This crispy paleo chicken with creamy mushroom sauce is made all in one skillet, packed with flavor, dairy free, paleo, keto and Whole30 compliant! Seasoned crispy skinned chicken thighs with a dairy free mushroom sauce that’s perfect over cauliflower rice or with roasted and veggies.
Crispy seasoned chicken and creamy mushroom sauce – yes – it’s totally possible while doing the Whole30!
When I first started paleo, I honestly had no idea how to make this sort of meal work out. When I thought of chicken, I pictured it sitting next to a few boring steamed veggies and felt, well, bored. And completely uninspired to actually eat!
It took me awhile, but, I’ve since figured out how to make paleo and Whole30 compliant, dairy free sauces that are creamy and flavorful just like (or almost like!) those traditional sauces containing heavy cream and cheese.
To begin, you’ll have to embrace a few Whole30 truths. First, full fat coconut milk is your friend. And no, combined with the right balance of ingredients it truly does NOT taste like coconut! I say this because it’s one of the most popular questions I receive from coconut-haters 🙂
Second, don’t be afraid to thicken your sauces with tapioca or arrowroot flour. These flours (along with almond and coconut) are Whole30 compliant for dredging and thickening, though not for baking or trying to replicate dessert.
It takes a bit of practice to work with these thickeners to get the right texture for your sauces, but the results are very satisfying! This mushroom sauce only needed a bit of arrowroot starch to thicken it enough for my tastes.
Third, a little bit of Whole30 compliant mustard goes a long way for flavor (and helps to mask the coconut too!) I use mustard in nearly all of my dairy-free sauce recipes and it never disappoints! And on the subject of flavor, organic ghee (clarified butter) adds great flavor to gravies and sauces as well.
Moving away from the sauce, let’s talk about the actual chicken now! I tend to lean toward boneless skinless chicken thighs for many recipes, since they cook quickly, get crispy, and don’t dry out.
For this one though, I was craving the seasoned crispy chicken skin that you can only get with, well, skin-on chicken! It does make the recipe a bit more time consuming, so if you know you’ll be short on time to cook, subbing with boneless chicken thighs is fine. They won’t be as crispy but they’ll bake for less time, and still have tons of flavor and juiciness.
The recipe itself is very straightforward, and everything is cooked in one skillet for less cleaning up afterwards (YES!) The chicken is seasoned, browned in ghee, then set aside while you cook the onions, mushrooms and garlic.
The chicken then bakes with the mushroom mixture and broth until done, then you make the sauce on the stovetop right in the skillet (it’s quick!) before serving everything together.
To keep it low carb and keto, you can serve it with a green salad or over cauliflower rice, roasted brussels sprouts or your favorite cooked greens. If carbs aren’t an issue, it’s also delicious with a side of roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes! I hope you’re ready to cook (and eat!) – let’s go!
Crispy Paleo Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce {Whole30, Keto}
Crispy Paleo Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce {Whole30, Keto}
This crispy paleo chicken with creamy mushroom sauce is made all in one pan, packed with flavor, dairy free, paleo, keto and Whole30 compliant! Seasoned crispy skinned chicken thighs with a dairy free mushroom sauce that's perfect over cauliflower rice or with roasted and veggies.
Ingredients
- 5-6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- Sea salt and and pepper to season chicken
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 3 Tbsp ghee divided
- 8 oz white mushrooms washed and sliced
- 1/2 medium onion chopped (or 1 small)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 8 oz chicken bone broth
- Sea salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk blended prior to adding
- 2 tsp spicy brown mustard
- 2 tsp tapioca or arrowroot starch
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
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Heat a large cast iron skillet (or any oven proof skillet) over med-high heat. Season chicken with salt, pepper, sage, and thyme, rubbing in seasonings to coat skin.
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Add 2 Tbsp ghee to skillet, then brown chicken in skillet on both sides - about 2-3 minutes per side.
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Once browned, remove chicken from skillet to a plate and lower heat to medium, add 1 more tbsp ghee to melt.
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Add onions and cook one minute until softened, then add mushrooms and garlic and continue to cook 3 minutes over med heat until softened. Season with salt and pepper to taste, stir in broth, and remove from heat.
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Return chicken and any juices back to skillet, place skillet in preheated oven and bake 25 minutes, until cooked through, return skillet to stovetop.
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Remove just the chicken from skillet with tongs to make the sauce. Whisk tapioca and mustard into coconut milk, then add to skillet and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil and allow to boil 2-3 minutes until thickened, stirring. Return chicken to skillet and serve with mushroom sauce. Enjoy! Serves 5-6.
Nutrition
What I Used to Make My Crispy Paleo Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce:
Want More Whole30 Chicken Recipes? Try One of These!
Crispy “Breaded” Chicken Cutlets
Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili with White Sweet Potatoes
Creamy Chicken with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts
Creamy Chicken Mushroom Soup with Kale
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i love mushrooms but my kids will not eat them…could i eliminate them from this recipe and still get a flavorful sauce?
Yes, definitely 🙂
Hi, this looks terrific! I just wanted to say thanks for all of your consistently amazing recipes. I nominated your blog for Best Paleo Blog in the Paleo Magazine poll because I think you have the best recipes out there! And I read all the major/popular Paleo blogs 🙂
Oh wow that makes me so happy to hear, thank you! Definitely means so much to me to receive feedback like that so I very much appreciate you taking the time to let me know 🙂
This was DELICIOUS!! Thank you for such great recipes!
So happy you liked it!
So many recipes call for coconut milk and my husband is allergic to all things coconut. Do you have a suggestion for substitution?
You can try Whole30 compliant almond milk (no sugar and carrageenan) although it won’t be as creamy, so you’ll get a thinner sauce.
