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This quick and easy Chicken Tender Sauté combines chicken tenderloins, fresh spinach, peppers, garlic, and onions, plus sour cream for a touch of creaminess.
A Delicious Dinner in Just Thirty Minutes
This Chicken Tender Sauté is a quick, easy, and very delicious one-pan meal! From start to finish, you can have this dish on the table in half an hour.
Super tender strips of chicken are sautéed in a skillet along with red bell pepper, spinach, onions, garlic and scallions. A little bit of sour cream is added at the end for a light touch of creaminess.
Reader Review
“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.” -Debi
Cooking with Chicken Tenderloins
- Most of the time, chicken tenderloins are sold with a tough little membrane running through the meat.
- This membrane looks like a skinny white tube and should be removed from the tenderloin before cooking. (Otherwise, it’s tough and chewy to eat.
- To remove the membrane:
- Make a few small cuts around the end of the white membrane that is sticking out of the meat.
- Grab the end of the membrane with a paper towel so you can get a firm grip.
- With the other hand, pull and run your fingers down the length of the membrane to loosen the meat.
- If the chicken meat tears a bit, that’s ok. You can still cook the chicken for this recipe.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Chicken – Buy boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins for the most tender results. You can buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts, then butterfly and cut into strips – however, the tenderloins will cook quicker and are super tender.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Unsalted Butter
- Onion – Use yellow or sweet onion and dice into a half-inch pieces.
- Scallions – Also called green onion, you’ll use both the white and green parts in this recipe.
- Red Bell Pepper
- Fresh Garlic
- Fresh Baby Spinach
- Kosher Salt
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Sour Cream
Special Tools You’ll Need
- Cutting Board & Sharp Knife
- Various Measuring Cups & Spoons
- Large Sauté Pan with Cover
- Spatula or Wooden Spoon
- Tongs
This Chicken Tender Sauté also happens to fit into a lower carb diet – but anyone will love this simple, flavorful meal.
How do I make Chicken Tender Saute?
- Sauté onions, scallion whites, red bell pepper, and garlic in a large skillet with olive oil and butter.
- Nestle the chicken tenders into the skillet, making sure the chicken sits on the bottom of the pan.
- Cook chicken until lightly brown, flipping with tongs to brown both sides. (Be careful not to overcook the chicken – it will only take one to two minutes per side to brown.)
- Add spinach, scallion greens, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook until the spinach is wilted and the chicken finishes cooking through.
- Remove the skillet from the heat.
- Stir in sour cream to create a light sauce.
- Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Serve immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make this Chicken Tender Sauté ahead of time? This is one of those dishes that is best freshly-cooked – and it only takes about 30 minutes to prepare. You can trim the tenders and measure out the other ingredients, but we suggest cooking it just before eating.
- What should I serve with Chicken Tender Sauté? If you want to keep things lower carb, we suggest serving this with some cauliflower rice. (Try our Saffron Cauliflower Rice or our Riced Cauliflower and Tuscan Kale.) If you aren’t counting your carbs, regular white or brown rice would be good, or you can serve it with cooked pasta or egg noodles.
- How do I store leftovers? Refrigerate any leftovers in a covered container for up to three days.
- How do I reheat any leftovers? We suggest microwaving individual portions to warm through. Be careful not to overheat the chicken as it will get rubbery.
This Chicken Tender Sauté recipe originally appeared on A Family Feast in January 2018. We’ve updated the post, but the delicious recipe remains the same.
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Chicken Tender Sauté
This quick and easy Chicken Tender Sauté combines chicken tenderloins, fresh spinach, peppers, garlic, and onions, plus sour cream for a touch of creaminess.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup yellow or sweet onion, cut 1/2-inch dice
4 large scallions, whites diced, greens sliced and separated
1 cup red bell pepper, 1/2 inch dice
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
8 chicken tenders, about 1 1/4 pounds
3 cups loosely packed baby spinach, about 2 ounces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 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.
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Notes
Note: The most difficult 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, pulling the membrane out.
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.
Just found and made this recipe tonight!! It it SO good! Will be making it again. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Kelly!
Quick & easy. I used chicken breast and sliced to make tenders.
Thanks Carol!
Great Dish. Served with a wild rice blend and bread.
Thanks Stanley – sounds like a great meal!
This dish was easy to make and was delicious with a capital “D.” I did make one change since I do not care for sour cream. I used light cream cheese. Thanks for sharing. I’ll make this dish again and again!
Thank you Dee!