This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This is my quick and easy garlic butter chicken made with a stick of butter, garlic, fresh rosemary, and melty Italian cheese. It’s the perfect baked chicken recipe for weeknights!
Homemade garlic butter is a snap to make, and I use it on everything from steak bites to roasted carrots. It positively shines in this garlic butter chicken recipe!
This juicy garlic butter chicken has me falling in love with my homemade garlic butter sauce all over again. I baste juicy chicken breasts with the garlicky sauce and rosemary before baking them in the oven beneath heaps of Italian cheese. It’s hands down some of the best golden-baked chicken I’ve ever sunk my fork into. This is an easy, nearly failproof dinner with just 5 ingredients. Garlic butter is the star!
Things to Love About This Baked Garlic Butter Chicken
- Perfectly juicy. Basting the chicken with garlic butter before baking locks in the flavor and makes this chicken incredibly juicy. As in, did-this-come-from-a-5-star-restaurant juicy. The secret is a hot oven and a meat thermometer to check when the chicken hits its prime.
- Easy. Simply sauté fresh garlic and rosemary in melted butter, pour that over the chicken, and bake. The whole recipe takes a little over 30 minutes from start to finish.
- Versatile. This garlic butter chicken goes with just about any side, so it’s super flexible when it comes to serving. Pair it with a quick side of jasmine rice, or make it the ultimate comfort food with a mountain of mashed potatoes. It’s also a great meal prep recipe. Anything goes!
What You’ll Need
Don’t you just love an ultra-short ingredients list? These are some notes on what you’ll need to make deliciously baked garlic butter chicken, but please scroll to the printable recipe card for the full ingredients list as well as the recipe directions.
- Chicken – I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can also make garlic butter chicken thighs or use bone-in chicken, though it’ll take slightly longer to cook.
- Butter – Either salted or unsalted. You can also make this recipe with olive oil or ghee. The sauce won’t have quite the same richness, but it’ll still taste delicious.
- Garlic – Freshly minced.
- Rosemary – I love fresh rosemary with the garlic butter in this recipe, but you can use any herb you’d like. Thyme, basil, and parsley all go great with chicken.
- Cheese – Choose your favorite shredded cheese. I use an Italian cheese blend. Other good choices are mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, Swiss, and Gruyère.
How to Make Garlic Butter Chicken
Achieving a perfectly juicy baked chicken breast is simple! The oven does most of the work in this garlic butter chicken recipe, and I’ll walk you through the easy method below.
- Prep the chicken. First, season the chicken breasts and arrange the chicken inside a buttered baking dish.
- Make the garlic butter. Next, melt butter in a skillet, add the garlic, and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Stir often and take care not to burn the garlic, or it’ll taste bitter. Lastly, stir in the rosemary.
- Assemble and bake. Pour the garlic butter over the chicken. Then, bake at 375ºF for about 30 minutes. Right at the end, sprinkle the tops of the chicken with shredded cheese and place it back into the oven for 2-3 minutes, enough to melt.
- Serve. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Afterward, serve with a drizzle of extra garlic sauce!
Tips and Variations
- Season the chicken. The key to flavorful chicken starts with a generous seasoning with salt and pepper. Don’t skip it!
- Don’t burn the garlic. Whatever you do, do NOT let the garlic burn while sautéeing. Keep the heat at medium and stir frequently while it cooks.
- Don’t overcook. You’ll know your chicken is done when the juices run clear and the internal temperature reaches 165ºF on an instant-read thermometer.
- Rest the chicken. Remember to let the baked chicken rest for a few minutes before serving. This allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat so the chicken stays moist and tender.
- Make it on the stovetop. If you don’t feel like switching on the oven, make this recipe in a skillet instead! Just follow the cooking directions for my garlic butter pan-fried chicken breasts recipe.
Serving Suggestions
I love serving this buttery, cheesy garlic chicken over a bed of pasta or rice (like my garlic butter chicken and rice) for a hearty weeknight dinner. It’s great with a side of salad or a veggie, like asparagus or roasted broccoli to round out the meal. For dessert, these mini chocolate chip cookies are pretty hard to resist. Or, cozy up with a homemade dark hot chocolate!
Storing and Reheating Chicken
- Refrigerate. Store the cooled chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Leftover garlic butter chicken tastes amazing chopped up to enjoy in salads or rolled up into a flatbread for a chicken wrap!
- Reheat. Warm this chicken in the oven under foil until it’s hot throughout. You can use the microwave, but I sometimes find that microwaving makes leftover chicken a bit chewy.
More Baked Chicken Recipes
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Garlic Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
- ½ cup shredded Italian cheese blend
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease a baking dish with a pat of butter.
