Creamy Garlic Chicken Breasts Are the New Engagement Chicken
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As far as I’m concerned, garlic amounts in recipes are just a guideline. If a recipe calls for two cloves, I always add at least four. But this recipe actually calls for a whole bulb of garlic. As far as I’m concerned, these creamy chicken breasts from Café Delites might be the new Engagement Chicken, because as soon as I saw all that garlic I said, “Marry me!” and I think I was talking to the chicken.
The massive amount of garlic in this recipe may put off people who do not love garlic, but the garlic flavor is not nearly as strong as one might think. Simmering the garlic in chicken stock for several minutes makes the cloves soft and fragrant, but not overwhelmingly pungent. Cooking garlic this way even makes it a bit sweet.
Start by seasoning chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then dredge them in a mixture of flour and Parmesan cheese. Then sauté them in olive oil and a pat of butter until they’re golden-brown and nice and crispy on the outside. Then set the chicken aside, add diced onion to the oil and juices left in the pan, and cook until soft. Next, prepare to cook a whole ton of garlic.
The recipe calls for you to smash six cloves of garlic with the side of your knife and leave the rest of the cloves peeled but whole. Whole cloves release less of that strong garlic flavor than smashed or minced garlic cloves, so the garlic flavor will be milder that way.
After cooking the garlic with the onions for a few minutes until they’re fragrant, use chicken broth to deglaze the pan and scrape up any leftover browned bits in the bottom of the pan. Those browned bits are full of flavor, so you don’t want to leave them behind. Then simmer the chicken broth until it’s reduced by about half, and the garlic cloves have softened. You could probably stop here and have a gorgeous, garlicky brown sauce for your chicken, but adding some heavy cream takes it to the next level by making it rich and velvety. Finally, add some Parmesan cheese and stir until it’s fully melted, then put the chicken back in the pan and let it simmer for a few minutes to soak up all the flavors while the sauce thickens.
This would be great on its own with some green vegetables and crusty bread for soaking up the sauce. The sauce makes a great gravy, so you could also serve it over mashed potatoes or with pasta or rice.
Get the recipe: Creamy Garlic Chicken Breasts from Cafe Delites
