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This is my easy copycat recipe for Chicken Bryan! If you’ve ever had the original at Carrabba’s Italian Grill (and even if you haven’t), you’ll love this homemade version. It’s easy to make with juicy chicken topped with lemon butter sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, and tangy goat cheese.
If you are a fan of Italian chicken recipes, try my chicken saltimbocca and chicken scarpariello, next. And if you love the flavors in this Chicken Bryan copycat, check out my Olive Garden-inspired creamy Tuscan chicken!
Making DIY versions of restaurant favorites is so much fun. I love it, whether I’m recreating PF Chang’s Mongolian beef, creamy Zuppa Toscana from the Olive Garden, or the Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster. Recently, I set out to make Chicken Bryan, one of my favorite dishes on the menu at Carrabba’s. In fact, if you call their location near us and ask who orders Chicken Bryan the most, they’ll tell you it’s me!
Chicken Bryan takes juicy chicken and tops it with a buttery lemon sauce, tangy sun-dried tomatoes, and creamy goat cheese. I never imagined it would taste THIS good made at home. I served ours with a Caesar salad on the side, and it was a hit with the whole family. This chicken is so packed with flavor, you just need to try it for yourself!
What Makes This the Best Chicken Bryan Copycat Recipe?
- It’s 100% homemade. I don’t know about you, but I always find homemade tastes a million times better than even some of my favorite restaurant dishes. There’s something so fresh and comforting about knowing exactly what goes into this recipe.
- Fresh Italian-style flavors. Sweet and tangy sun-dried tomatoes and bright lemon turn the rich and creamy butter sauce into something special. Chicken Bryan is impressive enough to cook for friends, and it’s super easy!
- Quick. After a short time marinating, this chicken recipe cooks in one pan in 25 minutes. You can prep the sauce ahead of time to cut down on time, too.
How Did Carrabba’s Chicken Bryan Get Its Name?
Chicken Bryan is named after Bryan, Texas, where the Carrabba family settled after moving to the US from Sicily. Johnny Carrabba, one of the founders of the Carrabba’s Italian Grill restaurant chain, named the signature chicken dish after the city where his parents grew up. They have Filet Bryan, too, which is the same sauce from this recipe spooned over filet mignon instead. I think I know what I’m making next week!
Ingredients You’ll Need
You can recreate this easy Chicken Bryan recipe at home with easy ingredients, which I’ll cover here with some notes about substitutions. Scroll down to the recipe card for a printable ingredient list and the full recipe details.
- Olive Oil – Or another vegetable oil, like canola or avocado oil.
- Lemons – Freshly juiced for the marinade and lemon butter sauce. Give the bottled stuff a pass for this recipe!
- Seasonings – Dried oregano, basil, and thyme, plus salt and freshly cracked black pepper. You could also use Italian seasoning in place of the individual herbs.
- Garlic – Mince up some fresh garlic cloves using a sharp knife or garlic press. In a pinch, you can substitute ¼-½ teaspoon of garlic powder per fresh clove.
- Chicken Breasts – The original dish calls for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so that’s what I use here. You can make Chicken Bryan with chicken thighs, too. The cooking time will be a bit longer. If the chicken pieces are especially thick, I like to pound them to an even 1” thickness like I would for chicken paillard.
- Sun-dried Tomatoes – Drain the oil (set a few tablespoons aside for cooking the chicken) and coarsely chop up the tomatoes for the sauce. I went through a phase where I’d add sweet-tangy sun-dried tomatoes to everything, from chicken to sun-dried tomato pasta and stuffed flank steak. I love this recipe for them!
- Butter – Salted or unsalted, cut into cubes or slices so that it’ll melt quickly.
- White Wine – I recommend a dry white, like Pinot Grigio. Wine can be substituted with chicken broth if you’d prefer to cook without alcohol.
- Heavy Cream – To add to the sauce at the very end. For a lighter dish, swap heavy cream or Greek yogurt instead.
- Parmesan – Freshly grated.
- Goat Cheese – I love this soft cheese with its sharp, tangy flavor. If you don’t have goat cheese, cream cheese makes a good substitute.
- Fresh Basil – Chopped, for the sauce and for garnish. You can also finish your chicken with a few drizzles of pesto if you don’t have fresh basil on hand.
How to Make Chicken Bryan
Just call me Chef because I felt SO professional after making this copycat chicken recipe at home. It tastes just like the original (prepare to be amazed), and it really takes just a few simple steps.
- Marinate the chicken. Whisk up olive oil and lemon juice with the marinade seasonings, and add this to a large freezer bag along with the chicken. Leave that to marinate on the counter for about 30 minutes.
