Oh my gosh, you know those nights, right? The ones where you walk in the door exhausted, stare into the fridge wondering how you’ll pull dinner together without opening that sad take-out menu again? That’s exactly when these **Garlic Butter Chicken Bites** become my absolute hero. Seriously, they are the culinary equivalent of a superhero cape arriving just in time!
Forget complicated marinades or hours spent waiting. We are talking about tender, perfectly seared chicken pieces absolutely drowning in the richest, most fragrant garlic butter sauce you can dream up. This whole stunning meal comes together in about 25 minutes total, making these the best quick chicken recipe I lean on weekly. I’ve whipped these up countless times when I only had fifteen minutes to cook, and they never fail to impress my family.
Why You Will Love These Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
I’m telling you, this isn’t just another chicken dinner; it’s proof that you can have incredible flavor without spending half your evening in the kitchen. I’ve been searching for years for a weeknight staple, and this is it. Trust me, you’ll be making this a dozen times this year!
- Speed Demon Dinner: With only about 15 minutes of actual cooking time, this is faster than most frozen meals. Check out my tips for other lightning-fast recipes if you don’t believe me!
- Flavor Bomb Sauce: The sauce is pure silk—rich butter, deeply toasted garlic, and just enough broth and cream to coat every single bite perfectly.
- Minimal Mess: We are cooking this whole thing in one skillet, people! That means cleanup is a breeze, which is honestly the best part of any quick dinner, hands down.
- So Versatile: These bites soak up flavor beautifully, making them ideal for serving over pasta, rice, or just eating straight out of the pan (I won’t judge!).
Essential Ingredients for Perfect Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
Okay, setting expectations here: since this recipe is so simple, the quality of what you put in truly matters. We’re only using about nine core items, so let’s make them shine! If you use weak, watery butter, you’re going to get a weak, watery sauce, and that’s just tragic.
I always splurge just a little on the butter here. It’s the backbone of everything good in this dish, and when you melt it down with that fresh garlic, the smell alone is worth the extra dollar. If you need side inspiration, you can always find great pairing ideas over on my garlic butter shrimp post because the flavor profiles work so well together!
Here is exactly what you need on hand before you even start heating the skillet:
- 1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (Yes, unsalted! We control the salt.)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (Don’t you dare skimp on the garlic here, four cloves minimum!)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
Alright, this is where the magic happens! Since this whole show is only supposed to take about 15 minutes of active cooking time—ten minutes of prep before that—we need to move with purpose. If you’re organized—and if you measured everything out during prep—you’ll be sitting down to eat amazing garlic butter chicken bites before you know it. Seriously, this is so fast. The main rule here is layering the flavor, so don’t rush those initial browning steps!
Preparing and Searing the Chicken for Your Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
First things first, make sure your chicken pieces—cut nicely into one-inch bites—are seasoned well with salt and pepper. Now, heat that tablespoon of olive oil in your skillet over medium-high heat. This is my expert tip: don’t shy away from the high heat here! You want that oil shimmering slightly before the chicken hits the pan. Add the seasoned chicken in a single layer if you can, and let it brown up nicely on all sides until it’s cooked through, which takes about 5 to 7 minutes. Once they look gorgeous and golden, pull those bites out immediately and set them on a clean plate. We need that pan empty for the sauce!
Creating the Rich Garlic Butter Sauce Base
Now that the chicken is resting, drop the heat down to medium; we are not burning this precious garlic! Let that 4 tablespoons of butter melt down until it’s looking foamy. Toss in your 4 cloves of minced garlic and stir constantly for just about one minute. You want it fragrant—deeply fragrant—but if you see it starting to turn brown, pull the pan off the heat immediately because burnt garlic tastes bitter, and nobody wants that in their beautiful sauce. Once that aroma hits you, pour in the 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Use your spatula to scrape up all those lovely brown bits stuck to the bottom; that’s pure flavor gold! Let that simmer for a couple of minutes until it reduces just a tiny bit. You can see more tips on building sauce flavor in my recipe for creamy garlic chicken!
Finishing the Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
Time for the silkiness! Stir in your 1/4 cup of heavy cream and bring the whole thing back up to a gentle simmer. You’ll cook this for maybe three minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of your spoon a little. Now, toss those perfectly seared chicken bites right back into the pan. Give everything a good swirl so every piece gets smothered in that dreamy garlic butter. Finally, stir in the fresh parsley—wow, the color looks amazing! Serve these Garlic Butter Chicken Bites right away before the sauce has a chance to cool down or separate. If you like keeping the extra sauce to smother something else, you might enjoy how I use extra sauce in the garlic butter chicken sandwich!
Tips for Success with Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
It’s simple cooking, sure, but a few little tricks make the difference between ‘fine’ chicken and legendary chicken, you know? Follow these three things and you will get perfection every single time you make these bites. I learned these the hard way, so you don’t have to!
First, remember I stressed the butter? Use good quality, real unsalted butter. It’s the primary flavor carrier here. Don’t try to substitute that with a low-fat spread; it just won’t emulsify right and the flavor won’t be nearly as rich. It’s worth making an extra trip to the store for good butter!
Second, when you add the heavy cream and broth, make sure you bring that mixture to a gentle simmer *before* you add the chicken back in. If the sauce base is too cold when the chicken hits it, your sauce won’t thicken properly, and you’ll end up with watery chicken juice instead of that amazing garlic butter coating. We’re aiming for coated, not swimming! If you like rich appetizers, you should really check out my garlic butter bacon rollups—they use a similar sauce technique.
