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Garlic chicken breast in an irresistible garlic sauce filled with caramelized onions and garlic is a winner of a garlic chicken dinner!
Easy and delicious creamy chicken recipe at its finest. I dredge boneless chicken breasts in a thin layer of flour and pan-fry them in butter and oil until browned and crisp before simmering them in a mouth-watering garlic parmesan chicken cream sauce.
Filled with caramelized flavor, you will LOVE how easy this garlic chicken recipe is!
Why this Recipe Works
Crisp, browned garlic chicken on the outside → tender and succulent on the inside → simmered in a creamy sauce with so much flavor. The combination of your dreams!
Chicken breasts tend to have a bad reputation for being too dry, chalky, or hard to swallow. However, this garlic chicken recipe yields juicy breasts floured and pan-fried.
With all of the creamy sauce recipes I have on this site (like my shrimp with sun-dried tomatoes, mustard pan sauce chicken, salmon with lemon and capers, or shrimp in parmesan sauce), this garlic parmesan chicken stands out from the crowd!
Ready in LESS than 30 minutes and great for any night of the week…even special occasions!
Ingredients
- Chicken: I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced horizontally into thinner cutlets so they cook fast and stay juicy in the skillet. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work just as well if you prefer dark meat, though they need a couple of extra minutes in the pan.
- Garlic: Whole peeled cloves are the secret to the best garlic chicken. I smash half to release their flavor into the oil and leave the rest whole so they soften as they cook. Don’t swap in jarred minced garlic; it burns too fast and turns the sauce bitter.
- Heavy cream: It thickens the cream and holds up to simmering without splitting. I tried making this with half-and-half before, and the sauce turned out waaay too thin. If you need a lighter swap, evaporated milk works much better.
- Parmesan cheese: Freshly grated off the block ALWAYS. It thickens the garlic parmesan chicken sauce, and it doesn’t crumble. Skip the pre-shredded tubs, as the anti-caking powder stops the cheese from melting and leaves the sauce grainy.
Note: Please see the recipe card for list of full ingredients and measurements.
How to Make Creamy Garlic Chicken Breasts
You’re going to start with thin chicken breasts. For a faster prep time, cut your chicken breasts in half horizontally to make four fillets (like you did for my marsala chicken recipe) before coating with flour, salt, and black pepper. Quicker and easier than pounding them thin with a meat mallet and yields the same results. Thinner chicken pieces cook faster and evenly.
Heat oil and butter in a large skillet to fry the seasoned chicken for the best browned results and delicious flavor.
Cook the sauce in the same pan as the garlic chicken. Pour in the broth and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, as they add tons of flavor to the sauce!
Cooking With Garlic
If you’ve gone ahead and read the garlic chicken recipe already, you may be thinking one of two things:
- This woman is crazy. TOO MUCH GARLIC. YUCK!
- Oh my god, finally, the right amount of garlic.
The beauty of this garlic chicken breast recipe is that the garlic is NOT overpowering AT ALL! The secret to having SO much garlic without being overly pungent is caramelizing the cloves (some smashed and some whole) in chicken stock (or broth) for 5-6 minutes over medium heat. This allows the garlic to soften with a hint of sweetness.
Garlic Flavor
YOU can make this best garlic chicken as garlicky as you want! How? For a stronger garlic flavor, smash all of your cloves with the flat side of a heavy knife (sharp side facing away from you) by pressing the blade down on the clove with the heel of your hand.
I brown the garlic cloves in a little oil along with softened onion in buttery pan juices before simmering them in chicken stock. There is so much caramelization happening in this pan; it’s CRAZY GOOD.
For a much milder garlic parmesan chicken sauce, add the garlic cloves whole
If you’ve never cooked with whole garlic cloves before, you may be breaking into a cold sweat right about now. I promise you there’s no need for a freak out. Cooking them the way you will here relaxes their usual intense flavor, instead giving them a subtle sweetness. They become so soft, like butter!
Of course, if you LOVE garlic with chicken breasts, then feel free to mince or finely chop all of the cloves and add them in.
Tips for the Best Garlic Chicken
- You can use heavy cream, whipping cream, or thickened cream in this garlic parmesan chicken sauce.
- For a lightened-up sauce, use evaporated milk or half-and-half. If using half-and-half, be careful not to bring your sauce to a rapid boil or it may curdle.