- Cook the chicken. Afterward, you’ll sear the chicken in a skillet with a bit of the oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Make the sauce. Move the chicken to a serving platter. In the same pan, sauté the garlic with butter, then deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine and lemon juice. Remember to scrape up any stuck-on bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Make it creamy. With the sauce over low heat, pour in the heavy cream. Give that a stir and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes. Then melt in the grated parmesan and goat cheese.
- Finish and serve. Lastly, take the skillet off the heat and stir the sun-dried tomatoes and basil into the sauce. Season to taste, and then spoon the sauce over the chicken for serving. Enjoy!
Make-Ahead
An easy way to shorten the prep time for this recipe is to make the lemon butter sauce ahead of time. I’ll sometimes prepare the sauce a day or two in advance and keep it airtight in the fridge. This way, all I need to do is marinate the chicken and sear it while I reheat the sauce on the stovetop and put everything together afterward.
Recipe Tips
- Try to buy even-sized chicken breasts. Chicken that’s similar in size cooks more evenly. If needed, pound the chicken thin with a meat mallet or rolling pin, or slice extra thick chicken breasts in half.
- If you use chicken thighs, they may take a bit longer to cook. You can follow the searing directions for my stovetop chicken thighs.
- Don’t over-marinate. If you’re marinating the chicken for longer than 30 minutes, move it to the fridge. I don’t recommend marinating for longer than 2 hours, though. If you do pop your chicken into the fridge, take it out 10-15 minutes ahead of searing to take the chill off.
- Check that the chicken is cooked. Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure that the chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Use heavy cream or full-fat yogurt. Lower fat and nonfat options, even whole milk, tend to curdle in the heat and lemon juice. While curdled sauce is still fine to eat, it won’t look nearly as nice and silky!
Serving Suggestions
I love serving chicken Bryan over pasta (chicken alfredo-style) or zoodles. All it needs is a fresh shrimp Caesar salad or Mediterranean salad on the side. I can’t wait to make this in the wintertime and serve the sauce over mashed potatoes, too! Chicken Bryan’s tangy lemon butter sauce also pairs great with roasted green beans or asparagus.
Sweeten the deal with a quick chocolate mug cake and a sip of cinnamon dolce latte.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
- Refrigerate. Store Chicken Bryan leftovers in an airtight container and keep them refrigerated for 3-5 days. I like to store the chicken and sauce separately.
- Reheat. The sauce can be reheated on the stove or in the microwave, but microwaving chicken makes it rubbery, IMO. For this reason, warm the chicken in a skillet with a splash of water to keep it moist, or covered in the oven at 350ºF until it’s hot throughout. Afterward, heat the sauce and serve as usual.
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Chicken Bryan
Ingredients
For the chicken
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3 tablespoons oil from a jar of sundried tomatoes marinated in oil
For the sauce
- 1 stick of butter, cut into 4-5 slices for quicker melting
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- Juice of 2 lemons
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 3 ounces goat cheese
- ⅔ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, oil drained, chopped
- ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Make the marinade. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, thyme, and garlic.
- Marinade the chicken. Place the chicken in a large freezer bag and pour the marinade over it. Seal the bag and massage the marinade into the chicken. Let the chicken sit in the marinade at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the fridge for up to 2 hours. (See note)
- Cook the chicken on the stovetop. Heat the sundried tomato oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 7 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook for an additional 7 minutes or until the internal temperature of the largest piece reaches 165°F. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter.
- Saute the garlic. Add the butter to the same pan you cooked the chicken in. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Deglaze. Add the white wine and lemon juice to the pan and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Be sure to knock any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. They add so much flavor.
- Make it creamy. Turn the heat to low and stir in the heavy cream. Simmer for 3-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened a bit. Turn the heat to low and stir in the parmesan and goat cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted.
- Finishing touches. Turn off the heat and stir in the sundried tomatoes and basil. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Put it all together. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve your chicken Bryan warm.
Equipment
Notes
- If you marinate the chicken in the fridge, let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes or so before searing.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Is there a way to reduce the sodium ?
Hi!
There are a few tweaks you can make to reduce the sodium. Instead of using 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, you could reduce it to 1 teaspoon or even ½ teaspoon while still keeping the flavor. Also, packaged sun-dried tomatoes tend to have less sodium than the jarred ones, or you can rinse the jarred tomatoes before using them to cut down on sodium.
Since Parmesan is naturally salty, reducing the amount to 1/4 cup could also help. You may also want to slightly reduce the amount of goat cheese and give it a quick rinse before using it to lower the sodium even more.