- Season the chicken. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the prepared baking dish and set aside.
- Make the garlic butter. Add butter to a skillet and melt over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook over medium heat for 4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring very frequently. DO NOT burn the garlic. Stir in the rosemary and remove from heat.
- Dress the chicken. Pour the prepared garlic butter over the chicken breasts.
- Bake. Bake for 30 to 32 minutes or until the chicken's internal temperature registers at 165ºF.
- Add cheese. Sprinkle with cheese and cook for an additional 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- Rest and serve. Remove from oven and let stand for about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to serving plates, then spoon garlic butter sauce over the chicken and serve.
Equipment
Notes
- Switch up herbs like thyme or parsley if you’re not a fan of rosemary.
- Choose from cheeses like mozzarella, cheddar, or Parmesan, and consider olive oil or ghee as healthier alternatives to butter.
- You may use chicken thighs instead of breasts but adjust cooking time as they take longer. Check the internal temperature (165˚F) for doneness.
- Be sure to sauté garlic on medium heat, stirring often to avoid a bitter taste.
- Check the chicken’s doneness by ensuring it reaches 165˚F with a meat thermometer to keep it juicy and safe to eat.
- Let the chicken rest after baking for a more flavorful bite.
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.
Just made this tonight with thighs – loved it and I even forgot to add the cheese at the end! Will definitely be added to our rotation!
What sides to do you suggest serving this with? Potatoes? Pasta?
Also, I noticed someone else asked about doing this recipe in a crock pot. I did not see a reply.
What do you think?
Thanks.
How long do you bake the chicken for and what temp? Frustrated that I couldn’t find this on the recipe
Hi Wendye! Very sorry you’re having issues with viewing the recipe! What browser are you using and do you see the recipe card? The very first line says to preheat oven at 375F, and on line #8 it states to bake for 30 to 32 minutes, or until chicken’s internal temperature is 165F.
How much garlic from a jar would I use in place of fresh? Thanks
Hi Dorothy! 1 fresh garlic clove equals to about a teaspoon of minced garlic. But if you can get fresh garlic, I’d say to use that instead of the jarred garlic for this recipe. It does not taste the same, not even close, with the already minced garlic. Just my own two cents. 🙂
What are the nutritional facts of the chicken? Im trying to eat healthier and id love to try this out but i dont want a massive amount of calories.
Hi Victoria! There are 390 calories per serving in this chicken. I did have the nutritional facts on there, but they disappeared once I changed to the new recipe card. Thanks for letting me know! I added them again.
Could you sub rosemary for thyme? Looks amazing!
Hi Amber! Yes, absolutely. You can use whatever fresh herbs you like or have on hand.
Hi, My husband says he HATES Rosemary. I just started really liking it so making this with the Rosemary worried me that it might not go over well with him. Even if I only put it over my chicken pieces. BUT I through caution to the wind and mixed Rosemary along with Tarragon AND I also used thighs instead. I’m so happy… HE LOVED IT!!!!! Thank You for such an awesome recipe. Also wanted to mention what sides I used. Mashed potatoes and corn for hubby and I had Mixed Greens. (He refuses to eat those still.)
MEN! 😉 LOL!! I’m so happy to know that you both enjoyed it! LOVE that you used thighs…mmmmmm!
When in doubt, use Herbed de Provence!
I made this last night and the chicken was pretty good. I felt horrible about dumping all that extra herbed garlic butter, so I didn’t! What I did was spoon the rest into a silicon ice cube tray and froze it. I popped them all out, and stuck them in a bag. Then I can either melt them down for the next time I make this or just grab a couple for the next time I need garlic and butter for a recipe.
That is the best idea of evvver!! I LOVE IT! Thanks so much for sharing your tip!
I just hate wasting food 😛 Hopefully others can benefit from this tip! Just had the leftover chicken for lunch and it reheated quite well 🙂
Two thumbs up Ashley. That was a fantastic idea about the leftover garlic butter. Just printed this recipe off and will make in the next couple of days. Will definetly be saving and freezing the garlic butter.
Your recipes here are saying it serves 1 but I doubt one person would eat 4 chicken breasts. Perhaps this is an oversight.
Hi Deborah!! This new recipe card I’ve been using isn’t completely perfect and it has a mind of its own – it erases things (servings, nutritional facts, etc), randomly. 🙁 I have had to fix sooo many recipes because of this glitch. SO sorry about that. This serves 4.
This looks fantastic! Would I be able to make this in the slow cooker? Do you have any tips or tweaks to make this recipe work in the slow cooker? Thank you for sharing!!!
This looks so good!