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Crispy, golden chicken on the outside, tender and succulent on the inside and lightly simmered in a creamy sauce with an abundance of flavour. This is the ultimate secret to moist chicken breasts!
Chicken breasts tend to have a bad reputation for being too dry, chalky or hard to swallow. However, this recipe yields perfectly juicy breasts every time, lightly floured and pan-fried.
With all of the creamy sauce recipes I have on this site including Creamy Garlic Tuscan Shrimp, Creamy Dijon Chicken, Creamy Salmon Piccata, and Creamy Parmesan Shrimp, this one seems to stand out from the crowd! Possibly because the entire dish can be ready to rock in 30 minutes or less.
Why this Recipe Works
Bursting with flavor and yet, versatile enough to be paired with pretty much any side, this dish packs in everything you need from a classic weeknight meal. It’s especially good served with something simple and cheesy like Low Carb Cacio e Pepe on the side.
What Goes into this Recipe
- Chicken: I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced horizontally to make them thinner.
- Butter: For the richness.
- Flour: To coat the chicken and get that bit of crunchiness on the exterior.
- Chicken broth: For that flavor-packed sauce.
- Heavy cream: To add creaminess to the sauce. Use evaporated milk or half and half if you don’t have this.
- Aromatics: Fresh garlic and white onion, to build that savory base. You’ll need a whole head of garlic here.
- Parmesan cheese: For that salty, nutty deliciousness.
- Seasonings: Just a bit of salt, pepper and some garlic powder.
- Parsley: Chopped fresh, to garnish.
- Olive oil: To fry the chicken.
Note: please see recipe card at the bottom for list of full ingredients and measurements
How to Make Creamy Garlic Chicken Breasts
- Season chicken: Season the sliced chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Prepare the coating: In a shallow bowl, combine the flour and Parmesan cheese and set it aside. Coat the seasoned chicken well in this mixture.
- Fry chicken: Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the chicken. Fry for a few minutes on each side until they’re light golden brown, then remove and set them aside on a plate.
- Saute aromatics: In the remaining oil-butter mixture, saute the aromatics until they soften and slightly brown.
- Deglaze: Add chicken broth to deglaze the pan and scrape any brown bits stuck on the surface of the pan. Let this simmer for a few minutes and reduce to half.
- Prepare cream sauce: Pour in the cream and let this simmer for a few minutes. Now mix in the Parmesan cheese and season more if needed.
- Add chicken: Add the chicken to the pan and give it a stir. Let this cook for a minute, and the sauce will start to thicken.
- Garnish and serve: Take it off heat, garnish with chopped parsley and crushed black pepper.
I love serving this chicken breast recipe with some steamed rice or Mashed Potatoes! You can also team it up with a simple pasta, some Cauliflower Mash or even some zucchini noodles.
If you’re a bread lover, try my No Knead Artisan Bread or Individual Garlic Cheese Breads– 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.
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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 (about 4-5 minutes each side, depending on the thickness of your chicken). Transfer to a warm plate. Set aside.
- Wipe pan over with a sheet of paper towel. Repeat with remaining oil, butter and chicken breasts. When cooked, transfer the chicken onto the same plate.
- 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 remaining oil and butter to the pan and heat through, mixing it through the onions. Sauté smashed garlic cloves and whole garlic cloves until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. 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.
- Mix in the parmesan cheese. Continue cooking gently for about 2-3 minutes until cheese melts, while stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.
- 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.
- Garnish with parsley and a little black cracked pepper. Serve over pasta, cauliflower mash, zucchini noodles, rice or mashed potatoes.
Notes
- You can use heavy cream, whipping cream or thickened cream in the 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I LOVED this recipe. Full disclosure, I had to use jarred garlic because I didn’t have any fresh/whole garlic. But I thought it turned out fantastic. I roasted some spaghetti squash as a side dish…tasted like a lighter version of chicken alfredo. Family ate it up, too! And they’re freakin’ PICKY 🙂
Seriously amazing. I wish I tried this recipe earlier. Quick, only one pan needed, and it tastes so amazing.
This dish was amazing! The sauce is delicious! Thanks for sharing!
oh my lanta was this delicious!!!! My kids(ages 14,10,10) all loved it!!! I served it with mashed potatoes and broccoli. the sauce was amazing and i will definitely be making this dish again! I have leftover sauce which i will be saving for tomorrow and i’m going to add it over some pasta.
THESE PICTURESSSSSSS. You are killing me lol. I’m salivating. Making this tonight.
This is fabulous! I added 1 lb of sauteed sliced mushrooms.
I am going to be making this for after a Packer game on Sunday night! Peering with some other dishes friends are bringing. How much of this can I make a head of time? Could die keep it warm in a low oven or should I just make/add the sauce at the end? Cannot wait to serve this and so many of the other dishes on this site! I hope I hear from someone!
This recipe is fantastic! I used 1% milk and it was still wonderful. My picky MIL loved it as well!
Thank you!
Wow! This is so delicious. I get bored of chicken breast but mannn this hits the spot! The whole garlic doesn’t overpower anything (although I love garlic anyways). It was perfect! It would be great with some mashed potatoes on the side or even on top of some pasta. My husband brought some leftovers to work and one of the guys that walked into the room said something smelt amazing!
This was wonderful! Was a little worried about garlic soI roasted some of the garlic first, but I don’t think it was necessary. The only problem was it took longer than 35 minutes but still worth it.