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Mains European / Turkish home cooking

Creamy chicken and mushrooms

Golden pan-fried chicken breast in a creamy sauce with chestnut mushrooms, thyme and a hint of Dijon mustard, all in one pan in 35 minutes.

Prep
10 min
Cook
25 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy

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Chestnut mushroom Chestnut mushroom

A weeknight saviour: one pan, little washing up and a sauce everyone loves. Browning the chicken hard first, then frying the mushrooms in the same pan, leaves a layer of caramelised bits that gives the sauce most of its flavour. In Turkish homes it's known as kremalı mantarlı tavuk and is usually served with rice pilaf.

Chicken breast dries out quickly but must never be undercooked, so we slice it thin, sear it, then let it finish gently in the cream sauce. That way it stays juicy and is cooked safely all the way through.

Servings 4

Ingredients

Tick them off as you go.

Chicken

Mushroom sauce

To serve

Method

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  1. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to get 4 thin escalopes about 1.5 cm thick; flatten any thick ends a little with the back of a knife so they cook evenly. Pat dry, season both sides with salt and pepper and dust lightly with the flour.

    ~5 min

  2. Wipe the mushrooms clean and slice them thickly; finely chop the onion, crush the garlic and pick the thyme leaves.

    ~5 min

  3. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken and leave it undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until golden underneath, then turn and cook the other side for 4 minutes. Lift onto a plate; it may not be cooked through yet, as it will finish in the sauce.

    ~9 min

  4. Add the butter and mushrooms to the same pan. Cook over a high heat, stirring now and then, until the liquid they release has evaporated and they are browned at the edges, 5–6 minutes in all. Add the onion and cook for another minute.

    ~6 min

  5. Stir in the garlic and thyme for 30 seconds until fragrant. Pour in the stock and let it bubble for 1–2 minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

    ~2 min

  6. Stir in the cream and the mustard, if using, and lower the heat. Return the chicken and its resting juices to the pan and simmer gently for 6–7 minutes, spooning the sauce over, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. The chicken must be cooked through: no pink at the thickest part and the juices running clear, or 74 °C in the centre if you have a thermometer.

    ~7 min

  7. Check the seasoning, scatter with parsley and serve hot with rice, pasta or mashed potato.

    ~1 min

Enjoy!

The mushroom in this recipe

Chestnut mushroom
Chestnut mushroom Agaricus bisporus

About this species Grow it at home Fresh mushrooms

Mushroom swaps

  • Button mushroom
    Button mushroom Agaricus bisporusWhite button mushrooms work too; the sauce will be paler and milder.
  • Oyster mushroom
    Oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatusTear into strips; it releases less water, so cut the browning time by 2 minutes.
  • Shiitake
    Shiitake Lentinula edodesDiscard the tough stalks; it gives the sauce a deeper, meatier taste.

Tips

  • Pat the chicken really dry before frying; wet meat steams instead of browning.
  • Don't crowd the mushrooms; if your pan is small, brown them in two batches.
  • For a lighter sauce, swap half the cream for whole milk and simmer a little longer to thicken.
  • A thermometer is the surest test: once the thickest part reads 74 °C, the chicken is done.

Storage

Once cool, keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if needed, until the chicken is piping hot all the way through; don't let the cream sauce boil hard or it may split. We don't recommend freezing, as the sauce separates.

Read our guide to storing mushrooms →

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Kitchen guides

Before you cook: clean, store, dry

How to clean mushroomsPractical ways to clean everything from button mushrooms to morels without waterlogging them or ruining their texture. How to store mushroomsHow to keep fresh, cooked, frozen and dried mushrooms at their best — and how to tell when they’ve gone bad. How to dry mushroomsA step-by-step guide to drying mushrooms at home in the oven, in a dehydrator or on a string — and how to store and rehydrate them.