Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Juicy, tender chicken served with the creamiest garlic sauce that the whole family will go crazy for!
Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic has been on my bucket list for years. But I guess I’ve been putting it off because I was always a bit skeptical about the “40 cloves of garlic” part. Now you know how much I love garlic as seen in yesterday’s post, but 40 cloves just seemed like way too much, even for me. But then curiosity took over and I finally gave it a try, and boy, was I in for a treat.
If you have your skepticism about the garlic like I did, have no fear – the 40 cloves of garlic actually lends an amazing garlic essence to the chicken, letting them simmer in their own juices. This allows the flavors to really meld, leaving the chicken to become incredibly tender and flavorful. And if you take that extra step to thicken up the sauce with a little bit of flour, it is absolute perfection.
After devouring my entire plate along with every last bit of this creamy garlic sauce, this has quickly become one of my absolute favorite ways to prepare chicken, and if you’re not in the mood to peel 40 cloves of garlic, I’m with Julie on this one – I highly recommend purchasing the peeled garlic cloves. It’s such a time-saver and it’ll save your fingernails from smelling like garlic for days!
Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 40 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; set aside.
- Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add chicken and sprinkle with thyme. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 25-30 minutes; set aside chicken, reserving the juices in the skillet.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour and milk. Whisk in flour mixture to the skillet until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately with sauce mixture.
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My family likes a similar recipe. We use 8 thighs plus all the cloves from one head of garlic. The main difference is that we add 1/2 cup of sauvignon blanc to the sauce (and serve the rest of the bottle with the meal). We generally use either a hard boil or cornstarch to thicken the sauce. We love that it has only a few ingredients and cooks quickly. We serve with baguette and steamed green veg (broc/sugar snap peas/beans). This is one of my 22 year old son’s favorite meals. I suggest you don’t use pre-peeled garlic because it doesn’t seem to soften enough during the cooking time and the gooey garlic, spread on bread, is one of the best parts. – k
This was amazing! Everything I’ve made from your site is delicious! Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your masterpieces!
If I cut the recipe in half should I cut the garlic in half?
Yes, I recommend cutting all ingredients in half.
I have a tip about peeling all the garlic! If you just break them up (with the peel still on) put them in a bowl. Then put another bowl on top of that bowl and shake super hard. The garlic will peel itself!. This works best with a big mixing bowl. I’m sure there are videos on youtube if anyone needs to see it done. 🙂
That trick didn’t work for me so I had to peel them manually. If you rub your hands on the surface of a stainless bowl or any stainless utensil it will immediately neutralize the garlic smell. No more stinking hands.
decided to make this for dinner and can I just say “WOW”. The house smells amazing and it looks so great(still cooking) we are making it was stuffing and asparagus. I have been looking for another way to cook thighs that wasn’t in a wing sauce ( although those are good too) this is an amazing recipe, adding to my regulars 🙂
I live in Los Angeles, home to the world famous Stinking Rose restaurant, where everything
has garlic and lot’s of it! Including ice cream :)! They serve 40 clove chicken, and while their’s
is different I have to say Thank You! Your recipe was/is amazing.
HI! If I triple the recipe, does that mean I have to put in 120 cloves of garlic?! The recipe says good for 8, I am expecting a party of 22. Thanks for the help!
Yes, if you are tripling the recipe, I would recommend tripling all of the ingredients!
Wow! 40 cloves of Garlic!!! Can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing
Made this for supper and it is delicious! The only downfall…the chicken stuck to the pan terribly and didn’t want to get crisp! I’m blaming the pan.. 🙂
Same here, the chicken got stuck to the pan but still delish!
Hot pan, room temp oil, and almost guarantee that meat will never stick.
made this tonight and it was amazing 🙂 instead of adding milk and flour, i reduced slightly as i broiled the chicken to make it crispy again in the oven, and then added baby spinach to the sauce. the spinach soaked up all the garlic-awesomeness. thanks!
The garlic taste is definitely there, not too strong but yummy at the same time. My chicken was juicy and flavorful but I had the problem that the sauce had evaporated wayyy before the 30min were up. Would you suggest adding more chicken broth (maybe my 6 quart dutch oven is too big?) at the beginning or later when I notice the pan sauce is mostly evaporated?
Yes, absolutely. Feel free to add more broth as needed to fit your preferences.
Oopsie, I just bought chicken thighs without the skin and no bones. Is that going to be a problem?
It is really best to use thighs with the skin to have that amazing crispness.
I made this recipe last night and served it with linguine. It was SOOOOOO good! I thought the garlic might be a little out of control garlicky (not that I hate this), but it was so evenly balanced. It was easy, quick and one of my new go-to weeknight meals. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
Instead of spending extra for peeled garlic, you can mass peel your own. Drop a handful of cloves in a bowl, with an inverted bowl on top. Shake the heck out of ’em for about 30 seconds, and the peels fall right off. makes cleanup easy too, as the peels are contained.
I’ve been using the 2 bowls technique for quite sometime now and I love it! You can peel 40 garlic cloves in 2 minutes without having garlic fingers for a day 🙂
Trying this recipe tonight!!
Thanks for the tip – I’ve been meaning to try that!
i cooked this a decade ago but the recipe i used called for unpeeled garlic. what it meant was, firstly (obviously), no peeling, and secondly, the garlic flavour was more subtle. we were able to push out the garlic like toothpaste & they were sweet & delicious! i’ve since lost the recipe & that’s why i’m searching the net for a worthy successor! many thanks for the inspiration.
I do something similar, but rather than using two bowls, a mason jar and lid works just as well.
What would you suggest to serve with this? Something that you can pour some of the sauce over…besides mashed potatoes. Just plain rice? 40 cloves seems so intimidating, but I really want to try this! Hopefully tonight since chicken thighs are on special at my local store…
We loved it over rice. And no need to be intimidated about the 40 cloves – it lends off such amazing flavor!
Can I use oven roasted garlic or does it have to be raw
Roasted garlic should work just fine.
I just did it, and had it with rolls, and just dipped the rolls in the sauce! Highly recommend it. And don’t skimp on the cook time. I took mine off a little too early; the chicken was done, but the garlic could have got a lot sweeter, like roasted garlic.
Chung-Ah,
This is the third recipe from your website that I have cooked. The chicken is great, and I will certainly cook it again. I was not able to brown the thighs very well in the pan at the beginning of the recipe, but when I was making the gravy I finished them off under the broiler. They came out browned and crisped to near perfection that way. I wonder about the origin of this recipe. The flavor seems almost Mediterranean.
Your sight is visually pleasing, and I like the general approach to cooking you take. I wish the recipes were easier to navigate. I used Google to help me come back to the recipe a day after I initially found it.
James, I’m so glad you have tried my recipes! As for navigating through my site, I have a search bar in the sidebar as well as a visual recipe index. You can find all recipes there, from appetizers to entrees, which are all categorized alphabetically.
Just delicious!
I tried to cook this before but the garlic melted when i simmered the chicken for 30 mins. should i set it aside?
Tried this today as my Hubby LOVES garlic…super easy and delish!!! WOW, thanks for the recipe!!
this sounds super tasty!! I love garlic and usually use a lot!
I love garlic chicken! This looks great!