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Basil-Feta Sauce Chicken – Flavorful and tangy sauce made with basil, garlic and feta cheese served over deliciously juicy chicken.
High-Five, you guys! Happy Sunday!
P.S. This.Is.So.Good.
Let’s back it up a bit. I recently found out that people don’t buy feta cheese in blocks, but they (you) buy the crumbled kind that costs like 5$ for a few ounces as opposed to the blocks of feta that I buy for waaaay cheaper. I didn’t know this.
I found out only after a few email exchanges with readers about a particular feta-recipe that they thought was bland.
I thought, FETA, BLAND?? That’s preposterous!
After a bit of back and forth, I realized that you, just as them, might also be using the already crumbled feta found at local grocery stores. Um… that’s too expensive and SO not feta-ish.
Lemme tell you… REAL Feta Cheese sits in brine, for.ever. It is cut up in large blocks and packaged with brine. When I use feta, I don’t need salt and dill and what not. The cheese is already salty and all it needs is garlic. Ok, dill won’t hurt, either. But basil is better.
Now. Lemme tell you one more thing. Go to the nearest Import Deli type store and get yourself some real feta. It sits in a cubed, plastic container filled with brine.
Buuuuut, for this recipe? You can use the crumbled feta that you already bought.
Okay? Okay.
Also? Let’s talk about the best cheese sauce ever made. Especially because it’s Sunday and Sunday deserves the best sauce, ever. With chicken.
Upfront. This should be your Valentine’s Day din din. Too soon? It’s less than a month away! It’s definitely not too soon.
More upfront? There’s a whole lotta garlic in this sauce and your dude/dudette needs to be reaaaal comfortable with your not-so-fresh breath. And vice versa, of course.
It’s recipes like this that I LOVE to share once I get over the fact that they are so ridiculously easy to make. These recipes are the ones that can be made in 30 minutes, they are the ones that are absolutely filling and have so much more flavor(s) than you’d ever expect.
You know what else is good with this? Crumbled bacon on top! OH. It’s amaze! You can imagine, I’m sure.
This is perfect for guests, too, but even better for just you!
ENJOY!
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Basil-Feta Sauce Chicken
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 small yellow onions,, thinly sliced
- 1 cloves= garlic,, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and fresh ground pepper,, to taste
- FOR THE SAUCE
For the Sauce
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 tablespoon sliced basil,, packed
- 2 cloves garlic,, minced
- 2 tablespoons milk
- salt and fresh ground black pepper,, to taste
- 1 pinch sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder,, or to taste
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Pound chicken breasts to an even thickness; do not pound them too thin.
- In a nonstick skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until translucent.
- Stir in garlic and continue to cook for about 30 seconds, or until fragrant.
- Transfer to serving plate and set aside.
- Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
- Place skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- When oil is hot, add chicken breasts to the skillet and cook 7 minutes; flip and continue to cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until thoroughly cooked and browned on both sides.
- Remove everything from skillet and transfer to a serving plate; set aside.
For the Sauce
- Set up a double-boiler by adding an inch of water to a small saucepan.
- Bring water to a rapid boil and lower to medium-heat.
- Combine all the sauce ingredients in a heat-resistant mixing bowl that is a little larger than the saucepan.
- Set the bowl over the saucepan, making certain that the bowl can't touch the water.
- Whisk the sauce until the sauce is smooth and creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- If it’s too thick (it should be slightly pourable) add a tablespoon of milk.
- Taste and adjust accordingly.
- Remove from heat and pour the sauce over the chicken breasts.
- Serve.
Notes
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.
I made this tonight and it was exceptionally good! The cheese sauce would be good on veggies as well. I did have a bit of a problem getting the sauce to the proper consistency, but smashing the chunks with a fork and adding double the milk fixed that. Thanks so much for sharing, I will definitely make this again!
Is this really under 500 calories?
Hi! Yes, it is 413 calories per serving, which is 1 chicken breast plus sauce. The recipe makes 4 servings.
Hello,
I was browsing through Pinterest when I stumbled upon your blog. I just want to thank you for sharing all these wonderful recipes with us. Also, this is the first time I’ve come across someone who’s just as obsessed with chicken as I am. Love, love, love your blog!
Hi, thanks for this recipe! Love chicken and cheese, so their combination should be amazing!!
I’ve found this recipe through the “Ten chicken dinners under 500 calories” master post, however I don’t understand if the 500 calories are for 1 serving with 1 chicken breast, or for the four.
I made this sauce. I followed recipe to a T. I thought it was terrible! Waste of time and money!
Hey everyone, could I please get some help with this before I make it. I’m in Australia and I know we sometimes call things different names than in the States, so can you please explain yellow onions. I’m not familiar with this at all. We have white, brown and red Spanish onions plus green onions but not yellow. Thanks
Hi Maggie! Yellow onions are what we out here consider the all-purpose onion. It’s the one that we cook with the most. I’m not sure about what the equivalent would be, but I would just go ahead and use the onions that you always use when cooking. I hope that helps!
My husband has issues with fresh Basil, but dried doesn’t were to bother him.
Do you think the dried would offer as much flavor? Any thoughts on how much to use?
Hi Aly!! Yeah, you can definitely try it with dried basil. Use about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of it. Let me know how it goes! Have a great day ahead!!
While I noticed the rating -I decided to go ahead and try this. My family loves trying a new recipe at least twice a month, I have basil growing out back, and we love feta. The dish was a hit not only with my husband, but my children (18,6&2 yr old) too. I had no problem melting the feta so long as you added a few more tablespoons of milk when melting everything down. This recipe has made it our go to recipe folder and we’ll be making this again in the near future. Delicious!
I am SO glad you enjoyed it!! Thank YOU! This is one of our favorite meals! 😀
This sauce came out really gross for me. It just wouldn’t get creamy, and was chunky and kind of looked like puke!. Maybe I did something wrong but with a recipe this simple, I’m not sure how that could be… I was using the crumbled feta.
Hi Carly! I’m really sorry that this recipe didn’t turn out for you! 🙁
Was your issue only with the texture, or with both texture and taste? So long as you stir the sauce while it’s cooking and add milk to thin it out, you should be able to get it to a texture that doesn’t like “puke”. I hope this helps. Again, I’m so sorry you didn’t like it.
Just to let y’all know, I tried this recipe with some crumbled feta. The flavors are delicious! I served it with a big ol’ pile of steamed broccoli. The crumbled feta, however, can’t melt down enough to take on as creamy a consistency as you’d want for this sauce. I’d recommend the block in brine if at all possible. Thanks for such a tasty idea!