- The sauce will not thicken immediately after adding your cream. Once you add your garlic chicken breast back into the pan, the flour from the garlic chicken will thicken your sauce. No cornstarch needed. HOORAY!
Sides That Go With Creamy Garlic Chicken Breasts
I love this chicken breast recipe with steamed rice or mashed potatoes! You can also serve it over pasta, cauliflower mash, or zucchini noodles.
If you’re a bread-lover, try my homemade bread or garlic cheese for one, both work wonderfully to mop up that delicious sauce.
Recipe FAQ’s
Store your leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and reheat in a pan over medium heat or in the microwave, pausing at every 15 second interval. You may also need to add a splash of milk or chicken broth to get the sauce back to the right consistency.
Yes, you can! I love the idea of trying this recipe with shrimp, steaks and even salmon. Just remember that the cooking time will be different depending on the kind of meat you’re working with.
No, garlic chicken is not spicy at all! Even though I use a whole head of garlic, simmering the cloves in chicken stock mellows out their sharp bite and turns them soft and sweet. If you do want some heat in the garlic parmesan chicken, stir a pinch of red pepper flakes into the sauce right along with the garlic.
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Creamy Garlic Chicken Breast Recipe
Ingredients
For The Chicken:
- 2-3 boneless chicken breasts large, skinless, halved horizontally to make 4
- 4 tablespoons flour (all purpose or plain)
- 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese finely grated, fresh
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper cracked
For The Sauce:
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 whole head of garlic peeled and divided into 10-12 cloves
- 1 1/4 cup chicken broth (stock)
- 1 1/4 cup heavy cream half and half (or evaporated milk)
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese finely grated, fresh
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley to serve
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt, garlic powder and pepper.
- In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, parmesan cheese. Dredge chicken in the flour mixture; shake off excess.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl pan to coat evenly. Fry 2-3 chicken breasts until golden on each side, cooked through and no longer pink. Transfer to a warm plate. Set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium. Sauté the onion in the remaining oil/juices in the pan until softened. Smash 6 whole cloves of garlic with the blunt edge of the back of a knife
- Add the broth to deglaze the pan. Scrape up any browned bits and let simmer and reduce to half, about 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour in the cream. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer for about 2-3 minutes, combining all of the flavours together.
- Add the chicken back into the pan and let simmer for a further 2-3 minutes to thicken the sauce to your liking. The chicken breast will soak up all of the delicious flavours.
Video
Notes
Storing and Reheating Garlic Chicken
Leftover garlic chicken keeps really well, and the garlic flavor gets even better the next day.- Fridge: Let the chicken and sauce cool completely, then transfer them to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
- Reheating: Warm the garlic chicken breast and sauce in a skillet over low heat. Because the parmesan cream sauce thickens up a lot in the fridge, stir in 1-2 tablespoons of chicken broth, milk, or water to loosen it back up. Avoid blasting it in the microwave on high heat, or the butter and cream will separate and turn oily.
- Freezer: I don’t recommend freezing this garlic chicken recipe. Cream and parmesan sauces tend to split and turn grainy once thawed and reheated.
- Make Ahead: If you want a head start on this garlic chicken dinner, slice your chicken breasts into cutlets and peel and smash your garlic cloves a day ahead. Keep them stored in separate containers in the fridge so you can go straight to the stove when you’re ready to cook.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this tonight. It was soooo good. We had it with Cauliflower Mash. I’ll definitely be making this again.
Saving this recipe to make again.
Excellent. I added fresh asparagus at the end, cooked for an additional 5 min. I serve it over Angel Hair pasta. My family loves it!
So delicious!!!
what it on video where? other videos come up and i didn’t have much time before dinner??
Hi Dolores, sorry about the link to the video, I have fixed it, but just in case you can’t see it follow the link here. https://youtu.be/DaeQ2AKp00k
This was delicious -even my picky eater who doesn’t love creamy dishes ate the chicken. It had a lot of flavor and turned out very tender.
There was a lot of sauce- so I cooked some pasta in it after the chicken was done slowly added more chicken broth or water if needed and it made a delicious cheesy pasta.
So easy and absolutely delicious!!! This will go into my arsenal!
Deeeeliscious and easy to make thank you!
Did not make – yet. Was wondering if anyone has added lemon and maybe a little honey to make this lemon-garlic cream sauce? This sounds fantastic but a bit like Alfredo Sauce so I was looking for something slightly different
Absolutely delicious I will be making it again