This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read OurDisclosure Policy.
Tender, juicy chicken swaddled in a deliciously creamy garlic 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.
💭 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.
🥘 Try These Incredible Recipes Next
- Oven-Finished Sous Vide Brisket
- Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
- Fried Pickle Dip
- Creamy Chicken Soup Chicken
- 3-Ingredient Sausage Dip (Stovetop or Crockpot)
- Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
- Shrimp and Grits
- Salmon Wellington
- Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin
- Chicken Scarpariello
- Ground Beef and Gravy Over Mashed Potatoes
- Seafood Chili
- Chicken Costoletta (Cheesecake Factory Copycat)
Recipe By: Cheryl Malik
5 from 1 vote
Creamy Garlic Chicken
Prep 15 minutes minutes
Cook 30 minutes minutes
Total 45 minutes minutes
Juicy chicken breasts in a creamy, garlicky, restaurant-quality sauce.
4 servings
Equipment
2 cutting boards
large knife
Large skillet
spatula or tongs
Plate
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
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.
- 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.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 446calProtein: 29gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 121mgSodium: 566mgPotassium: 636mgTotal Carbs: 11gFiber: 1gNet Carbs: 10gVitamin A: 635IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 237mgIron: 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.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @40aprons on Instagram and be sure to leave a review on the blog post!
Cheryl Malik
In addition to being a certified health coach, certified yoga instructor, and mom of 3, Cheryl is also the recipe developer, editor-in-chief, food photographer, and passionate foodie behind 40 Aprons. Having spent the last 10+ years as a food blogger, she's become known for her flavorful recipes, detailed instructions, gorgeous photography, and down-to-earth approach to food and cooking in general.
Never Miss A Meal!
New Recipes Straight To Your Inbox
A curated selection of our most recent recipes, delivered straight to your inbox once a week.
Leave A Review
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
By far my favorite thing I’ve ever made, or tasted! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!
Reply
So glad you loved it! Thanks for sharing, Eythana! 🙂
Reply
Where To Next?
Easy Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup (Gluten Free Option)
Paleo Pumpkin Churros with Dark Chocolate Sauce (Made in Waffle Iron)
Shredded Chicken Tacos
Creamy Avocado Ranch Dressing
3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Air Fryer Baked Potatoes
Meet Cheryl
Passionate foodie, certified health coach, serial entrepreneur, and mom of 3.
I've been developing and sharing delicious, approachable recipes on 40 Aprons for more than a decade. My goal is simple: take the chore out of mealtime by creating recipes that anyone can cook and that never skimp on flavor.
Meet my Team
