious) and a container that was still 3/4 full, I decided something needed to be done because at that rate the cream was going to expire before I came anywhere near to finishing it.
So, this creamy cheese chicken dinner that’s maybe a bit more indulgent than my normal chicken dinners was created.
If you like spice, decadent cream sauce and a fast weeknight meal (um, who doesn’t?), this recipe is for you.
The perfectly pan-seared chicken thighs covered in a cream cheese pan sauce are drool-worthy and you won’t want to miss out on this one!
Perfect for weeknight family meals, dinner parties, or any other occasion.
Oh.. and we don’t want to forget to mention how easy it is to make! Like under 30 minutes easy.
Marry me chicken might be another recipe you’d like if creamy smothered chicken is what you’re after.
What Spices Are In Five Spice Chicken?
You’ll be happy to know that the five spices found in this five-spice cream cheese chicken are all relatively easy spices to find.
While you might not already have adobo seasoning or ground mustard in your kitchen cabinet already, they are both readily available at most grocery stores in the spice section.
- Garlic powder
- Adobo seasoning
- Cayenne pepper
- Smoked paprika
- Ground mustard
How Do You Make Cream Cheese Chicken?
This is one of those recipes to pull out when you need some dinner on the table quick, and you don’t want to jump through a million hoops to get there.
You can seriously put this whole recipe together in just twenty minutes from start to finish.
Here’s how easy the steps are:
Rinse and pat the chicken dry then combine the salt and spices in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the seasoning onto both sides of all the chicken pieces, rubbing it into the meat.
Place the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken.
Cook until golden brown on each side. Once browned on both sides, reduce the heat and add the heavy cream, milk, and cream cheese.
Stir to combine and coat the chicken in the cream mixture.
Let the sauce thicken then plate the chicken and pour the sauce over top.
Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
What Do I Need To Make Cream Cheese Sauce For Chicken?
While it may look indulgent and you’re probably thinking this chicken dinner is a calorie bomb, I’ve got good news for you, it’s not really!
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/4 cup milk (you can even use a non-dairy milk alternative here if you’d like)
- 1/4 cup low-fat cream cheese (sometimes called neufchatel cheese)
That’s it.
That’s really not so bad when divided into 4 servings yet you’re left with a super indulgent tasting creamy cheese sauce that will definitely put this dinner on the regular rotation.
That said, if you’re looking for a non-dairy, creamy and indulgent recipe like these cream cheese chicken thighs, try this dairy-free creamy mustard chicken, it’s super delicious as well!
These bacon wrapped chicken thighs are also another great option. No creamy sauce but just like this cream cheese chicken, they’re keto friendly if you follow that diet.
Do I Have To Use Chicken Thighs For A Cream Cheese Chicken Recipe?
Nope! You don’t have to limit yourself to just using chicken thighs. I like to use them because they are incredibly juicy.
You can also use chicken breasts as well. Just make sure the breasts are all generally the same size to allow for even cooking.
To keep the same cooking times, you will want to make sure whatever meat you use is boneless, if you use bone-in chicken thighs you will want to double the time cooking at least 7-10 minutes per side.
What Do I Serve with Cream Cheese Chicken?
The side dish options are endless!
If you want to keep things healthier, I’d suggest a simple green vegetable like grilled broccoli or basil mint squash noodles and a nutrient-packed starch like goat cheese and spinach mashed sweet potatoes.
Roasted potatoes are always an easy option too and these peri peri potatoes have a nice spice level that would go great with the cream cheese chicken.
If you want to play up the indulgent theme, try this cauliflower bacon gratin or this broccoli cauliflower parmesan gratin.
If you need to use up more cream cheese, this creamed cabbage recipe is outrageously delicious and decadent (it’s got bacon in there too!).
How Do I Store This Cream Cheese Chicken?