This was easy to make & delicious! I loved the sauce ? Thank you for the great recipe. I will definitely make this again.
So happy you enjoyed it!!
I made this for my family last for dinner, along with Brussels sprouts and quinoa. Two out of three kids, 10 and 8, asked for seconds and my husband said, “this is one of the best meals you ever made!” He loved the chicken and sauce. He put it on everything on his plate. Delicious!! Definitely going to make it again and again.
That makes me so happy to hear! When the kids and hubby love it you know it’s a keeper – thrilled you guys liked it!
Your recipes look so yummy. I just have a quick question. I have gelatin and xanthan gum at home. Can I use either of those instead of having to buy arrowroot? Thanks in advance
I think gelatin would be too lumpy and I’m not sure how the xanthan gun would work as a thickener.
I’ve used xanthan gum as a thickener before in other recipes. Wasn’t sure how much to use so I went light. I used just a half teaspoon and that worked great. A little goes a long way. Sauce thickened nicely. So if anyone else wonders you can use xanthan gum, but a tiny bit is all you need. Thanks for the recipe. It was delicious.
That’s great to know, thanks!
This was delicate and my husband loved also. I will be sharing it with friends.
That’s great! So happy to hear you guys liked it!
This was fabulous! Easy to make. It is Restaurant Week in KC and after we eat this dish, my husband stated we wouldn’t find anything better out in KC and though we only hit two restaurants, he was right! This is an exceptional dish.
Oh my gosh, this was fantastic. I loved the creamy sauce. This recipe was easy to make!
I made this last night and I will keep this recipe on hand. It had amazing flavor. I did a side of roasted green beans and garlic.. My boyfriend loved it! thank you for your flavorful and healthy recipes!
Sounds great! Happy you enjoyed!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was AMAZING! I have a hard time getting a lot of my paleo sauces to actually be thick but this was perfect! Thanks so much!
I made this tonight and it was delicious!! Thank you 🙂
Hi Michele,
This dish was delicious! I have been struggling to come up with healthy meals to cook for myself and my boyfriend, and started following you on Instagram after seeing that one of my friends (who is always posting healthy meals) follows you too. I found this post after an Instagram story you posted last night and made it tonight for dinner. I tend to stay away from recipes that have too many ingredients or look too complicated to make because I am not great at cooking, but this was perfect for me and it came out great! My boyfriend went back for seconds so I knew he genuinely liked it and wasn’t just trying to make me feel good. Additionally, I try to eat non-processed foods whenever I can to follow an anti-inflammatory diet (thanks to a condition I have) and I am so grateful that I came across your blog with all of your paleo and whole 30 recipes. I will definitely be back for more!
This was such a satisfying meal! We made it with the mashed potatoes from the Swedish Meatballs post – so good. I didn’t even have a thickener so we skipped it and it was more like a broth/sauce than gravy – still so good and can’t wait to try it the right way!
We have made this several times – just had it again tonight. Love this recipe!
This was delicious. We made it with chicken breast and used the coconut milk.
Thank you for sharing. It was easy and tasty. The sage really gives it a unique flavor ( a little flare on chicken masala).
Another great recipe from Paleo Running Momma. She never disappoints. Easy to make, tastes great, and it’s healthy!
Would this work with chicken breasts?
I Made this delicious meal this evening. I was at first skeptic but it was Very good. Still a bit NEW to paleo nut this recipe is definitly a Keeper thabks for sharing.
I followed recipe exact, however had to use coconut flour in place of tapioca. I am not sure if this is why the sauce turned out with a strange taste? To ensure the sauce was going to taste good, and not waste whole dish, I Waited until end and did not mix onions or mushrooms. I am still rating 4 stars as honestly the chicken mushroom mixture still tasted awesome and not all was lost. Might have been my fault for taking advice online of coconut flour. For anyone who has kids or family that does not like cream sauce, there is always option to add at end….anyone try other flours? Was very thick, and an off taste…
I made a few adjustments to the recipe, skinless breasts, and I didn’t need to thicken the coconut milk gravy at all. So delicious!!!
I am pretty horrible at actually following a recipe, so I just used this as a guide, making a few substitutions. It was really yummy. Thank you. The whole family liked it.
The mushroom sauce is extremely flavorful and this dish really is an adventure for the taste buds, plus adding its paleo factor it truly is the perfect dish for me.
This dish is delicious! Very easy to make. Made it for my family and they all raved about it. It is now a go-to-recipe!
Mine did not have flavor and I followed it to a T. My family ate it but they weren’t super excited about it ?❤️❤️❤️ So sad because I was excited about it. How can I make it more flavorful? I love all your recipes but it’s hard to please the kids
Too rich for me. I can definitely taste the coconut from the cream. Otherwise, it’s flavored well, just not for me.
Unbelievable how delicious this was! Probably one of my very favorite home cooked meals now. I did use my Chefman air fryer to air fry the chicken and I added artichokes as well. This is my first time to this site and I can tell you based on my first meal I will be trying others often! Thanks so much for your creativity, glad I found you 🙂
This is brilliant, Michele! The mushroom sauce is like heaven in my mouth and every single person will enjoy this dinner. I’m not a skin-on-thighs kinda girl, but man oh man. 5/5!!! I could eat this every other day swear to God
This was fabulous, we made it last night! Great addition to our Whole30 journey. Thanks for creating such delicious and easy recipes. I doubled the mushrooms and served with vegan mashed potatoes. My husband and I both LOVED it! Can’t wait for the leftovers.
I made this dish, it’s a 10 out of 10!
OMG!!!! I love it.
Easy to make and delicious!
We made your chicken marsala last night and we all thought it tasted like mustard. We don’t like mustard in my house. Is there a way that I can make this dish without mustard and still cut the coconut flavor?