This Creamy Garlic Chicken is smothered in a rich and flavorful gravy that’s easy to make in a single skillet. Caramelized garlic cloves add the perfect balance of gourmet flavor. There is plenty of savory sauce to serve over mashed potatoes with roasted green beans. You have just found your new favorite meal!
Creamy Garlic Chicken
This Creamy Garlic Chicken is dedicated to all of the gravy (and garlic!) lovers out there. Wait until you try this recipe. You’re going to want to make this every week.
The garlic cloves add the best gourmet flavor to the sauce without overpowering it. Since the cloves are whole, the flavor is nice and subtle. They’re also caramelized a bit before the sauce is made, which brings out a hint of sweetness and rounds everything out.
I think you’ve just found your new favorite chicken recipe. Scroll down to see how it’s made, tips for perfectly seared chicken, and other PRO tips!
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Slice the chicken into 3 thinner slices. Season with salt/pepper and Italian seasonings. Dredge in flour/Parmesan cheese mixture. Sear in olive oil for 4-5 minutes per side, until a golden crust has developed. Set aside.
Melt butter in the skillet and use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom of the pot. Add garlic cloves. Cook and caramelize for 6-7 minutes.
Add flour to the butter mixture and whisk to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, beef bouillon, and seasonings in splashes. Stir in the heavy cream. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.
Reduce heat to low and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Add the chicken back and spoon the sauce on top. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with mashed potatoes!
Tips For Searing the Chicken
- Adjust the heat up and down slightly throughout the cooking process for a nice even sear and golden color.
- We want brown (not black) remnants left in the pot. The “fond” left in the skillet gives a lot of flavor to the sauce.
- I would rather cook chicken at a slightly lower temperature for a longer period of time than at a super high temperature that can cause burning and oil splatter. Start at medium -high and decrease heat slightly as needed. You can always increase it again later.
- If the chicken is sticking to the pan, it’s not ready to be moved and is still developing a crispy crust. Allow it to release on it’s own to avoid tearing the surface of the chicken.
Pro Tips
- If using smaller chicken breasts, consider using 3-4 instead of 2 large.
- Serve this meal with mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables such as green beans.
- Mushrooms make a great addition to this gravy, I like to sauté them separately and stir them into the sauce at the very end. Cooking them separately lets them retain their color, texture, and flavor.
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 99!
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- This meal does freeze well. I reheat from frozen in the microwave, you can also thaw overnight and reheat leftovers in a lightly greased, covered casserole dish at 350° for 20-25 minutes.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- This is the Le Creuset skillet I used in this recipe, (and in 90% of my recipes). It’s pricey, but it conducts heat really well and is oven safe. The size is perfect and the quality is great.
- Garlic Peeler– Makes it really easy to peel a lot of garlic all at once in seconds. Easy to store and clean too!
- Kitchen Tongs– makes it easy to handle the chicken when searing and even easier to flip individual mushroom slices as they cook.
- My Favorite Chef Knife
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Creamy Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Salt/Pepper
- 3 teaspoons Italian seasonings
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, shredded
- 3-4 Tablespoons olive oil
Sauce
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 10 cloves garlic
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 beef bouillon cube or 1 tsp better than bouillon
- 1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce, can sub Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, (optional)
Instructions
Prep Work:
- Combine the chicken broth, bouillon, soy sauce, onion powder, mustard powder, and thyme. Set aside.
- Combine flour and Parmesan cheese on a plate and measure out additional ingredients prior to beginning.
Cut, Pound, Dredge, and Sear the Chicken:
- Slice the chicken to create 2-3 thinner slices. Place the chicken in a gallon freezer bag (or in between saran wrap) and use the textured side of a meat mallet to pound it to ½ inch thick. Pat completely dry.
- Season with Italian seasoning and salt/pepper. Dredge each side in the flour mixture. Tap off excess.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken in batches for 4-5 minutes per side, until a golden crust has developed. Set aside and leave brown remnants in the pan. (See notes for key tips for searing chicken.)
Make the Sauce:
- Melt the butter in the skillet over medium/medium-low heat. Use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom of the pot. Add the garlic cloves and let them soften and caramelize for 6-7 minutes.
- Add the flour and whisk with a fork for 1-2 minutes, until raw flour smell is gone and it begins to brown.