You will want to store any cream cheese chicken leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
To avoid letting the chicken get soggy, I suggest storing the sauce separately from the chicken and waiting until right before serving to combine. Reheat the sauce in a skillet on medium heat.
I don’t suggest freezing any chicken and cream cheese recipes because when cream cheese-based sauces are frozen they begin to curdle.
Like This 20 Minute Cream Cheese Chicken Recipe? Try These:
Tomato butter mozzarella stuffed chicken marsala
Sticky Thai chicken
Sriracha lime chicken skillet
Champagne chicken
Five Spice Cream Cheese Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken thighs, breasts or tenders would work too
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon adobo seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 ounces low-fat cream cheese, or neufchatel cheese
Instructions
- Rinse and pat the chicken dry.
- Combine the salt and spices in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle the seasoning onto both sides of all the chicken pieces, rubbing it into the meat.
- Place the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Once hot, add the chicken.
- Cook for about 3-5 minutes per side until golden brown.
- Once cooked on both sides, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the heavy cream, milk and cream cheese. Stir to combine and coat the chicken in the cream mixture.
- Let the sauce thicken for about 3 minutes.
- Plate the chicken and pour the sauce over top.
- Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
This was fantastic. My husband and I loved it, even as leftovers. Because we are eating low carb, I did substitute chicken broth for the milk. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is a keeper!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! The entire family devoured it – even my ‘picky eaters.’ This is definitely going into the dinner menu rotation.
Had this last night for dinner. WOW! So good! Some things I did a bit differently: I removed the chicken after it was all done. I then deglazed the pan with some white wine. I then premixed the milk, cream cheese (and an extra 2tbs of heavy whipping cream). After the wine deglazed, i added all the dairy products to warm up, then added the chicken back in to warm all up. This was so quick and easy and yummy! Great for leftover lunches too!
So glad you liked it and made it your own!
I threw all of this in the crock pot today. I added the milk, cream cheese, and heavy cream for the last half hour. It was absolutely amazing I’ve some pasta!!
What are the directions for the crockpot?
This isn’t a slow cooker recipe, not sure what you mean. It’s meant to be cooked on the stove top as the recipe states.
were do you get the adobe seasoning? I’ve not seen that. Can you not?
thanks,
lb
If you live in Texas you can get it at HEB most deff. If not it’s a GOYA product, that normally you can find near the rice and bean area, or at a more Hispanic cultured grocery store!! Hope that helps, if not Adobo is a mix of just a bunch of other seasonings so you might be able to look up the label and use the spices they list on the front of the bottle.
I get it at our local Target store in the seasonings aisle.
You can get adobo seasoning in most grocery store in the Hispanic section.
Made this for dinner tonight and it is delicious!!! All 5 of us love it and I, the chef, love how easy and quickly it came together. Thanks for a great recipe!!
I made this for the third time tonight! The second time I made it the cream cheese wouldn’t melt completely and the sauce was greasy, so tonight I removed the chicken and made the sauce and it worked great. I also doubled the recipe since I cook for myself, my husband, and our roommate and I need enough for dinner and lunch the next day. Thank you!
You might be horrified to look into my fridge – because today I went to Costco and just bought a whole half gallon of Heavy Cream. I know – it’s awful. But it’s the holidays and it gets used (mostly in things I’m taking to work – because LAWD knows that Ican’t consume all that ish!!) Anyway – I’m so digging this its insane!! Looks gorgeous.
Your pictures look great and when I read through the recipe it sounds delish! But I have to confess, when I read the title I thought you were talking about a Chinese Five Spice and creamy chicken combo. Yikes! Haha
I normally don’t cook with those things either, but this sounds like a must-try! A little bit of creamy goodness once in awhile wont kill us :)
Loved this! I altered it a little bit: used coconut cream instead of heavy cream and added a touch of white wine and a little bit more salt. To keep it low-carb, I ate it over the steamed broccoli instead of having the broccoli on the side. Even my carb-addicted boyfriend loved it. :)