Jack is sharing the story behind today’s recipe for this easy, delicious Chicken Tender Sauté. (Thank you Jack!) 😊
In addition to blogging here at A Family Feast, I work full-time as a technology manager where I oversee a team of field technicians who perform repairs for a large, regional supermarket chain. I’m lucky because most of the time, I get to work from home so my commute entails walking out of our downstairs home office and into the kitchen. Most days after work, I’m the one to cook dinner for our family – mostly because I love to cook, and being in the kitchen is my favorite creative outlet.
But on one day last week, I was tied up with work issues resulting from the winter storm and frigid temperatures we’ve had here in New England.
With all of that going on, I was very glad to hear Martha preparing dinner for us. Within minutes she whipped up this delicious Chicken Tender Sauté – brought a plate of food to my desk – then headed out the door to bring our daughter to swim practice.
After one bite of this Chicken Tender Sauté – all I can say is that I should let Martha cook dinner more often! Super tender strips of chicken sautéed in one skillet along with red bell pepper, spinach, onions, garlic and scallions – plus a little bit of sour cream added at the end for a light touch of creaminess.
I loved this Chicken Tender Sauté so much, I asked Martha to immediately write the recipe down so we could recreate it to share here on our blog.
This Chicken Tender Sauté also happens to fit a keto or low carb diet – but anyone will love this simple, flavorful meal. I think it would be great served over rice.
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Chicken Tender Sauté
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings
- Category: entree
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
Strips of boneless, skinless chicken breast may be substituted for the chicken tenders. (However, the texture of the cooked chicken may not be as tender.)
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
¾ cup onion, ½ inch dice
4 large scallions, whites diced, greens sliced and separated
1 cup red bell pepper, ½ inch dice
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
8 chicken tenders, about 1 ¼ pounds
3 cups loosely packed baby spinach, about 2 ounces
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup sour cream
Instructions
In a large sauté pan, melt butter in oil over medium high heat then add onion, scallion whites, red bell pepper and garlic and sauté for three minutes or until onions are translucent.
Add chicken and nestle down so the tenders sit on the bottom to brown. Cook 1-2 minutes until lightly seared. Turn each tender and lightly brown the other side.
Add spinach, scallion tops (green part), salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and cook for and additional 1 to 2 minutes until the spinach is wilted and the chicken is cooked through.
Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
Note: The hardest part of this dish is removing the long white membrane that you’ll see running through each chicken tender. (You really do want to remove that before cooking.) You start by making a few small cuts around the end of the white piece sticking out so you have room to grab it then hold that piece with a paper towel while you pull and run your fingers from your other hand down the sides. (I once worked with someone who could remove the membrane in a few seconds – he did it so often. I could never do it as fast as him, but managed to remove the membranes for this recipe in about five minutes and only mangled a few.)
Keywords: chicken tender saute
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My son and I loved this recipe and both of us lost weight eating it. It’s perfect the way it is but I added fresh mushrooms to it. I joined your site and the FB one too.
Thank you Ginger – mushrooms sound like a great additions. We’re so glad you are enjoying the recipes!
Loved this. Yogurt instead of sour cream. More tangy. Added asparagus cut up and sautéed with rest of veggies.. Seasoned chicken with poultry seasoning and smoked paprika. Take off heat and be careful when adding sour cream or yogurt so it does not curdle. Best to add some of sauce to hurt first and then mix this into the pot
★★★★★
Thanks Iris!
Delish! I added mushrooms with the veggies. Sautéed them really well sometimes covering so they would be juicy then transferred them to a bowl. Used scissors to remove the membranes on the chicken tenders–so easy and thanks to another reviewer for the suggestion! Salt and peppered the tenders, added a tiny bit of olive oil and spray olive oil, then placed the tenders (it was very crowded) flat in the pan to brown, covered (about 3-4 minutes–so tempting to check them but they won’t brown if you do). Flipped them, poured the veggies back on top, added artichokes in water, covered and cooked about two minutes, then added spinach, tossed…forgot the sour cream–oops! Served over cauliflower rice with a salad. A massively huge hit and everyone raved! While it was cooking everyone said how yummy it smelled.
Just to give it variety, I might try some thyme, sage and or lemon next time. Could also add black olives or sun-dried tomatoes. It really is delish!
★★★★★
Thanks Garcie!
Made as instructed and very delicious and easy!!!! Quick weeknight recipe. Served with pasta and bread for soaking up juices!
★★★★
Thanks Ann!
That is delicious! Thank you for posting it. It is so easy to make
★★★★★
You’re welcome Dona – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I make the recipe over and over and it is so good. I serve it over egg noodles. The only trouble I seem to have is getting some color on the tenders. I may need to try a larger skillet so that I have more surface area for them to touch the pan.
★★★★★
So glad the recipe is a hit Jeff! (Yes – a larger skillet might help!)
