Garlic Herb Butter Chicken

A deliciously garlicky herb butter swaddles perfectly tender, seared chicken breasts for an easy weeknight dinner that’s delicious enough for company. Perfect over mashed potatoes, pasta, or rice, and absolutely loaded with flavor.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

• There is a ton of incredible flavor in this chicken dish, and it all comes from just a handful of ingredients! I took my reader-favorite garlic herb compound butter recipe and combined it with lightly-seasoned, pan-seared, perfectly-tender chicken breasts for an easy-to-make protein that also happens to be nice and delicious enough to serve for the holidays or whenever you have guests.
• What can you serve with garlic herb butter chicken? Um, more like what CAN’T you serve with garlic herb butter chicken?! The flavors are rich and deep, yes, but they’re also very versatile, so pretty much any of your favorite sides work here. Plate your chicken with pasta, rice (or creamy risotto!), or mashed potatoes, and spoon even more of that amazing sauce over everything. You can also serve it with cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, or any of your favorite vegetables.
• This recipe can easily be adapted to fit a variety of dietary needs! It’s naturally gluten free and keto-friendly (with a whopping 3g TOTAL carbs per serving), not to mention it’s high in protein. You can easily make it dairy free by using a vegan butter, or make it Whole30 or paleo by using ghee and swapping out the white wine for chicken broth. Keep the sides in line with your needs and you’ve got a simple, satisfying, and accommodating entrée in no time.

Chef’s Tips

• In order for the garlic herb butter to come together like it needs to, the butter absolutely has to be at room temperature when you add it to the food processor. If you forget to take it out early enough, you can microwave it a little, but be careful not to overdo it. You want the butter softened, NOT melted!
• Try to use chicken breasts that are all the same size and thickness, otherwise they won’t cook at the same rate. If your chicken breasts are larger or especially thick, I recommend either tenderizing them first or halving them into cutlets so they’ll cook better and faster.
• This is one recipe that’s really at its best when it’s fresh, so I don’t recommend making it ahead of an event or anything like that. If you end up with leftovers, though, just refrigerate them in an airtight container! They’ll keep up to 5 days, and reheating is a cinch. You may notice the garlic herb butter sauce solidify a little when it’s refrigerated, and that’s totally fine. It’ll be fine once you warm it back up!

Even More Delicious Chicken Recipes

• Thai Peanut Chicken
• Instant Pot Chicken Thighs (Fresh or Frozen, Bone-In or Boneless)
• Marry Me Chicken Salad
• Mexican Chicken and Rice Bake
• Instant Pot Chicken Legs
• Easy Cheesy Salsa Chicken
• Creamy Boursin Chicken
• Crockpot Marry Me Chicken
• Chicken Roulade with Goat Cheese, Spinach, and Prosciutto
• The Best Crockpot Angel Chicken
• Mesquite Grilled Chicken

Recipe By: Cheryl Malik

5 from 1 vote

Garlic Herb Butter Chicken

Prep 15 minutes minutes

Cook 25 minutes minutes

Total 40 minutes minutes

Tender, seared chicken in a rich and satisfying garlic herb butter sauce. Naturally gluten free, low carb, and keto-friendly. Serve with pasta, mashed potatoes, or your favorite veggies.

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4 servings

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Equipment

• Food processor optional, see Notes
• Large skillet
• Tongs
• internal meat thermometer optional
• Plate or cutting board
• silicone spatula or whisk

Ingredients

For the Garlic Herb Butter

• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• ▢ 3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley
• ▢ 1 tablespoon herbs of choice
• ▢ 2 teaspoons roughly chopped garlic approximately 1 clove
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 2 tablespoons roughly chopped shallots
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste, omit if using salted butter
• ▢ freshly cracked black pepper to taste

For the Chicken

• ▢ 4 medium chicken breasts or 2 large chicken breasts halved into cutlets, approximately 2 pounds
• ▢ salt to taste
• ▢ freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• ▢ 2 tablespoons avocado oil or other neutral oil
• ▢ 1 cup water if needed
• ▢ ½ cup dry white wine or chicken broth

Instructions

• Add all ingredients for garlic herb butter to food processor bowl. Process until mixture is completely smooth and well-combined. Set aside.
• Thoroughly season chicken breasts on all sides with salt and fresh black pepper to taste. Set aside.
• Heat large skillet over medium heat. When skillet is hot, add avocado oil and swirl pan to coat completely. Continue warming skillet over medium heat until avocado oil is hot and shimmering.
• When oil is hot, add chicken breasts to skillet, working in batches as needed so as not to overcrowd pan. Sear chicken breasts 4 minutes, then gently check underside of chicken for burning. If any burning is occuring, flip chicken breasts over immediately, otherwise cook 1 additional minute, then flip chicken over.
• Cook chicken on other side another 4 to 5 minutes, or until chicken is firm and cooked through. Transfer cooked chicken to plate and set aside to rest. Note: if chicken breasts are particularly large/thick and not firm and cooked-through after 8-10 minutes, cover skillet with lid and reduce heat to low. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until firm and cooked-through.
• If skillet has any burnt spots left behind, carefully pour 1 cup water into hot skillet. Let water come to boil, then pour water out and continue with recipe.
• Reduce heat under skillet to low. Carefully pour white wine (or chicken broth) into skillet and use spatula or whisk to scrape up any browned bits of chicken that may be stuck to pan. Bring liquid to low boil, then simmer, uncovered, until mixture is reduced by 50%.
• Once liquid has reduced to approximately ⅓ cup remaining, add garlic herb butter mixture to skillet. Stir or whisk until butter is completely melted, then return chicken to skillet and spoon sauce over.
• Once chicken is well-coated with sauce, immediately remove skillet from heat. Plate chicken breasts with desired sides and additional sauce from skillet if desired, then serve immediately.

• The butter must be softened (not melted) in order to blend smoothly with the other ingredients.
• If you’re using salted butter, don’t add the additional salt to the garlic herb butter.
• Food Processor: If you don’t have a food processor, chop the herbs, garlic, and shallots very finely, then stir all the garlic herb butter ingredients together in a small bowl until well-combined.
• Herbs: Tarragon, oregano, rosemary, chives, or more parsley would all work well in this recipe.
• Make it Dairy Free: Use a vegan butter.
• Make it Whole30/Paleo: Use ghee instead of butter, and chicken broth instead of white wine.
• Leftovers: Any leftover garlic herb butter chicken can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 5 days. To reheat, cut chicken into slices and add chicken with sauce to skillet. Reheat, covered, over low heat until butter sauce has melted and chicken is warmed through.
• Suggested Sides: Pasta, mashed potatoes, rice, cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, palmini noodles, green beans, spinach, roasted carrots and potatoes, fondant potatoes, sweet potato rice, broccolini, or asparagus.

Nutrition Info

Approximate Information for One Serving

Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 560calProtein: 49gFat: 36gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 206mgSodium: 562mgPotassium: 924mgTotal Carbs: 3gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gNet Carbs: 2gVitamin A: 1046IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 37mgIron: 1mg

Nutrition Disclaimers

Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.

Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.

To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

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