Smothered Garlic Chicken

This Smothered Garlic Chicken is a hearty supper with a rich gravy loaded with garlic and veggies. It’s just delicious served with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. It’s Southern-style comfort food!

First off, you’ll brine your chicken breasts in some salted water while you’re chopping up your veggies to ensure that your chicken is melt-in-your-mouth tender and juicy. Once they’re brined, you’ll pat them dry and then season them with a bit of flour, seasoned salt and pepper. You’ll sauté them for a few minutes on each side until they’re lightly browed and mostly cooked through.

Then it’s onto the gravy, my favorite part. I’m a gravy girl at heart, and this dish has plenty. It’s totally tasty over the chicken as well as over a side of mashed potatoes.

You’ll melt some butter in your skillet and then add your chopped onions, celery and carrots followed by some minced garlic and garlic cloves along with some fresh thyme leaves. If you don’t have fresh, you can use dried thyme leaves.

You’ll add some all-purpose flour to your veggies to form a quick roux so when you add the liquid you will have less of a chance of getting lumps in your gravy. The base of the gravy is made up of some white wine, low-sodium chicken broth and just a smidge of buttermilk at the end, which is optional.

It will only take a few minutes for the gravy to thicken. Once it does, you’ll add your chicken back to the skillet and cook for just another 5 minutes or so in the gravy until it’s cooked through. Top the chicken with some chopped fresh parsley or dried parsley, whichever you have on hand is fine.

This is a soul-satisfying meal that’s not only perfect during the colder winter months, but all year long really. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try. And if you have any questions about the recipe, just drop a comment below. Enjoy!

Smothered Garlic Chicken

Author: MaryAnn Dwyer

Servings: 4 servings

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This Smothered Garlic Chicken is a hearty supper with a rich gravy loaded with garlic and veggies. It's just delicious served with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. It's Southern-style comfort food!

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Ingredients  

Brine

• 6 cups cold water
• 3 Tbsp. kosher salt

Chicken

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. butter

Gravy

• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 1 1/2 cups yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup carrots, roughly chopped
• 10 garlic cloves, 2 minced, 8 whole
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup white cooking wine
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• fresh parsley, fine chopped, for sprinkling if desired

Instructions 

Chicken

• Fill a bowl with 6 cups cold water and 3 tablespoons kosher salt. Add chicken pieces. Mix well. Let chicken sit in brine for 15 minutes. Remove from the brine. Rinse and pat dry. (Do this while you are chopping your veggies to save time)
• Cut the chicken in half lengthwise into 4 thinner cutlets. Combine flour, seasoned salt and pepper in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Add chicken pieces, one at a time to flour mixture and toss until fully coated.
• Add olive oil and butter to a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and saute for 4-5 minutes on each side until lightly browned and mostly cooked through. It will finish off in the gravy. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Gravy

• Reduce heat to medium, and melt butter in skillet. Add onions, celery, carrots and garlic cloves and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and thyme and continue to cook for 1 minute.
• Deglaze the skillet with the wine and cook for 1-2 minutes until most of the wine has evaporated. Add the flour, stirring to combine and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken broth and salt and pepper and bring to a simmer, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan until sauce thickens.
• Reduce heat to low and add the buttermilk and the cooked chicken along with any juices into the skillet. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 4-5 more minutes. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Notes

We really enjoy this dish with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. You'll have a nice amount of gravy for your chicken as well as the potatoes.

I always make sure to brine my chicken. It really helps to guarantee it's nice and moist.

Keyword: Chicken, Comfort Food, gravy

Cuisine: American, Southern

Course: Dinner, Main Dish