Garlic Butter Chicken
Published 1/13/2022
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Garlic butter chicken is a quick and tasty dish the whole family will love. Learn how to make this meal in 6 easy steps!
You’ll Love this Garlic Butter Chicken
Winner winner chicken dinner! You’re going to absolutely love this super tender, never dry oh so flavorful garlic butter chicken. It’s the perfect base for a weeknight meal that tastes fancy schmancy but comes together completely on the stove top.
Ingredients – What You Need
- Chicken breasts: This recipe calls for 4 small / medium-sized chicken breasts. You’ll use a meat tenderizer to pound the chicken to equal thickness. This will ensure even cooking.
- Garlic cloves: Yes, you read that right, you’ll need an entire head garlic! It’s garlic butter chicken, after all ๐
- Salted butter: You’ll be slicing the butter into pads, and then melt it in your skillet. It is the base of your garlic butter sauce.
- Spices: The spices are CRUCIAL to this garlic butter chicken recipe. You’ll need garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, dried thyme, ground mustard, dried basil, ground pepper, red pepper flakes, sea salt and paprika. AKA the perfect spices to enhance the garlicky buttery flavor of this dish.
- Brown sugar: A little sweetness to brings out the savory flavors of this garlic butter chicken.
- Onion: We love mincing the onion super finely to allow for that amazing flavor to
- White wine: A little wine gives this garlic butter chicken amazingly rich flavor. The alcohol will cook off, so no need to substitute this ingredient if you’re avoiding alcohol for any reason.
- Fresh thyme: The flavor of a few sprigs of fresh thyme can’t be beat! Don’t skip this.
- Fresh herbs for serving: We loveee garnishing with additional fresh herbs when you’re ready to serve this garlic butter chicken. Rosemary, fresh parsley, or more fresh thyme would be delicious.
Pro Tips for Garlic Butter Chicken
Don’t Skip the Sear: It’s important to sear the chicken so it is browned at the beginning. Have no fear, the chicken will continue to cook in the delicious sauce later.
Make it Creamy: If you’d like your sauce to be creamy, add 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream into the sauce right before adding the chicken breasts back into the pan.
Butter Substitutions: This recipe is called garlic butter chicken, so butter is a huge part of the recipe. However, if you feel you must use olive oil, please feel free to substitute.
White Wine Substitutions: If you’re looking to replace the wine, feel free to use chicken broth and a bit of lemon juice to emulate the bright flavor of white wine.
Other Cuts of Chicken: Feel free to substitute boneless skinless chicken breasts for either bone-in or boneless chicken thighs. Be mindful that this will alter the cook time, and base the doneness on internal temperature of the chicken by using a meat thermometer.
Try it!
Thermoworks Thermapen
We swear by using a meat thermometer when cooking any cut of meat. The Thermapen is our go-to meat thermometer that works every time.
How to Make Garlic Butter Chicken
For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card for a list of ingredients and instructions.
Prepare chicken seasoning
Place all ingredients into a small bowl and mix to combine.
Prepare chicken
by using a meat tenderizer to pound the chicken until the thickness is even throughout. Then, season the chicken breast on both sides with the chicken seasoning you just prepared.
Sear Chicken & Sauté
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add 2 tablespoons of butter. When the butter is melted and begins to sizzle add the chicken breasts to the skillet and brown on both sides. Turn the heat down to medium, and add the minced onion to the skillet to sauté. Then add the minced garlic and sauté it too.
Deglaze & Add Butter
Deglaze the pan with the wine and let the wine cook down. Then, add the rest of the butter to the skillet. Stir the butter into the wine and when the butter has melted, add the fresh thyme sprigs to the skillet.
Add Chicken into Sauce
Finally, add the chicken breasts to the skillet and flip each breast around a few times so they are coated in the butter sauce.
Cover & Finish Cooking
Cover the skillet to allow the sauce to thicken and the chicken to finish cooking. When the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165ºF remove the chicken from the heat and serve with the butter sauce in the pan. YUM.
How to Serve Garlic Butter Chicken
Garlic butter chicken is DELICIOUS as a standalone, but can also be paired with pasta, mashed potatoes and veggies for a full meal. Some of our favorite pairings:
- Egg noodles
- Angel hair pasta
- Mashed potatoes
- White or brown rice
- Steamed broccoli
- Cauliflower rice
- Oven roasted asparagus
- Roasted brussels sprouts
- Grilled carrots
Garlic Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 lb. – 1.5 lbs. chicken breast, 4 small/medium breasts
- ¼ large onion, minced
- 1 head garlic, ~ 10 cloves, peeled and minced
- ¼ cup white wine
- 8 tablespoons salted butter, sliced
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- Fresh herbs for serving
Instructions
- First, begin by preparing the chicken seasoning. Place all ingredients into a small bowl and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Next, prepare the chicken by using a meat tenderizer to pound the chicken until the thickness is even throughout. Then, season the chicken breast on both sides with the chicken seasoning. Set the chicken aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter.
- When the butter is melted and begins to sizzle add the chicken breasts to the skillet and brown on both sides for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. They will continue to cook later.
- Turn the heat down to medium heat and add the minced onion to the skillet. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
- Deglaze the pan with the wine and let the wine cook down for 1 minute.
- Add the rest of the butter to the skillet. Stir the butter into the wine and when the butter has melted add the fresh thyme sprigs to the skillet.
- Finally, add the chicken breasts to the skillet and flip each breast around a few times so it is coated in the butter sauce.
- Cover the skillet and allow the sauce to thicken and to allow the chicken to finish cooking.
- When the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165ºF remove the chicken from the heat and serve with the butter sauce in the pan.
Tips & Notes
- This recipe is called garlic butter chicken, so butter is a huge part of the recipe. However, if you feel you must use olive oil, please feel free to substitute.
- It’s important to sear the chicken so it is browned at the beginning. Have no fear, the chicken will continue to cook in the delicious sauce later.
- If you’d like your sauce to be creamy, add 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream into the sauce right before adding the chicken breasts back into the skillet in step 8.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Erin from The Wooden Skillet.