- Add the chicken broth mixture in splashes, stirring continuously.
- Stir in the cream. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
- Add the chicken back to the pan along with any juice from the plate. Spoon the sauce on top. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. The sauce will continue to thicken during this time.
- Garnish with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes and roasted green beans!
Notes
- Adjust the heat up and down slightly throughout the cooking process for a nice even sear and golden color.
- We want brown (not black) remnants left in the pot. The "fond" left in the skillet gives a lot of flavor to the sauce.
- I would rather cook chicken at a slightly lower temperature for a longer period of time than at a super high temperature that can cause burning and oil splatter.
- If the chicken is sticking to the pan, it's not ready to be moved and is still developing a crispy crust. Allow it to release on it's own to avoid tearing the surface of the chicken.
- Nutrition facts assume that all of the flour is used.
- Consider using low sodium chicken broth to control the sodium content. You can also omit the bouillon but it does add a nice depth of flavor.
- If using smaller chicken breasts, consider using 3-4 instead of 2 large.
- Serve this meal with mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables such as green beans.
- Mushrooms make a great addition to this gravy, I like to sauté them separately and stir them into the sauce at the very end. Cooking them separately lets them retain their color, texture, and flavor.
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 99!
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- This meal does freeze well. I reheat from frozen in the microwave, you can also thaw overnight and reheat leftovers in a lightly greased, covered casserole dish at 350 ° for 20-25 minutes.
This chicken is incredible!! Such a great recipe! We forgot to snag Heavy Cream but made it work with a milk/butter substitute and it was still so yummy. This one is on rotate in our family now, my kids loved it as well and wanted to lick the sauce off their plates.
I’m so happy everyone enjoyed this Juliana! It’s a favorite in our house too, thanks so much for the great comments and review. Good job improvising without the heavy cream!🙌
OMG !! I usually dont leave comments, BUT this is the best chicken and gravy we have put on our table! MUST TRY as my guy was trying to scrap all the gravy off the plate when everything was gone. This is seriously a dinner and makes plenty. I had 3 breast and sliced so I had 6 and it was so moist. The garlic wasnt to much as I thought it would be.
This makes me so happy Gail since it’s one of my favorite chicken dishes on the blog! I agree, it seems like it would be to garlicy but it’s really not. I’m so happy your guy was trying to scrape the plate clean, sounds like you nailed it! Thanks so much for the great comments!💖
Delicious! Our family loved this recipe, thanks for sharing!
You’re very welcome Rose! I’m so happy your family loved it, thanks so much for the great review!💖
My mom came in to town. I thought this would be the perfect meal! She loved it! Thank you .
You’re very welcome Nikki! I’m so happy your mom enjoyed this one! Thanks so much for the great comments and review!💖
OMG! This is sooooo yummy. If I could’ve given ten stars I would have. I was really apprehensive about all that garlic and I was afraid I was reading the recipe incorrectly when it called for BEEF bouillon. But I went with it for both items and I’m so happy I did. This recipe is just fabulous. The only thing I did differently was add 8 oz. of mushrooms because we love them. This recipe is definitely a “make again” and again and again. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so happy to hear such great comments Terri, thanks so much, you’re the best!💖 I’m so jealous your live in a mushroom household, my husband and daughter are not fans!
This was so very good! I used boneless, skinless thighs because my husband doesn’t like breasts. That was the only change I made and it couldn’t have been better. Thank you for posting the recipe. It is going in our “favorites” board and I’ll be making it often.
I’m so happy this recipe is going into your favorites Paula! Thanks so much for the great review!❤️
Thank you! We love this one. It feels so fancy and smells and tastes so good!
This makes me so happy to hear Kandi!😃 Thanks so much for the great comments and review!
Incredible recipe! My family can be picky at times and this recipe was spot on. I added extra seasoning to my chicken, other than that, followed to a T. Thank you for sharing
I’m so glad this passed the test Ray! Thanks so much for the great comment and review!😃
This was so good we really didn’t have to wash the dishes because everyone cleaned their plates so well. Of course we did wash them, but….
Sounds like a huge victory, Nice job!🙌 My husband usually licks his plate clean with this one too. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment and review!
We really enjoyed this meal, thank you! A little more work for a weeknight, but very good!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this one Katie, it’s one of my favorite chicken dishes! Thanks so much for the great review!❤️