Creamy garlic chicken is the dish restaurants pretend to make from scratch and charge $24 for. It's chicken and a pan sauce. That's it. If you know how to make a pan sauce β brown something, deglaze, reduce, finish with cream and butter β you can make it yourself in the same time it takes to scroll Instagram. Fifteen minutes, one pan, actual restaurant-quality.
What You Need
- 4 (6oz) chicken breasts, halved horizontally into cutlets
- 8 cloves garlic, sliced thin β not a typo
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons butter
How to Make It
- 1
Pat chicken dry and season both sides with salt and pepper. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with a glug of oil in a wide skillet over medium-high. Sear cutlets 3 minutes per side to deep golden. Pull to a plate.
- 2
Drop heat to medium-low and add remaining butter. Add sliced garlic β stir constantly for 90 seconds. You want it pale gold and nutty, not brown. Brown garlic turns bitter instantly; pull the pan off the heat if it's racing ahead.
- 3
Pour in broth to deglaze, scraping up browned bits. Simmer 1 minute. Add cream, bring to a simmer, and reduce 3 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon.
- 4
Return chicken to pan with any juices. Spoon sauce over, cover 2 minutes, then serve over noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice.
