In the mood for chicken and gravy? This delicious garlic chicken fits the bill perfectly and is a garlic lover’s dream. You’ll want to bust out the mashed potatoes to soak up every bit of this fabulous gravy!
This rustic chicken recipe features a fabulous garlic gravy, that’s tailor-made for spooning over mashed potatoes. Just a vegetable for a delicious chicken dinner!
Ingredients and substitutions
Garlic – If you’re like me, the thought of separating and peeling the 20 cloves of garlic for this recipe isn’t super appealing. I picked up a bag of pre-peeled cloves at the grocery store for about $1. Money well spent, if you ask me :) And again, don’t worry that you won’t be able to leave the house for days after eating this. Like roasted garlic, this garlic becomes very mellow. You’ll know it’s there, but it won’t knock you (or anyone else) over.
Chicken – As for the chicken, any cut will work here. I used skin-on/bone-in thighs and I left the skin-on for a more moist chicken. Boneless/skinless chicken thighs will also work here, as will chicken breasts, though the breasts will need longer in the oven to cook through. Be sure to check and test the chicken. It should be cooked to 165F internal temperature in the oven.
White Wine – the recipe specifies some wine to de-glaze the pan after it comes out of the oven. Any wine will do. If you don’t have wine on hand or you prefer not to use it, simply skip it and use 3/4 cup more chicken broth instead. If you skip the wine, you may like to add a little acidity to the gravy that the wine usually brings, maybe add a splash of fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar to the gravy. Just a teaspoon or so. It makes all the difference!
Other ingredients you will need – chicken broth, thyme (fresh or dried), flour, cooking oil, salt, pepper and butter.
How to make rustic garlic chicken
This is a visual summary of the steps to make this recipe. Always refer to the complete instructions in the recipe card below when making the recipe.
- Heat a bit of oil in a skillet, then place the chicken thighs into the skillet skin side down.
- After the skin is browned, flip and cook a few more minutes.
- Remove the chicken thighs to a clean plate.
- Add the garlic cloves to the skillet and cook, stirring, until golden.
- Add the flour to the skillet and cook with the garlic cloves briefly.
- Return the chicken to the skillet, cover the skillet and place into a 400F oven for about 15 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the oven.
- Remove the chicken to a clean plate.
- Start the gravy by heating the juice and garlic over medium-high heat on the stovetop.
- Deglaze the hot pan with the wine and cook for one minute, scraping up the browned bits, then add the chicken broth.
- Season the gravy with thyme, salt and pepper.
- Return the chicken to the pan and simmer with the gravy until re-warmed.
Recipe video
Recipe tips!
- Take your time browning the chicken and garlic to get some nice colour, for the best flavour and presentation.
- Don’t forget to taste your gravy at the end of cooking and add additional salt and freshly ground pepper, as needed, to really bring all the great flavours together.
- You can eat the cooked garlic or not, as you like :) If you don’t want to eat it, you can mash some of it and add it to mashed potatoes for garlic mashed potatoes.
What to serve with garlic chicken
You’ll want to serve this with something on the side to make the most of the delicious garlic gravy. My choice is usually a creamy mashed potato, but pasta or rice would also be nice. At the risk of carb overload, I’d even throw a great crusty bread into the mix, to dip in the gravy. Add a salad or veg for a complete meal. I also love green beans or broccoli with this dish.
Making ahead, storing and freezing
You can make this chicken ahead, cover and refrigerate, then re-heat it later to serve. Simply reheat in a skillet on the stovetop over medium heat until the chicken is warmed through.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
This chicken with gravy will also freeze well for up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: Rustic Garlic Chicken with Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon cooking oil, for the pan
- 6 pieces skin-on/bone-in chicken thighs, or any skin-on chicken, such as breasts or drumsticks, about 2 lbs.
- Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
- 20 cloves garlic, separated and peeled (2 full heads) or start with pre-peeled garlic cloves
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dry white wine, any kind, or alternately replace by using more chicken broth instead
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, or about 3/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. (not fan-assisted)
- Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Dry the chicken pieces well by patting them with a paper towel. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Add the chicken thighs to the hot skillet, skin side down and cook until well browned underneath. Flip the chicken over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate. *Chicken thighs can be fatty! If you have a lot of fat in the pan, you can remove and discard some of it, but do leave a bit in the pan to cook the garlic in the next step.
- Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium. Add the garlic cloves and cook, stirring regularly, until the garlic is golden, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the garlic and stir until combined. Return the chicken to the pan, COVER, and bake for about 15-20 minutes in the pre-heated 400°F oven (*If your pan or skillet doesn't have a lid, you can tightly cover the top with tin foil instead.) Be sure to cook until the chicken is cooked to 165F internal temperature. *Bone-in chicken breasts will take longer.
- Remove the pan from the oven and put it on a burner. *Be careful not to touch the panhandle! It's hot! Remove the chicken pieces from the pan to a clean plate. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat, whisk in the wine and simmer for 1 minute to cook off the alcohol. Whisk in the broth, thyme and a bit more salt and pepper, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring regularly, until the gravy thickens. Turn the heat off and stir in the butter. Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper, as needed. Add the chicken back to the pot to re-warm with the sauce. Serve spooned over mashed potatoes, rice or pasta.
Notes
- Take your time browning the chicken and garlic to get some nice browning, for the best flavour and presentation.
- If you’d like to make this with boneless chicken thighs or boneless chicken breasts, simply adjust the oven time accordingly, cooking the chicken until it is cooked through and reaches 165F internal temperature.
- You can eat the cooked garlic or not, as you like :) If you don’t want to eat it, you can mash some of it and add it to mashed potatoes for garlic mashed potatoes.
- If you’d like a thicker gravy, you can use a Beurre Manié, which is a fancy name for butter combined with flour, which is used as a thickener at the end of cooking. So instead of just adding 1 Tablespoon of butter at the end, you can rub 1 Tablespoon of flour into the butter instead, then add it a bit at a time to the pan, until the desired thickening is achieved. The additional flour will thicken the gravy more, without worry of lumps.
More chicken recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Hello, I adore this recipe I made it a long time ago and now I am married and my husband is allergic to chicken, can I sub pork?
Hi Brittany and yes, you could. Either pork chops or pork tenderloin would work I think.
It was delicious.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much :)
If you wanted to make this ahead of time, would you suggest making it up until you put it in the oven? Thank you.
Hi Tracey and yes, that should work nicely. It may need a bit more oven time if it is cold from the refrigerator.
Thanks Jennifer! In your opinion would it make more sense to make the entire recipe and just reheat a day later? And would you take out the chicken, reheat the sauce and then add the chicken? (I’m not much of a cook, so this is new territory). Thanks!
Hi Tracey, I think I would make the entire recipe BUT I would keep the chicken and the sauce separate. Refrigerate both. To serve, simply warm the sauce in a skillet, then add the chicken and let it simmer over medium-low heat in the sauce until warmed through. If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it out with a bit more chicken broth, as needed.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I can’t wait to eat this tomorrow.
It was a huge success! So delicious and everybody loved it. Thanks for the advice.
So glad to hear that, Tracey!
Hi, I plan to make the dish for Christmas. Can I use air fryer to fry the chicken instead of cooking them in skillet?
Hi Linda, I suppose you could, except you will lose the fat from the chicken, some of which is used to start the gravy. If you go that route, you’ll need to add a Tablespoon or two of some sort of fat to the skillet to make a roux with the flour when starting the gravy. You could use oil or melted butter I guess.
Been wanting to make this for a while so made it my campaign this weekend. Was unsure about the cooking technique (I.e. “dry” cooking the chicken in the oven) but it worked! Dish was very easy and tasty!
Would say probs better as a 2 person job – hubby peeled the garlic while I browned the chicken.
So glad you enjoyed it, Lisa :) Thanks so much!