Garlic Parmesan Chicken Bites

Weeknight dinner recipes that earn a spot in my weekly rotation have a few things in common: a short ingredient list, a reliance on staple ingredients, and a quick cooking time. This recipe for garlic Parmesan chicken bites gets high marks across the board. These bite-size nuggets need just five ingredients (plus salt, pepper, and the option to add some extra spice), yet they pack in much more flavor than some other recipes with a mile-long ingredient list. 

It’s rare that I don’t have some type of chicken, a few cloves of garlic, nutty Parmesan, and a few sprigs of parsley that have miraculously survived from last summer’s garden. That’s all you need to make a buttery, garlicky, cheesy pan full of chicken that’s perfect for serving with roasted broccoli or lemony tortellini. 

• These garlic Parmesan chicken bites cook in just 15 minutes, and are so good — don’t be surprised if you start eating them straight from the pan. 
• Since these chicken bites are coated in butter, garlic, and Parmesan, there’s zero risk of serving a bland chicken dinner.
• Browning the chicken in batches and saving the garlic for the end coaxes the very best flavor from a very small number of ingredients.

• Chicken: Thighs and breasts both work for this recipe — just make sure to buy boneless, skinless chicken to reduce the prep time. Cut the chicken into uniform bite-sized pieces so that no matter which cut you choose, the chicken will cook at the same rate.
• Butter: Unsalted butter adds flavor to the lean chicken and promotes browning.
• Garlic: Fresh garlic tends to burn easily, so avoid that acrid fate by adding it to the pan with the last pat of butter after the chicken is golden and cooked through.
• Parmesan cheese: I love the nubby, crumbly texture of store-bought Parmesan cheese for this recipe because it melts slowly and never quite disappears. If you have a wedge of Parmesan cheese, grate it in a blender or on the small holes of a box grater.
• Parsley: Fresh parsley adds some much-needed color to this chicken dish (remember, Mom always said we eat with our eyes first!), but it also provides a freshness that contrasts with savoriness of garlic and Parmesan.

1. Brown the chicken in batches. Add bite-size pieces of chicken to a skillet of melted butter and cook until browned on both sides. Cooking in 2 batches allows the chicken to develop a golden-brown color, rather than a pale hue that comes from steaming in an overcrowded pan.
2. Add more butter and garlic. Once all the chicken is cooked, add the final pat of butter and minced garlic to the pan. Toss it all together until the butter melts and the garlic is fragrant.
3. Remove from the heat and finish with Parmesan. To retain some of the Parmesan cheese’s texture, take the pan off of the heat before tossing with the chicken. Finish with chopped fresh parsley, more Parmesan, and crushed red pepper flakes, if desired.