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Sometimes it’s the simplest of recipes that are the best. Simple ingredients, simple execution…simply delightful to eat and enjoy. This Butter Cream Chicken fits the description here, my friends. The chicken is lightly breaded in Ritz Crackers, pan fried (not deep fried) and topped with a heavenly butter and cream sauce. I’m going to wager that you just might have all of the ingredients on hand to make it.
Told you simple was going to be good. 🙂
This Butter Cream Chicken would be wonderful served with
Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic or Rice Pilaf with Almonds, or even some Angel Hair pasta. Make a batch of Glazed Carrots with Rosemary or Roasted Asparagus and you will have a well rounded meal of pleasure and bliss.
Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic or Rice Pilaf with Almonds, or even some Angel Hair pasta. Make a batch of Glazed Carrots with Rosemary or Roasted Asparagus and you will have a well rounded meal of pleasure and bliss.
Someone should give you a kiss.
That. Is something you don’t want to miss.
I never was a poet.
And boy, do I know it.
1. Cut your chicken up into chunks with some kitchen scissors. I usually cut each breast into thirds or sometimes fourths depending on the size of the breast.
2. Place your chicken into a gallon sized ziploc bag and seal the bag. Pound the chicken flat with a meat mallet.
3. Grind the Ritz Crackers into crumbs in a small food processor. Place them in a shallow pan, I find a loaf pan to work best for this step.
4. Press each chicken piece into the crumbs, being sure to coat both sides generously.
Place each coated chicken piece on a plate. “Don’t they look lovely, June. Love the feathers.”…name that movie, anyone?
5. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Once it is good and hot, pour about 5 tablespoons Olive Oil into your pan.
6. Let your oil heat up just for 30 seconds or so, and then put the chicken carefully in the pan. Don’t crowd it now. You’ll need to cook the chicken in two batches.
7. Let the chicken cook until it’s nice and golden brown on the bottom, should take about 3-4 minutes. Turn each piece with a fork and allow it to cook on the other side. The chicken is done when it’s no longer pink inside.
8. Remove the chicken to a separate plate and cook your second batch of chicken, adding another few tablespoons of oil to the pan before you add the chicken.
9. Once you have cooked all of the chicken you’ll have some beautiful crispy treasures left in the pan.
Add 4 tablespoons of butter and 1 cup chicken broth to the pan allowing the butter to melt. Whisk the mixture around a bit, scraping the bottom of the pan to break the crispy pieces loose.
10. Add 1 cup half and half
and 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme. Whisk it around to incorporate and allow it to come to a boil.
11. Into a small bowl pour 2 tablespoons half and half and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Stir it around until smooth.
12. Pour the cornstarch mixture into your pan and stir it with a whisk. Allow it to return to a boil…
as it heats it will thicken into a nice smooth sauce of wonder and bliss…here comes your kiss. 🙂
13. Remove it from the heat, give it a taste and add a bit of salt and pepper to you liking.
14. Serve it over the crispy chicken and enjoy!
Pinterest friendly image below…
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 sleeves ritz crackers
- 5-8 Tb olive oil
- 4 Tb butter
- 1 C chicken broth
- 1 C half and half + 2 Tb, divided
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 2 Tb cornstarch
- salt and pepper
Instructions
1. Cut your chicken up into chunks with some kitchen scissors. I usually cut each breast into thirds or sometimes fourths depending on the size of the breast.
2. Place your chicken into a gallon sized ziploc bag and seal the bag. Pound the chicken flat with a meat mallet.
3. Grind the Ritz Crackers into crumbs in a small food processor. Place them in a shallow pan, I find a loaf pan to work best for this step.
4. Press each chicken piece into the crumbs, being sure to coat both sides generously. Place each coated chicken piece on a plate.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Once it is good and hot, pour about 5 tablespoons Olive Oil into your pan.
6. Let your oil heat up just for 30 seconds or so, and then put the chicken carefully in the pan. Don't crowd it now. You'll need to cook the chicken in two batches.