My husband and I really enjoyed this! Even my 2 picky boys ate it without complaining lol. I made the recipe as is. On the side, I sautéed some mushrooms with some olive oil and a little bit of salt. We all ended up mixing them in as we ate, along with some marinated artichokes. I served it with bow tie pasta and gemelli pasta (had a half box of each). It was delicious! Even my husband went in for seconds 🙂
Only thing I will change from now on, is doubling the ‘sauce’ 😉
★★★★★
So glad the recipe was a hit Stephanie! (As the mom of a picky eater too, I love hearing it!) 🙂
Winner winner, chicken dinner. This was a last minute recipe for my leftover chicken breast strips and spinach. What a winner, definitely restaurant quality and will add to my regular menu of home cooked meals. It turned out just as pictured and tasted amazing. I didn’t have enough spinach so I added artichokes, which I will continue to do in the future. My husband loved this recipe and he does not like vegetables.
★★★★★
Thanks so much Valerie! Love the idea of adding artichokes too!
Delicious Martha! Just delicious!
Thanks Jamie!
I made this last night and it is one of the most delicious chickens dishes I have ever made. My boyfriend and I both inhaled it.
★★★★★
Wow Debi – So glad the recipe was a hit!
Best chicken dinner I’ve ever made!
★★★★★
Thanks Brandy – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I added extra sour cream and penne noodles. I also sprinkled a lil bit of slap your momma seasoning to the chicken as well! I’m so glad I came across this recipe! I will definitely be making again!
★★★★★
Thanks Jodi – glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is delicious! Definitely will be a keeper! Followed it to a T, no need to change a thing.
★★★★★
Thanks Tami – we’re glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I’m making this tonight and wondered if I can use plain yogurt instead of sour cream.
Sure Elana – The yogurt has more of a tangy flavor, but you can use it.
We made this tonight and it was so good! We served it on top of spaghetti and it was perfect.
★★★★★
Thanks Ava – so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I am not a big fan of cooking by reading recipes but this one was different. Just cooked this dish and not just that it looked exactly how it’s shown here, it tasted just so awesome. I did add a pinch of Garam Masala as I love eating spicy food. Thank you so much for this. I am cooking it again very soon!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Hema! I love your idea of adding a pinch of Garam Masala!
I have made this a few times any It is so good.It takes no time at all and is very healthy.Great for a weeknight supper.
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Susan!
Can you put how many, calories, carbs, protein and so forth in the recipes? I have to watch how much each meal is and this may also help others.
Thanks for your suggestion Luz – it may be something we add in the future. We aren’t professional dieticians so we want to find a reliable and accurate solution for calculating the nutritional information before we add it to our recipes.
I made this tonight. My chicken was marinating in Goya Mojo marinade and I didn’t know what to do with it. I found your recipe and I had all the ingredients so I said let’s try it. Wow!! it was amazing. I didn’t feel like cutting onions so I used minced onions. What an easy dish to make. Thank you so much for sharing
★★★★★
You are very welcome Tina – so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I loved this! I put some feta on top to add some more fat for keto. I’m glad I’m the only one home tonight. Plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Thank you! More keto recipes, please!!
Thanks Andrea! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! (And yes – we will do more keto recipes!) 🙂
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. I enjoy them very much. I for one love the pictures.
As a “visual” person they (pictures) help me to understand the recipe .
Stay warm Spring will be here soon..LT
Thank you for writing to us today LT! We’re so glad you are enjoying the recipes! (Counting down the days until spring!) 🙂
Made this for my family tonight.. loved it!! It was perfect.
★★★★★
Thanks Julie! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Good morning Martha….”Baby it’s cold outside” here in the Mid-south
Just had to tell you, I made the Chicken Tender Saute last night. It may take the place of Grampa’s Firehouse Chicken as my new favorite quick recipe. We love fresh spinach and use it often in recipes and as a side dish cooked with a bit of olive oil and fresh garlic. Actually, I was kidding about Grampa’s chicken…I’ve made a dozen times I’m sure.
Stay warm
Linda
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Linda! And I’ll be sure to tell my father-in-law (Grampa) that his chicken recipe is a favorite too! 🙂 Hope some warmer weather comes your way soon – we’re looking at more snow in the forecast tonight!
I once complimented you on having most of your recipes print on one page. No more. The new format has all that wasted space at the top of the page (why do we need a picture?) so two pages are needed.
Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback Marilyn – I can definitely see your point about the extra space at the top. Our old recipe plugin (which formats the recipe for displaying and printing) was no longer supported technically by the developers who created it, so we switched to this new one a while ago, but you raise a valid concern. I’ve been told by a couple of our readers that they like the photo in the printout because they print the recipe and keep it in a binder for making at a later date. (I have a feeling we aren’t going to make everyone happy all of the time!) We are working on some site changes in the coming months and I will definitely keep your feedback in mind. Thanks again for your feedback, Martha