Creamy Garlic Chicken
Posted: 09/20/22
Updated: 02/02/23
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Tender, juicy chicken swaddled in a creamy, deliciously garlicky sauce that tastes restaurant-worthy. Don’t let the amount of garlic scare you – this recipe quickly but gently softens the garlic down to a rich, fragrant flavor. This will quickly become one of your favorite dinner recipes!
🧄 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- Creamy garlic chicken is delicious. Juicy and rich, with a decadently creamy sauce that you’d expect to find at a classy restaurant. Seriously, it’s hard to believe a recipe this simple could be this good, but here we are! The chicken is cooked perfectly, lightly fried (without breading) in neutral oil to give it a wonderful crust that locks in the natural flavors and juices of the cutlets, keeping them from drying out.
- It looks like there’s a lot of garlic in this recipe – I mean… garlic powder on the chicken PLUS a whole head of garlic in the sauce?? Don’t let that alarm you, though. The garlic is so well balanced by the other flavors in the dish that it shines through without being too much. You can always dial back the amount of garlic you use in the sauce, though, if it’s more than you care to take on.
Can’t Get Enough Creamy Chicken Dishes?
💭 Chef’s Tips
- Don’t let your skillet get too hot! Garlic can burn quickly, and so can your oil. Those burnt flavors are pretty pungent so you want to avoid burning the ingredients at all costs.
- Let your half and half and grated parmesan come to room temperature (or close to it) before adding them to the sauce. If the dairy products are too cold, they’ll have some pretty undesirable reactions when they hit the hot liquid in the skillet. The half and half can curdle, and the parmesan can clump or become grainy.
- On that same note, be careful not to simmer the creamy garlic chicken sauce on too high a heat once the dairy products have been added. Boiling the half and half can make it curdle.
- If the sauce is too thin for your liking, let it simmer a little longer, or add a little more parmesan to thicken it up. If it’s not thin enough for you, add a little chicken broth until you’ve got your perfect consistency.
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Creamy Garlic Chicken
Juicy chicken breasts in a creamy, garlicky, restaurant-quality sauce.
servings
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts halved horizontally to create 4 cutlets
- salt to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil avocado or canola
For the Creamy Garlic Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter see Notes
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 head garlic 10-12 cloves, peeled; divided
- ½ cup dry white wine or chicken broth
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups half and half see Notes
- salt to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- ½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese plus more to garnish, see Notes
- chopped freshly parsley to garnish
Equipment
- 2 cutting boards
- large knife
- Large skillet
- spatula or tongs
- Plate
Instructions
- Place chicken cutlets on cutting board. Liberally season all sides of each cutlet with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Set chicken aside.
- Place 6 cloves garlic on clean cutting board or other flat surface. Carefully use side of large knife to smash garlic cloves. Leave remaining 4 to 6 cloves whole. Set garlic aside.
- Heat large skillet over medium heat. When skillet is hot, add neutral oil and swirl pan to distribute oil evenly across entire bottom surface of skillet. Heat oil over medium heat until oil is hot and shimmery.
- When oil is hot, place seasoned chicken cutlets in skillet. Fry cutlets until golden, approximately 4 to 5 minutes, then carefully flip cutlets over and fry another 4 to 5 minutes or until cutlets are golden brown and cooked through. Transfer cooked cutlets to plate and set aside.
- When cutlets have been transferred to plate, add 2 tablespoons butter to skillet. Melt butter completely, swirling pan occasionally to distribute butter.
- Add chopped onion to melted butter. Sauté onions until softened and translucent, approximately 10 minutes.
- Once onion is softened, add smashed and whole garlic cloves to skillet. Sauté until garlic is fragrant, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
- When garlic is fragrant, pour white wine into skillet to deglaze pan. Use spatula or tongs to scrape up any browned bits of chicken or onions that may be stuck to skillet.
- When skillet is deglazed, pour in 1 cup chicken broth. Stir to incorporate. Raise heat to medium-high and bring liquid to boil. When liquid begins to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until liquid has reduced by 50%, approximately 5 minutes.
- Once liquid has reduced, remove skillet from heat. Add 1 ½ cups half and half and ½ cup grated parmesan to skillet. Stir to incorporate, and continue stirring until parmesan has melted.
- Return skillet to heat and let sauce simmer 3 minutes, or until mixture has thickened slightly. Season sauce with salt and black pepper to taste.
- Return chicken cutlets to skillet. Spoon sauce over tops of cutlets and let chicken rest in skillet until warmed through. When ready, transfer chicken to serving plates. Serve warm with mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower. When serving, garnish cutlets with plenty of creamy garlic sauce, additional grated parmesan, and chopped parsley.
Notes
- Half and Half: Let half and half come to room temperature (or close to it) before adding it to the sauce. If it’s too cold, it’ll curdle when added to the hot liquid.
- Parmesan Cheese: Let your cheese come to room temperature before adding it to the sauce. If the cheese is too cold, it’ll clump or turn grainy when it’s added to the hot liquid. Also, for best results, purchase a block of parmesan and grate it yourself. Prepackaged shredded and grated cheeses include added starches and fillers to prevent clumping, which can also prevent the cheese melting like it should.
- Make it Keto: Use heavy cream instead of half and half. Grate your own parmesan from a fresh block to avoid the added starches and fillers used in prepackaged grated cheese.
- Make it Dairy Free: Use plant-based butter, an unsweetened non-dairy milk, and plant-based parmesan.
- Make it Paleo: Use ghee instead of butter, an unsweetened non-dairy milk, and nutritional yeast instead of parmesan.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size: 1serving, Calories: 446kcal, Protein: 29g, Fat: 29g, Saturated Fat: 13g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 121mg, Sodium: 566mg, Potassium: 636mg, Total Carbs: 11g, Fiber: 1g, Net Carbs: 10g, Vitamin A: 635IU, Vitamin C: 5mg, Calcium: 237mg, Iron: 1mg
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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