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This Creamy Parmesan Basil Chicken Recipe is a quick chicken breast recipe that tastes like it came from a restaurant! This one pan chicken dish is easy to make for a weeknight dinner, and is full of so much flavor!
What are you making for dinner? If you want to know what you should make with chicken breasts, I have the answer. This Creamy Parmesan Basil Chicken! Ever since I shared my Creamy Parmesan Basil Shrimp, you guys have been going crazy for it! But sometimes you just need a tasty chicken recipe, so I decided to adapt it to a chicken recipe. No more dry boring chicken breasts here – this recipe is a flavor explosion!
How to make chicken breasts tender
This is a technique I used in my Baked Chicken Parmesan Recipe. I found that by slicing the chicken breast in half lengthwise (like a book), and then pounding them to an even thickness, it makes the chicken breast so much more tender, and tastes better. The easiest way to do this is to use a zip top bag. After slicing the chicken breasts in half, place them in a zip top bag and seal it. Use a rolling pin to slightly pound them until they are an even thickness.
The other key to tasty chicken breasts is to SEASON your chicken with salt and pepper before cooking. This makes a huge difference!
This is a simple chicken recipe, all made in one pan. First we sear the chicken on both sides, then make the sauce for the chicken. Add the chicken breasts back to the pan, and dinner is ready! This creamy chicken is great served over pasta, but if you want to keep it low carb, we LOVED this served with roasted cauliflower!
Creamy Parmesan Basil Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pounds chicken breast 2 large breasts
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 large garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 yellow onion finely minced
- 3-4 ounces roasted red peppers thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves plus more for garnish
- 1 cup fresh grated parmesan
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cut breasts in half lengthwise, pound to even thickness
- In a large non stick pan on medium-medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then sear, 4-5 minutes on each side, until just cooked. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- In the same skillet add 1 tablespoons butter. Add onion, garlic, peppers, paprika, red chili pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Saute for about five minutes, until onions and peppers are softened.
- Add wine to deglaze the skillet and bring to a gentle simmer until reduced by half.
- Reduce heat to medium low. Add cream to the skillet and stir until a creamy sauce forms. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Add Parmesan, stir until melted into sauce. Stir in basil, simmer until wilted, 1-2 minutes.
- Add chicken back to the skillet, allow to warm up if needed. Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely delicious low carb recipe. No need to ever eat pasta if spaghetti squash can taste this good. Thanks you so much!
So glad you loved it!
Oh my goodness. This recipe is to DIE for. Truly is restaurant quality. It’s a new staple in our family recipe book! Thank you!!!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that!
Absolutely amazing! My whole family loved it. Sooooo good!
So happy to hear that!
This recipe was amazing!! The sauce is absolutely delicious! I LOVE basil, it really makes the dish!
I also added some cut up tomatoes at the end, it gave it a nice taste as well!
Yay, so glad you loved it!
Can I substitute half and half in for the heavy cream?
Hi Julia – I haven’t tried it so I can’t be sure. I think it would *probably* work, but the sauce won’t be as thick and creamy. Let us know if you give it a try!
I made this with coconut cream, it was an absolute dream!
Oooh, yum, good to know!
For when you want basil to be the star of the show
So glad you love it John!
Sorry not one of my favorites. Maybe
It was because I didn’t have enough fresh basil off my plant or heavy cream.
Try making heavy cream off the internet
with butter and milk…disaster!
I will give it another try because I love to cook.
Hi Beth – definitely give it a try as written before deciding.
How rude to critique a recipe when you did not follow the directions!
Ah, would you not make sure you had the actual ingredients before you tried it?
You probably should not be near a stove.
She wasn’t rude in her statement (IMO) Nancy, she just said it wasn’t her favorite and admitted she didn’t have the proper ingredients. However, I agree that she could have left off a negative critique until she tried it as written, as the outcome pf course, was not what she expected.
Found this recipe randomly when looking for a good recipe to use basil and chicken in, and I’m SO glad to have stumbled onto this one! It’s SO GOOD! Definitely a keeper and my wife has already requested that I make this again soon. It was great over egg noodles with some garlic bread on the side, but I could also see this being tasty over zucchini noodles.
Thanks for such a great recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that Ty!
I made this last night and oh boy we sure did enjoy it! Delicious!!! I have an abundance of basil and this recipe is a perfect way to enjoy it! Thank you so much for sharing this fabulous dish. I used hot cherry peppers instead of roasted peppers because that is what I had on hand.
I’m so happy you loved it Beverly!
Hard to say what went wrong… I’m a good cook (actually better than good) but this recipe just didn’t gel for me. I grow my own basil, too, so that was really fresh. Parmesan, freshly grated. Cream, fresh. I used a decent white wine and good smoked paprika, fresh sweet onions, minced my own garlic so can’t blame it on jarred garlic. Perhaps because I tripled the recipe? Not sure. But this was rather mediocre, at least for me. My hubby usually waxes poetic over my meals but even he was unimpressed, with just an “ok” comment. Bummer.
I am NOT a fan of chicken breast, but I get it for the family. However, this recipe changed my mind. It was so awesome. Flavorful, moist, and lots of sauce. I had mine with baked potatoes for a change from pasta. The sauce was great on them too. Thank you so much!
So happy you loved it Cheryl!
I am trying this one tonight! Hoping for success!
Hope you love it!
Awesome, added some grilled sweet Italian sausage and white beans. Absolutely delicious!
Oh yum, love that addition!
This is a delicious chicken recipe The sauce was just perfect. I prepared the vegetables ahead of time and cooked the chicken before guests arrived so just had to put everything together with the cream and cheese to warm. Was great for company because I didn’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and could spend time with guests
I’m so happy to hear that Rosemary!
So excited to try this recipe for dinner! I don’t have any white wine on hand but I do have red wine. Could I use red wine or would that change the flavor too much?
Hi Maranda – I haven’t tried it but it would probably be fine! It will probably change the color of the sauce, your sauce might turn out pink 🙂
This was super delicious! I stumbled upon it by chance and it has blown us all away! Rich, flavorful, a bit of zip from the crushed red peppers but not hot. A new favorite for sure!
So happy to hear that Terri!
Being home during the quarantine has given me the time to cook and try new recipes. I have made this recipe twice. We had an overabundance of basil growing. This recipe is perfect and uses a lot of fresh basil. Tonight I ate it with roasted cauliflower and it was delicious!
I’m so glad to hear that! It is so good with cauliflower!
This recipe is so delicious! I was in my garden today and after smelling the fresh basil, I wanted to find a recipe to use it. My search landed me here and it was 100% approved by my family of 6. The only request was that I double the sauce next time. Thank you for posting!
I’m so glad to hear that Jennifer! There is nothing better than fresh basil!
I cook a lot and it starts to get hard to come up with something new and exciting. (Especially after cooking nonstop during quarantine!) This recipe is incredible! It’s so quick and simple but ends up tasting like a special occasion dinner. After one bite my husband said that this was his new favorite ever. Thank you so much!
Oh yay! I am so glad to hear that Kate!