In the mood for chicken with gravy? This delicious, one-pan, chicken with garlic gravy 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!
Why I love this chicken with garlic!
This one-pan, chicken with gravy dinner is so delicious, it’s in regular rotation in my household! It’s my go-to chicken dinner when I’m craving gravy!
I also love this dish because the chicken is wonderfully moist and browned and the gravy is rich and chock full of garlic. Twenty cloves worth! But you’d never know it, because the garlic gets browned and softened and changes into sweet bits of flavour, much like the beautiful mellow flavour of roasted garlic.
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 the 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 do. I used skin-on/bone-in thighs here and I leave 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.
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 tsp 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.
Cook’s Notes
- You’ll want 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 in to 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.
- I like to always brown up my skin-on chicken in a non-stick skillet. I’ve found it to be a foolproof method of keeping the skin on and getting it beautifully golden! Simply heat a bit of oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add the skin-on chicken, skin side down and allow to cook until deep golden, before flipping. Don’t rush it, this may take as much as 8-10 minutes depending on the size. Move the chicken around in the pan once in a while, to ensure even browning. Just make sure your non-stick pan is oven-proof (most are these days), but if not, simply transfer to an oven-safe pan or dish.
- 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.
Get the Recipe: Rustic Chicken with Garlic Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon cooking oil, vegetable, canola etc, 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)
- 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 the pepper. Add the chicken thighs to the hot skillet, skin side down and cook until well browned underneath. Flip chicken over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Remove 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 starting to brown, 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 minutes in the pre-heated 400° oven (*If you 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. *Chicken breasts will take longer.
- Remove the pan from the oven and put it on a burner. *Be careful not to touch the hot pan handle! Remove the chicken pieces from the pan to a clean plate. 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 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
More Bone-in Chicken Thigh 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!
This is a good one. I didn’t have any dry white wine so I used more chicken stock. I also smashed the garlic. There was nothing leftover. Usually there are mashed potatoes left over but not this time. Next time I’ll add more flour and a little to the gravy so it makes more and leave the butter out so it’s not as oily. I’ll make this again soon.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks :)
This was so easy and is sumptuous! Finally a dish for garlic lovers
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks :)
Thinking of including mushrooms. I know that this is a cracking recipe as it includes some of my favourite ingredients. So will pre fry and add at last stage to warm through
I think that would be a nice addition if you like. And yes, definitely cook separately and add at the end to warm. Enjoy!
Can’t wait to try it! I was just going to let you know a trick I got from Rachael Rae. If your pan and lid have a plastic handle, you can wrap the handle in tin foil. It will not melt when placed in the oven! I have done it many times. Works great!
Great tip, Laurie! Thanks and enjoy this chicken :)
I’m sorry if this was already answered but, is there a substitute for the wine? I’m worried if I make up the difference with broth it would be too salty
Hi Cassandra, there really isn’t a great substitute. I would just use a no or low sodium broth and salt yourself. Adding a splash of white wine vinegar adds an acidic touch to the gravy without wine, but you can only add a bit.
Your picture looks amazing!!!!! I bet it tastes as good and it looks. Can’t wait to try the recipe…
Jeff
Thanks Jeff :) Enjoy!
Has anyone tried this in an insta pot?
I’ve made this recipe a few times and it’s sooooo flipping delicious. My picky eating 7 year old even came back for seconds. I will be sharing this on my social media account. Thanks for not being stingy with this one.
Thanks Shantel :) So glad you enjoyed it and thanks so much for coming back to let me know!
Recipe looks amazing. Can I use a combination of drumsticks and skin-on boneless chicken thighs? If so, should I adjust the cooking time?
Thanks!
Hi Ali and yes, you can certainly use a combination of drumsticks and thighs. The bone-in drumsticks will need about as much time as bone-in thighs. If you are using boneless thighs, they will cook more quickly, but you don’t really have to worry about them over-cooking, as they are moist and in sauce. Enjoy :)
This recipe has become our family favorite! We love it. I wanted to make this for some friends who are gluten free. Could you give me an idea of what to substitute for the flour and still keep the delicious flavor?
Hi Desiree :) I would just skip the flour, then thicken the gravy at the end with a cornstarch/water mixture, as needed . There would be a minor hit in flavour, but other than that, should be just fine!
cornstarch is fine for the gluten free? Thanks so much Jennifer!
I am a keto eater so I skipped the flour and added a tsp of xanthan gum when I added the liquids. I also included onion with the garlic. I didn’t have white so I used red. Served with a side of rutabaga fries. It was so good!! Everyone loved it.
So glad to hear, Jeni :) Thanks!
This was so delish! I did decide to chop up my garlic. The sauce is amazing I think I may use it for something else.
Thanks Tammy and so glad you enjoyed it!
Made this for a special Valentine’s Day dinner tonight. It turned out absolutely amazing! The only thing I had to adjust was the cooking time; otherwise, this was completely as is & amazing as is!
Thanks Haley and so glad you enjoyed it for your special dinner :)
Sorry, one more question – when you add the flour to the garlic and then add the chicken back in, what is the consistency with the flour? Is there liquid in the pan with the flour before it goes in the oven? Sorry – that was 2 questions!
Hi Erin, if you use skin on thighs there will be lots if liquid in the pan when you add the flour, so it will be a floury liquid when it goes in the oven.
