Creamy Garlic Chicken Thighs Recipe

Garlic butter chicken thighs make a perfect low carb chicken dinner! This creamy garlic chicken recipe is fancy enough for guests, but easy enough for weeknights.

By Maya on October 16, 2019

31 Comments

Before jumping to the recipe card, don't miss the HELPFUL RECIPE TIPS in the post! I hope you'll find them useful and will love this low carb recipe!

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This creamy garlic chicken recipe might just become your new favorite dinner. Hear me out. Chicken with garlic sauce is a super flavorful and delicious meal that tastes like total comfort food – but of course, it’s healthy comfort food! My garlic butter chicken thighs are inspired by the Spanish pollo al ajillo, but I added cream, because in most situations, adding cream is always a good idea. These garlic chicken thighs are pan-seared and then it’s time to make the garlic cream sauce, which is a drool-worthy combination of butter, garlic (obviously!), white wine, and heavy cream. YUM!

If you follow my stories on Instagram, you know we returned from a trip to Spain recently. I took a cooking class there, and among other things, we made gambas al ajillo. They were delicious and so simple! I’m planning to make a Spanish garlic ship recipe soon, but in the meantime, I was inspired to make a version of creamy garlic chicken thighs using a similar method.

What Is Chicken With Garlic Sauce?

This easy garlic chicken recipe was inspired by the Spanish pollo al ajillo, but I made a creamy version, which makes all the better in my opinion. 😉

So the base of this meal is chicken and garlic – is there a better combination? NO! The chicken thighs are pan-fried and then topped with a creamy garlic sauce for chicken. It’s SO good!

How To Make Garlic Chicken

I’m going to walk you through the best garlic chicken thighs in butter. It’s an easy chicken recipe that looks kind of fancy, but is simple enough for weeknight meals.

Here’s how to make garlic chicken with white wine cream sauce:

Season chicken. Season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.
Brown chicken. Melt the butter in a large skillet or saute pan and sear chicken without moving, on both sides, until browned and cooked through.

Set aside chicken. Place chicken on a plate or platter and cover with foil.
Saute the garlic. Slice the garlic super thinly and saute until it’s golden brown.

TIP: If you don’t want as strong of a garlic flavor that comes with sliced garlic, you can crush it with a mortar and pestle instead. It will cook much faster this way, so watch it closely.

Make garlic cream sauce for chicken. Add broth and wine to pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits from the bottom (aka de-glazing). Add the bay leaf and simmer the garlic chicken sauce until the volume is about half.
Finish sauce with cream. Add cream into the sauce and heat for a few minutes – don’t let it boil. Remove the bay leaf, add chicken back into pan and serve!

TIP: If you’d like a non-creamy version or dairy-free version, you can use ghee and omit the cream. (Simmer time may need to be reduced so that you have enough sauce.)

How Many Calories In Chicken With Garlic Sauce?

There are 293 calories per serving of chicken and garlic sauce. And, 2 garlic butter chicken thighs have just 1 gram carbs and 29 grams protein!

How To Store Garlic Chicken Thighs

Chicken with garlic sauce should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Place chicken into the container and drizzle with any of the sauce.

Reheat just until hot in the microwave or oven.

How To Freeze Chicken With Garlic Sauce

This garlic chicken recipe can be frozen. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container or a freezer bag, removing as much as air as possible.

Remove from the refrigerator right before serving, and heat until hot in the oven or the microwave.

What To Serve With Creamy Garlic Chicken

There are so many good serving options for these garlic chicken thighs… especially with keto vegetables like…

Cauliflower Rice – One of the most versatile side dishes, there’s little that doesn’t work with cauliflower rice. Serve the chicken over top so that none of that creamy garlic chicken sauce goes to waste.
Keto Mashed Cauliflower – When you’re after a major comfort food meal (that’s still healthy!), this is it.
Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms – These rich and flavorful mushrooms hold their own with the garlic butter chicken thighs.
Oven Roasted Asparagus – If you’re looking for something green, try this roasted asparagus, which can be easily baked while the chicken is cooking.

Tools To Make Garlic Butter Chicken Thighs:

Click the links below to see the items used to make this recipe.

Pyrex Meal Prep Glass Containers – These glass containers make storing any leftover creamy garlic chicken easy to store and re-heat. Also perfect for meal prep.
8-Inch Chef’s Knife – This knife makes slicing all of that garlic for fresh garlic chicken easy work!
Ceramic Nonstick Chef Pan – My favorite pans for just about any recipe, but especially this creamy garlic chicken recipe because it’s easy to scrape up all of the little bits of flavor.