Creamy Garlic Chicken

This garlic chicken recipe is sublime! Tender seasoned chicken breasts are covered in a creamy, savory sauce: a true favorite.

You can tell by the shine on that creamy sauce that this one’s a good one. Welcome to one of our favorite ways to eat chicken: this Garlic Chicken recipe! The tender, juicy chicken breasts are coated in garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika, then cooked and smothered in a garlic cream sauce! It’s full of punchy flavor and takes only about 20 minutes to make. Dinnertime win!

Ingredients for this garlic chicken recipe

Need a recipe that’s bursting with flavor in a short cook time? This is the one for you! We’ve got over 10 years of vegan, vegetarian and seafood recipe development under our belt, and we’ve moved on to chicken. This recipe is our pride and joy: a quick, simple and always satisfying dinner recipe. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Boneless skinless chicken breasts, organic if possible
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Garlic
• Heavy cream
• Garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and dried thyme
• Salt and pepper

How and why to butterfly chicken

Here’s the thing about chicken breasts: they are often very thick, making them tricky to cook evenly. The thin part finishes cooking before the thick part cooks through (and that’s a safety hazard!). The trick? Butterfly your chicken before cooking it! Slicing the chicken breast in half horizontally makes thinner pieces which cook more evenly. They’re also easier to eat and are better seasoned.

You can buy a chicken breast already butterflied, which is marked on the package; they also may be marked “cutlets”. If you buy regular chicken breasts, you can butterfly it yourself. To butterfly a chicken breast:

• Place your hand over the top of the chicken breast.
• Use a sharp knife to carefully slice the breast horizontally, leaving the edge intact so it can open up like a book (or butterfly!).
• Unfold the chicken breast like a book, then for cutlets, cut along the fold to separate the two halves (each half is a cutlet). To make evenly thick chicken, you can cover the chicken with plastic wrap and lightly pound the chicken with a mallet or heavy pan to make it even (we did not do that for this recipe).

Tips for this garlic chicken recipe

This garlic chicken recipe is quick and simple to put together: it’s pan fried, then you’ll make a quick pan sauce with butter and cream. Here are a few tips to keep in mind for this recipe:

• Assemble all measured ingredients before cooking. Called mise in place as a cooking term, it’s important to have everything ready to go first because the cooking goes fast.
• Use a large aluminum or cast iron skillet. You can use non-stick as well, but you’ll get better browning with the other metals.
• Cook until the internal temperature is 165°F or the center is no longer pink. It should take a total of 6 to 10 minutes to cook the chicken, but it varies based on the thickness of the meat and the heat level.
• Don’t skimp on the cream! There’s nothing like heavy cream for making a luxurious sauce that smothers the chicken breasts. You could use half and half, but we don’t suggest milk in this recipe (unless it’s whole milk, which you could try in a pinch).

Buy organic chicken if possible

Want to buy ethically raised chicken? We’ve eaten vegetarian for the majority of our lives together for sustainability and environmental reasons. Now that we’re adding a bit of poultry to the mix, the sustainability and ethics of buying meat is important to us.

The best chicken to buy? Organic. Per the USDA, organic chicken must be raised in living conditions accommodating their natural behaviors (like the ability to graze on pasture), fed 100% organic feed and forage, and not administered antibiotics or hormones.

Buying organic chicken makes sure that it is the highest quality meat that was raised sustainably, and it is also free of chemicals and additives so it’s the healthiest option for eating.

Ways to serve it

What’s the best way to serve this garlic chicken recipe? Add a grain and a vegetable, and it makes a simple and healthy dinner! Here are a few easy side dishes that come together quickly alongside this skillet:

• Couscous or orzo: This easy couscous or lemon orzo take just 10 minutes.
• Quinoa: This seasoned quinoa is a great gluten-free option and quick to make.
• Rice: Cook a pot of white rice or spinach rice. For the quickest option, use a packet of pre-cooked rice (there are some good options on the market these days).
• Green salad: Mix up an arugula salad, watercress salad, apple salad, or easy kale salad.
• Sauteed vegetables: Whip up lemon peas, sauteed spinach, sauteed kale, or sauteed broccoli.
• Roasted vegetables: Go for broiled asparagus, roasted broccolini, or roasted green beans.

More fast dinner recipes

And that’s it! Let us know what you think of this quick and easy dinner recipe in the comments below. Here are a few more fast dinner recipes to try:

• Try Easy Garlic Shrimp, ready in just 15 minutes
• Go for a quick and simple Easy Quesadilla
• Opt for Quick Chickpea Tacos or Sweet Potato Curry
• Mix up Quick Hummus Bowls

01

Easy Garlic Shrimp

02

Easy Quesadilla

03

Quick Chickpea Tacos

04

40 Fast & Easy Dinner Ideas

This garlic chicken recipe is…

Gluten-free.

Print