If you’re like me, you’re always looking for new ways to make chicken. To make it interesting. To make it more flavorful. To make it call your family to the table .

This Creamy Mushroom Chicken ticks all those boxes.

And the aroma is intoxicating. It lets you know you’re about to dive into an umami adventure.

It also comes together relatively quickly…if you do one thing. But, more on that later.

Umami, you say?

If you’re unfamiliar with umami, it’s the fifth category of flavor (sweet, sour, salty, and bitter are the more familiar categories) that provides a meaty, savory, deep deliciousness to your food.

It’s what makes your mouth water.

Finding and cooking with umami-forward foods is simple and you’re probably already doing it. Foods that bring the umami element to your table (and three that are in this recipe) include:

  • Chicken (check)
  • Mushrooms (check)
  • Aged cheese−including Parmesan (check)
  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Broths
  • Certain fishes (salmon, anchovies, sardines, and more)
  • Fish sauce
  • Miso
  • Tomatoes
  • Onions
  • Peas
  • Asparagus
  • Broccoli
  • Kimchi
  • Soy foods
  • Green tea
  • And many, many more

So, with three umami ingredients, this recipe calls your taste buds to the table!

Simple to Make−Creamy Mushroom Chicken

Get the recipe from: Carlsbad Cravings

The day I was planning to make this recipe, my daughter asked if we had a dinner plan. I conveniently told her, “Yes−it includes chicken and potatoes and a cream sauce.”

She didn’t need to know about the mushrooms. You see, she’s not a fan. Yet.

And I get that. I didn’t like mushrooms until I was an adult.

But they add such a wonderfully sophisticated essence that I couldn’t pass up trying this recipe.

So, even if you have mushroom-adverse people in your house, make this anyway. The mushrooms add such a great flavor to the sauce and your truly picky eaters can maneuver around the mushrooms if they must.

Creamy Mushroom Chicken ingredients. Left: Chicken and dredge ingredients. Right: Mushroom and potato sauce ingredients.

Eight things to know about the Creamy Mushroom Chicken recipe:

  • The recipe indicates 35 total minutes (prep and cook), but this took me 45+ minutes. For whatever reason, the potatoes, mushrooms, and sauce cooked a bit slower for me. This recipe is well worth those additional 10 minutes.
  • While the ingredient list is fairly long for a quick dinner, this recipe is simple to make IF you set up your mise en place. This French term means “put in place” and it’s a standard practice for professional chefs. It means you gather and measure out all your ingredients before you begin cooking. It makes the cooking process much smoother and more enjoyable. And it’s the one thing you NEED to do for this recipe to go as smoothly as possible. Prep two separate mise en place for this−one for the chicken dredge and one for the creamy mushroom sauce.
Use a mise en place approach to this recipe to minimize your cooking time. The mise en place shown above is NOT from this recipe, but rather an example of how to set up your cooking space for eficiency.
  • I used extra thin-sliced chicken. I thought I grabbed chicken tenderloins at the store (thinking it would save me the time of slicing and pounding chicken breasts) but grabbed thin-sliced chicken. Because I had 7-8 cutlets, I had to double the dredge to cover all the chicken. It did reduce my cooking time for the chicken, but it also meant I had a very narrow window for properly cooked vs. overcooked chicken. I seriously recommend just following the recipe and buying chicken breasts, slicing them and pounding them. Live and learn−shortcuts don’t always work.
  • Cook the potatoes in a single layer if possible. I cooked my potatoes in a bowl with a smaller bottom and a wider top and they took about 10 minutes to fully cook. In addition, they cooked unevenly with the potatoes on the bottom cooking faster than those on the top. I had to stop and stir the potatoes twice during the cooking process to ensure even cooking. For that reason, I highly recommend using a microwave-safe dish in which you can put the potatoes in a single layer.
  • My grocery store didn’t have individual cremini mushrooms so I bought a gourmet blend that included cremini, shitake, and oyster mushrooms and also grabbed a package of Baby Bella mushrooms. Sometimes you have to make due with what’s available and the shitake and oyster mushrooms in the gourmet blend along with the Baby Bella mushrooms still brought the umami.
  • Hack this recipe for a mushroom side dish. The mushrooms in the cream sauce would be delicious on their own. Simply follow the directions for the mushrooms−with or without the potatoes−and you’ve got a side you can pair with any meal.
Caramelized mushrooms add a delicious umami flavor to this dish and could be a side dish on their own!
  • This is the epitome of cold weather comfort food. Sometimes you want your meal to make you feel like you’re wrapped in a blanket next to a fire. This dish does just that. The deep flavors of the chicken and mushrooms paired with the baby potatoes transport you to a kinder, gentler place.
  • We shaved some additional Parmesan over the dish before serving. Nothing can go wrong with adding a bit more Parmesan to this dish. Enjoy!
Shave some Parmesan cheese on top prior to serving.

The Great Mushroom Debate

So, did my daughter eat the mushrooms?

No.

Am I upset?

Also no.

While she picked out the mushrooms, she did like the flavor of the sauce. Which comes largely from the mushrooms.

I’m taking that as a win!