Third: Don’t overcook the garlic when you first sauté it! I know we want that deep garlic flavor, but garlic burns so fast, and nobody likes that acrid, bitter taste creeping into their dinner. If you see it starting to brown, pull the pan off the heat immediately, swirl the butter around, and go straight to adding the broth to stop the cooking process.
Garlic Butter Chicken Bites Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
I get asked all the time about swapping things out, and I totally get it—we cook with what we have on hand! If you run out of fresh parsley, don’t sweat it. About a teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning stirred in right at the end works just fine; it won’t have that bright pop, but it’s still delicious. Also, that squeeze of fresh lemon juice I mentioned? That’s my little secret weapon for balance! It cuts through all that richness perfectly.
If you prefer darker meat—and honestly, sometimes I do for extra juiciness—you can absolutely substitute the chicken breasts with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Just remember that thighs take about two minutes longer to cook through when you’re searing them initially! Cut them the same size to keep the timing close.
Serving Suggestions for Your Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
This is the fun part! Since these Garlic Butter Chicken Bites come swimming in that gorgeous, velvety sauce, you need something fantastic to soak it all up. You absolutely cannot let any of that garlic butter go to waste, trust me on this one!
My top recommendation is always simple pasta, like linguine or angel hair, tossed right into the pan at the very end. That sauce clings to the noodles perfectly. You can find a great base recipe for garlic butter pasta that you can use alongside your chicken!
If you’re aiming for something lighter, steamed broccoli or quick-sautéed asparagus spears are amazing because they handle the sauce beautifully. Or, if you want the easiest option? Serve them over a bed of fluffy white rice. Instant mop for that buttery goodness!
Storage and Reheating Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
Because these Garlic Butter Chicken Bites are so decadent, you might end up with leftovers—which is a win in my book! If you do have food left over, get it into an airtight container right away. Pop it in the fridge, and it’ll keep beautifully for about three days. Seriously, they still taste great cold, but we aren’t eating cold sauce, are we?
When you go to reheat them, please, please skip the microwave if you can! The high heat just cooks the chicken further and makes the sauce separate into an oily mess. Instead, use a small skillet over medium-low heat. Stir them constantly until everything is warmed through and the sauce looks smooth again. It takes barely five minutes, and it keeps those chicken bites tender inside where they belong!
Frequently Asked Questions About Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
I always get a ton of questions once people start making these quick chicken recipes because everyone wants to customize them, and that’s fair! These bites are flexible, but a few ground rules keep them tasting perfect. I’ve gathered the most common things folks ask me when they are planning to make their own batch.
Can I make these vegetarian?
That’s a great question! Since this recipe relies heavily on the chicken flavor, you’d need a solid meat substitute. I definitely recommend using firm or extra-firm tofu—pressed really well to get the water out—or even robust thick-cut mushrooms, like cremini. Cut those into one-inch sizes just like the chicken. Then, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth when you make that incredible garlic butter sauce. It works surprisingly well, though the texture will obviously be different!
How can I make the sauce spicier?
Oh, I love a little kick too! It’s so easy to adjust for heat. My favorite way is to add about a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes right when you add the minced garlic to the butter. Let them bloom in that flavor bath for just a moment before you add the broth. That infuses the entire sauce with warmth. If you want instant heat right at the end, a dash of your favorite hot sauce after you add the cream works too, though the flakes give a better overall distribution.
What cut of chicken works best for these bites?
While I wrote the recipe using traditional boneless, skinless chicken breasts because they cook so quickly and evenly, I have to confess that boneless, skinless chicken thighs give you a far richer, deeper flavor. Thighs have a little more fat, and that fat melts right into the sauce, making it even silkier. If you use thighs, just keep an eye on them when searing; they might need an extra minute or two to feel completely cooked through before you pull them out!
Estimated Nutritional Data for Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
Now, I know some of you are tracking macros or just curious about what you’re putting in your body, so here is the breakdown for one serving of these amazing **Garlic Butter Chicken Bites**. Since this recipe is made from scratch using whole ingredients, you have total control, which is fantastic!
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 350
- Protein: 38g
- Fat: 20g (Saturated Fat: 10g)
- Carbohydrates: 3g (Sugar: 1g)
Just remember, these numbers are just an estimate based strictly on the ingredients listed above—using standard measurements. If you add extra butter during your serving, or if your chicken breasts happened to be on the larger side, your numbers will shift a little bit!
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Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
- Total Time: 25 min
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Fat
Description
Simple, quick chicken bites cooked in a rich garlic butter sauce.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the chicken to the skillet and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add butter to the skillet and let it melt.
- Add minced garlic to the melted butter and cook for about 1 minute until fragrant. Do not let the garlic burn.
- Pour in the chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the heavy cream and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer. Cook until the sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.
- Return the cooked chicken to the skillet. Toss to coat the chicken in the garlic butter sauce.
- Stir in the fresh parsley. Serve immediately.
Notes
- You can substitute fresh parsley with dried Italian seasoning if needed.
- For extra flavor, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the sauce at the end.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 350
- Sugar: 1
- Sodium: 350
- Fat: 20
- Saturated Fat: 10
- Unsaturated Fat: 10
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 3
- Fiber: 0
- Protein: 38
- Cholesterol: 120
Keywords: garlic butter chicken, chicken bites, quick chicken recipe, easy dinner, skillet chicken