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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.
my absolute favourite meal, easy to make and bursting with flavour 10/10
This was fantastic!!!! I will absolutely make this again!!! As good as anything found at a restaurant!! Thank you!! Yum!!
Excellent!! Absolutely loved it! One pan and easy to put together!!
Delicious!!! I had an abundant crop of basil and this turned out to be the perfect recipe.
Meghan what I meant earlier was that I only wanted to salute the chicken earlier,keep it warm,then do the sauce later,is that okay
Gotta salute the chicken! But yes, should be able to sauté the chicken a little earlier and keep warm. Though as it cooks so quickly you won’t save much time later on. If you’re cooking pasta, sauté chicken as you’re boiling water.
This was really good! I added some chicken bouillon but otherwise prepared as directed.
This was absolutely delicious! My kids devoured it. Will definitely be adding to our meal rotation.
So happy to hear that!
When do I add the basil? First time cooking with it and I didn’t see in the instructions when to add. I am guessing when I add the heavy cream add the basil then?
Hi Jenna, it is in step 5. 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.
A BITO INVOLVED BUT NOT OUTRAGEOUS. DELICIOUS, TASTY, AND SATISFYING. THANKS FOR THE RECIPE. GOOD JOB! KEEP THEM COMING…..
Winner winner chicken dinner! LOVE this recipe…kids did too (which makes it even more of a winner). Had on a small bed of rice with garlic bread. Definitely saving this one!! Can’t fault it. 5 stars!
Delicious, quick and easy. Didn’t have fresh basil so used extra dried basil and still had good flavour. I added 2 tsp.pesto sauce and sprinkled some parmigiana cheese. Will make again.
So glad you loved it!
This recipe is a keeper! It was easy to prepare and the taste was phenomenal. I slightly deviated from the recipe by using fresh hot peppers instead of red pepper flakes. It added a nice ‘zing’ to it. I did serve it over rice but it might have been best to use pasta as recommended in the recipe.
Definitely will be saving this recipe for future use!
So glad you loved it!
Loved this recipe. Though I tend to agree with some reviewers that the recipe should be rated as originally written, I appreciate the comments and suggestions reviewers make to tweak the recipe to their individual likes and/or make use of the staples they have on hand. So first, the core recipe is excellent both in taste and colorful presentation. I had some mushrooms to use up and some jarred roasted peppers which I added with the onions and garlic. The dish was absolutely delicious. We served it over leftover rice. Two chicken breasts, when sliced and pounded were provided dinner for the two of us for two nights plus. The magic of this dish is the sauce 😋. Thanks for sharing the better than restaurant quality and easy to prepare recipe. I must admit I licked the sauce off the plate.
Hi Steve, thanks so much! I’m so glad you loved it.
This was absolutely delicious! Definitely will be making this again. Thank you Meghan !
So happy to hear that!
Made this tonight. It was delicious and everyone said it was a new keeper. I wanted something a little different to use my freshly picked basil in.
I’m so glad you loved them!
Loved it. I added rice noodles to it, it’s what I had for more of a meal. I think it would be even good chilled for a nice picnic.
I have four kids age range 15-22. All home for the summer. They can be picky. I try a lot of new recipes, but this one blew them away!! Very delicious!! Thank you!!
So happy you loved them!
Sorry Meghan,i meant that I only want to salute the chicken breasts and keep that warm,and I will do the sauce before dinner😉
On of the best sauces I’ve ever tasted!!!
So happy to hear that!
This was very good! I didn’t have roasted peppers and was too lazy to make them so I just sliced baby bell pepper very thin , added with the onions and it turned out great. I also used half and half to save calories and added baby spinach but otherwise followed the recipe. I am going to try sun dried tomatoes and maybe mushrooms like others have noted. Thank you for the great recipe!
So glad you loved it!
Made this last night and we all loved it. Served over mashed potatoes. It was outstanding! We did do as another commenter suggested and added a few sun dried tomatoes, because we happen to love them anyway. This is going in the company recipe file, which is reserved for the best dishes!
So glad to hear that you loved it!