Awesome – thank you again!
I apologize if this question has already been asked and answered, but I was wondering how powerful the garlic taste is with 20 cloves in it? Obviously with garlic in the title, it’s an important part of the recipe – I was just curious how overpowering the garlic taste might be for kids that are picky. Thank you so much – this recipe looks delicious!
Hi Erin, It’s certainly a logical question with all that garlic :) Let me assure you that while the garlic is definitely “present”, it is significantly mellowed from the cooking. Think roasted garlic. I think it’s pretty kid friendly, unless they really have an aversion to garlic. You might want to use the pre-peeled, packaged garlic that is often found in the produce section though. I find it’s a bit less potent than garlic that is freshly peeled myself.
Great – thank you so much!
Side note – my son came down this morning looking to see if we had any of your French toast bagels left for breakfast!
Wow, I wasn’t sure at first cos I’m African & pretty much all dishes have to be fried in onion and tomatoes. This is amazing, added to my new recipes and can’t wait to prepare it for my people back home in africa. Thank you so much!
Lol Laureen! So glad you enjoy this. Thanks :)
What a beautiful tasty sauce, I used a whole chicken and preserved garlic, deeeelicious is all is can say, thank you.
Thanks Ronda and so glad to hear!
I was looking to get out of a rut, and ran across this recipe. It immediately became a new favorite. The chicken came out perfect, and the gravy is absolutely wonderful. I normally make garlic mashed potatoes, but with the garlic gravy I decided to try out a sour cream mashed potato recipe. The potatoes by themselves were OK, but this gravy made them wonderful.
Outstanding recipe – thanks for taking the time to post it. Next up, I think, will be the pork souvlaki with halloumi, if I can find some halloumi around.
Thanks :) So glad you enjoyed this!
Absolute heaven! My whole family loved it! I live at high altitude so I did add a bit of chicken broth to the chicken in the oven. I also didn’t have enough white wine, so I added a bit of marsala….it was excellent! Thanks for a recipe I will make again and again:)
Thanks Nicole and so glad you enjoyed it:) Good call on the Marsala. I bet it was a nice addition!
Can’t wait to try it. Question, you said to add flour then the chicken back in and bake. So you don’t add any liquid with the flour until after it bakes for 15 minutes? Won’t the flour burn.
Hi Tabby, I understand why you’re asking, but let me assure you, there will be liquid in the pan to mix with the flour! There will be lots of juice from the chicken and a bit of fat from the chicken skin :)
You had me at garlic gravy. I knew I had to try this. It was so delicious! I served it with mashed potatoes and spinach gratin. I am pretty sure that a plate of my dinner tonight would go for $20 at some fancy gastropub. But thankfully, instead I ate it at home for much cheaper – and I didn’t have to mind my manners so I was free to lick my plate clean.
So glad to hear and always a good thing to lick the plate clean :) Thanks!
I made this recipe for dinner tonight. It was amazing. Even my picky teen daughter liked it. This will become one of my go-to dinners. Thanks.
So glad to hear that, Susan! I know how hard it is to feed picky teens (been there :) Thanks!
This recipe looks delish. My oven died on me. Is it possible to do this whole recipe on the stovetop instead of the oven?
Hi Annette, It is! You’d just need to fully cook the chicken in the skillet, so they would spend extra time on the stove-top, until the chicken is cooked through. You would be adding at least as much time on the stove-top as it would have spent in the oven. Enjoy!
Planning to try this recipe tomorrow night at my in laws house and the only oven safe pan they have is a big cast iron skillet. Will that work for this? Im not an expert on cast iron.
Hi Sarah and yes, it will definitely work! The only downside is that skin-on chicken “may” stick to the cast iron when browning. Depends on how well seasoned the pan is really. If you really want to make sure there is no sticking, you could brown the chicken in a non-stick, then transfer to the cast iron for the oven. Not a big deal though if a bit sticks. It will still taste great :)
I was never a big fan of chicken…until I cooked this! I’ve cooked it so many times it has almost become an addiction at my house. The combination of white wine, garlic, thyme, and butter is divine. It cooks beautifully in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, which goes directly from the stove to oven and back to the stove. It’s sooo easy to cook, you can’t go wrong with this recipe.
Thanks so much, Roxanne! I have a wee addiction to this one, too :) And I love that you are a fellow cast-iron skillet lover. Can’t beat it!
Love these!!! :) Pinning this post! :) Substitute turkey for the chicken, and it looks like a scrumptious Thanksgiving meal! :)
Thanks Christina and nice idea!! :)
OH EM GEE. This is for sure not one of the healthiest dishes I’ve ever made, but it is definitely one of the tastiest. This gravy brought me back to thanksgiving dinner, it was so good. I made it with quinoa and sauteed green beans and grape tomatoes. This is a dish that wraps you in its arms like a warm blanket of comfort.
I didn’t have an oven proof pan, but transferring it to an oven proof baking dish covered in foil worked out fine. I could’ve definitely used one of those oil splatter guards for the chicken, but the clean up was definitely worth the dish.
Thank you for sharing!!
So glad you enjoyed this Lauren and yes, that gravy! And I hear you about the splatter guards. Frying chicken is the only time I put my full apron on in the kitchen ;)
Thank you for such a quick reply! Hopefully all will go well tonight!