Description
This Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken features perfectly seared chicken cutlets smothered in a rich, velvety cream sauce loaded with garlic and Parmesan cheese. It’s an easy one-skillet dinner that comes together in under 30 minutes with simple ingredients but delivers restaurant-quality flavor
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
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2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each cut in half lengthwise to create 4 thinner cutlets
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Salt and black pepper, to taste
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½ teaspoon garlic powder
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1 tablespoon olive oil
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1 tablespoon butter
For the Sauce:
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1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
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3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tablespoon pre-minced if you’re in a pinch)
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½ cup chicken broth or dry white wine
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1 cup heavy whipping cream
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½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (not the pre-shredded kind!)
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1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped for garnish
Instructions
Take your chicken breast and put it flat on a cutting board. Rest your hand on top—not pressing hard, just steadying it—and use a sharp knife to slice through the middle horizontally. Like you’re trying to make two thinner pieces instead of one thick one.
Get your skillet hot on medium-high. Like actually wait for it to heat up properly. I know you’re hungry. I’m always hungry too. But if the pan’s not hot enough the chicken just sticks and steams and you’ll hate everything.
Add the olive oil and butter together. The butter’s gonna melt and get all foamy. When the foam dies down, that means the water evaporated and you’re ready. Put your chicken in carefully—it should make that satisfying sizzle sound immediately. If it just kind of…sits there quietly? Your pan wasn’t hot enough. Learn from my many mistakes.
Leave it alone for 5-6 minutes. Don’t poke it. Don’t lift the corner to peek. Don’t touch it. I know it’s hard. I struggle with this too. But you gotta let it develop that golden crust. Flip it over, cook the other side the same way.
When it’s done—and I finally bought a meat thermometer after undercooking chicken one too many times, I’m looking for 160°F—take it out and put it on a plate. Loosely cover it with foil. We’ll deal with it later.
Do NOT wash that pan. I don’t care how crusty it looks. All those brown bits stuck to the bottom are about to become the best part of your dinner. Turn the heat down to medium and dump in your flour and minced garlic right into those drippings.
Stir it around constantly for a minute or so. You’re waking up the garlic and cooking the flour so it doesn’t taste like raw paste. Your kitchen should smell insane right now—in a good way. But WATCH that garlic because if it burns this whole thing is cooked. And not in a good way. Burned garlic is bitter and angry and ruins everything. I’ve learned this lesson exactly four times before it stuck.
Pour in your chicken broth. Or wine—I literally just use whatever white wine I’m drinking that night, assuming I remembered to buy wine, which is maybe 60% of the time. Take your whisk and scrape up all those stuck bits from the bottom. So satisfying. Like popping bubble wrap.
Let this bubble away until it reduces to about half. You’ll know because it looks thicker and more concentrated. When you drag your spoon through it you can see the bottom of the pan for a second. Takes maybe 3-4 minutes? I don’t time it, I just watch it.
Pour in your cream and stir it all together. Now here’s where I messed up the first THREE times I made this. Are you listening? Don’t let it come to a hard rolling boil. You want gentle little bubbles around the edges, not volcanic eruption bubbles.
When you boil cream too hard it breaks and separates and looks curdled and weird. One time I did this when my friend was over and I had to pretend I meant to do it. She was nice about it but I saw her face. Let it simmer gently for a few minutes until it’s thick enough to coat the back of your spoon.
Take the pan OFF the heat. THEN add your Parmesan. This is the trick my friend’s Italian grandmother told me when I was complaining about grainy sauce at book club. She looked at me like I was raised by wolves but then helped me fix it. Add cheese off heat, stir until it melts, smooth as anything.
Put your chicken back in that beautiful sauce. Nestle it in there. Spoon extra sauce on top because you can never have too much. Let it sit for a minute while the chicken soaks everything up like a sponge.
Taste the sauce. Does it need more salt? Add it. More pepper? Do it. I usually need to add a bit more salt but it depends on what broth you used. Some are saltier than others.
Throw the parsley on top. It’s not just for making it look pretty—though it does—it actually adds this fresh brightness that keeps the whole thing from feeling too heavy. Like when you realize you need to open a window. Serve it right now while everything’s hot.
Notes
Don’t skip the butterflying step! Thinner cutlets mean faster cooking and more surface area for that gorgeous sear. Plus, they won’t dry out as easily as thick breasts.
Use a meat thermometer if you have one. Chicken is done at 165°F, and there’s no guessing involved. Overcooked chicken is the enemy of tenderness.
Let your pan get properly hot before adding the chicken. If it’s not hot enough, the chicken will steam instead of sear, and you’ll miss out on all that flavorful browning.
When adding the broth, add it slowly while whisking. This prevents lumps from forming and helps you control the consistency better.
If your sauce seems too thick, thin it with a splash of chicken broth or pasta water. Too thin? Let it simmer a bit longer before adding the cheese.
Room temperature cream incorporates more smoothly than cold cream straight from the fridge. Let it sit out for 10-15 minutes before using if you have time.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian-American