7. Let the chicken cook until it's nice and golden brown on the bottom, should take about 3-4 minutes. Turn each piece with a fork and allow it to cook on the other side. The chicken is done when it's no longer pink inside.
8. Remove the chicken to a separate plate and cook your second batch of chicken, adding another few tablespoons of oil to the pan before you add the chicken.
9. Once you have cooked all of the chicken you'll have some beautiful crispy treasures left in the pan. Add 4 tablespoons of butter and 1 cup chicken broth to the pan allowing the butter to melt. Whisk the mixture around a bit, scraping the bottom of the pan to break the crispy pieces loose.
10. Add 1 cup half and half and 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme. Whisk it around to incorporate and allow it to come to a boil.
11. Into a small bowl pour 2 tablespoons half and half and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Stir it around until smooth.
12. Pour the cornstarch mixture into your pan and stir it with a whisk. Allow it to return to a boil as it heats it will thicken into a nice smooth sauce of wonder and bliss.
13. Remove it from the heat, give it a taste and add a bit of salt and pepper to you liking.
14. Serve it over the crispy chicken and enjoy!
14. Serve it over the crispy chicken and enjoy!
Recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up!
Found your blog from pinterest… We tried the Crispy Cheddar Chicken for tea tonight, and this looks like another one I'd love to try, but being in Australia, some of your ingredients are American names/brands… so what is half and half? And from another recipe I'd like to try, what is crescent pastry?
Cheers
Jodi 🙂
Hi Jodi,
How nice to hear from someone so far away. 🙂 Half and Half is just a dairy product consisting of half cream and half whole milk. It's a way to lighten up the recipe instead of using all cream. Crescent Pastry is a product made by Pillsbury that is a crescent roll dough. Not sure if they have that in Australia, or what you could use as a substitute. I suppose you could make your own crescent roll dough, but I think that's pretty involved and tricky.
Hope this helps, Jodie.
Have a good one!
~Jamie
Thanks for replying Jamie
Had a good look through our shops and couldnt find a crescent/croissant style pastry. Do you think a butter puff would work ok?
Jodi 🙂
Butter puff pastry would be fine Jodi!
Caz
(Also from Australia)
Hi Jodi,
Unfortunately, I don't know what butter puff is. However, it may be as close as you are going to get. Let me know if you try and and how it works out. Good luck!
~Jamie
I was just about to ask what “half and half” was and thought…. read the comments… so glad I did 🙂 going to try this one out later this week! Thanks caz (also from Australia)
Made this tonight and it was amazing. So simple and it came together nice and quick. The family LOVED it. Said it's definitely a keeper. Thanks so much.
Someone posted a link to this recipe in response to Bargains to Bounty’s Facebook post about favorite recipes using boneless skinless chicken breast (https://ow.ly/dMdCH). I can’t wait to try this out. It looks so good, and easy to make!
I made this recipe for my husband last week and we both loved it! We also love the crispy cheddar chicken and the crispy chicken with Italian sauce. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes! You rock!
Hi Jaime! I’m blogging all about this chicken tomorrow, and I wanted to say thank you for giving my a truly nostalgic meal. You are one of my favorite food bloggers. I heart your recipes!
Hey Jamie-
I have been loyally following your blog now for the last 2 months or so and I love everything I’ve tried. However…you use a lot of Thyme and as much as I LOVE thyme…my husband is getting tired of it. Is there a good subsititute that will still give it a good flavor?
This was SO good last night! But, I made way too much. Any ideas on how I can rework this into another recipe? The family isn’t too keen on leftovers of any kind. I know, they can’t just go hungry right? But, I don’t want to waste this yummy chicken.
Hi Hayley,
So glad you liked the chicken! As a leftover option you could pop it in the oven to let it reheat, then slice it into strips and put it a nice crisp green salad with croutons and ranch dressing. Good luck!
~Jamie
Hayley, my son doesn’t do the gravy over his chicken so it’s always on the side. I heat the chicken in the oven and then slice it and make chicken tacos. My son loves them and we put lettuce, cheese, ranch and sour cream on them. He is super picky on what he eats, but he likes both these dishes.