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Creamy Cajun Chicken is a rich and flavorful dish that combines tender, golden pan-fried chicken with a luscious, spicy cream sauce. The recipe features Cajun seasoning, which adds a smoky and slightly spicy kick, balanced by the rich creaminess of heavy cream. Serve over mashed potatoes and a lime wedge and you have a comforting weeknight dinner.
Table of Contents:
- Table of Contents:
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients for Creamy Cajun Chicken
- Tips & FAQs
- Recipe:
- Check out these other great recipes!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
When creating this recipe, I wanted to take into account the bold and irresistible flavors Cajun seasoning has. Adding the seasoning to a rich, velvety cream sauce elevated the entire dish. It’s perfect for weeknights and takes not much time to prepare since it’s straightforward and comes together quickly. This dish pairs with pretty much anything like pasta, rice, mashed potatoes, or just crusty bread to get all of the sauce. I wouldn’t describe this as too spicy since the cream mellows out the spice. It’s almost like a Tuscan chicken recipe, but made with a Cajun twist.
Ingredients for Creamy Cajun Chicken
- Chicken Breasts: Boneless and skinless is the way to go here. When slicing them in half, if they are a little on the thicker side, pound them out a little for even cooking. For a more succulent option, feel free to use boneless skinless chicken thighs.
- Cajun Seasoning: The main ingredient that makes this dish Cajun seasoned. This seasoning goes into the chicken dredge and the sauce. If you find Cajun seasoning with no salt added, you can use that and salt your dish as desired.
- All-purpose flour: Used to dredge the chicken and thicken the sauce.
- Unsalted Butter: I like using unsalted butter because it’s easier to control the salt in the overall dish.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Used to brown the chicken.
- Heavy Cream & Chicken Broth: The base for the sauce.
- Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes: Fire roasting tomatoes make them a bit sweeter, so it offers a bit of sweetness to the dish to cut through the smoky & zingy seasoning.
- Garlic: Flavor!
- Lime Juice: A bit of acidity is needed here. It helps bring the dish together. Fresh is key.
- Hot Sauce: This doesn’t add as much spice to the dish as you’re thinking it does. It adds just a little kick. Feel free to omit this or use tabasco or sriracha.
- Green Bell Pepper: Green bell peppers are a bit more bitter than red bell peppers. It’s a great addition to cut through the richness of the sauce.
- Brown Sugar: Adds a bit of sweetness. This doesn’t make it too sweet.
- Dried Oregano, Mustard Powder, Cayenne Pepper: Cajun seasoning typically has oregano in it, but I always like to add just a bit more. Feel free to omit the cayenne if you like. I only add a little bit since I don’t want the dish to be too spicy.
Tips & FAQs
- Storage: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in a saucepan over low heat for the best results. Otherwise, the microwave is fine. Freezing is not recommended.
- What to Serve With This: Pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes are good options to soak up the sauce. You can steam some broccoli as well. For low-carb options, go with a mashed cauliflower or roasted Brussels sprouts. You can keep things light and serve a salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing or a Lemon Vinaigrette.
- Variations:
- You can use 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil (drained) instead of the fire-roasted tomatoes in the dish. If you choose this, substitute 1/4 cup chicken broth for the reserved tomato liquid from the can.
- Add some mushrooms, celery, and/or onions when cooking the bell peppers.
- Add some parmesan cheese to the sauce! Nothing wrong with adding cheese. You can also stir in Cheddar Jack, Monterey Jack, Sharp Cheddar, or mozzarella. If you choose to add in cheese, do so before adding the chicken back to the skillet.
- Use regular diced tomatoes instead of fire-roasted if you can’t find them.
- You can add black beans or sweet corn to this when adding in the tomatoes.
- Wine Pairing: Serve this with a chilled Riesling or Pinot Noir. Riesling wine is typically on the sweeter side which makes it perfect for this dish. Pinot Noir is a dry red with bright acidity and a silky texture that will contrast with the richness of the dish and enhance it. Another option would be a Shiraz or Syrah. Shiraz is an Australian variety whereas Syrah is a French variety.
Want the recipe? Click print below! Let me know how it came out for you by tagging me on Instagram (@missravenskitchen) and using #missravenskitchen! Let me know if I need to tweak anything.
Recipe:
Creamy Cajun Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise (should create 6 cutlets), pounded 1/2 inch thickness
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cajun seasoning
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 14 oz diced tomatoes with green chiles (fire roasted or regular), juice reserved in bowl
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- 1 1/4 tsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp mustard powder
- Salt, to taste
- 2 tsp fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
- Scallions, for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour and cajun seasoning. Coat the chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat together the butter and olive oil. Once hot, cook the chicken in batches, if necessary, 3-4 minutes per side until golden. It may not be cooked through fully and that’s fine.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the reserved tomato juice to the skillet and gently scrape the browned bits from the skillet. Melt in 3 tbsp butter; add the green bell peppers and garlic. Cook until the peppers are tender, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the 3 tbsp of flour continuously for 2 minutes. to cook out the raw flour taste. Pour in the heavy cream, chicken broth, and hot sauce. Let it come to a simmer, then stir in the reserved tomatoes, brown sugar, Cajun seasoning, oregano, cayenne pepper, mustard powder, and salt, to taste. Simmer for 4 minutes until thickened.
- Reduce heat to low, and slowly stir in lime juice. Add the chicken back to the skillet. Spoon some sauce over the top. Let it come to a simmer, stirring occasionally, uncovered until the chicken is cooked through to 165F when temping the fattest part. Stir
- Serve with lime wedges and scallions.
Notes
Storage: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in a saucepan over low heat for the best results. Otherwise, the microwave is fine. Freezing is not recommended.
What to Serve With This: Pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes are good options to soak up the sauce. You can steam some broccoli as well. For low-carb options, go with a mashed cauliflower or roasted Brussels sprouts. You can keep things light and serve a salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing or a Lemon Vinaigrette.
Variations:
- You can use 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil (drained) instead of the fire-roasted tomatoes in the dish. If you choose this, substitute 1/4 cup chicken broth for the reserved tomato liquid from the can.
- Add some mushrooms, celery, and/or onions when cooking the bell peppers.
- Add some parmesan cheese to the sauce! Nothing wrong with adding cheese. You can also stir in Cheddar Jack, Monterey Jack, Sharp Cheddar, or mozzarella. If you choose to add in cheese, do so before adding the chicken back to the skillet.
- Use regular diced tomatoes instead of fire-roasted if you can’t find them.
- You can add black beans or sweet corn to this when adding in the tomatoes.
Wine Pairing: Serve this with a chilled Riesling or Pinot Noir. Riesling wine is typically on the sweeter side which makes it perfect for this dish. Pinot Noir is a dry red with bright acidity and a silky texture that will contrast with the richness of the dish and enhance it. Another option would be a Shiraz or Syrah. Shiraz is an Australian variety whereas Syrah is a French variety.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
318Fat (grams)
25 gSat. Fat (grams)
13 gCarbs (grams)
13 gFiber (grams)
2 gSugar (grams)
3 gProtein (grams)
28 gSodium (milligrams)
162 mgCholesterol (grams)
126 mgThe nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and the brands of ingredients used.
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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