This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
This Chicken in Cream Sauce looks fancy, but is ridiculously easy to make. Impress your guests with this delicious meal!
Featured with this recipe
Chicken takes on a whole new flavor when topped with this creamy basil sauce. Whenever we invite company over for dinner for the first time, this recipe is right at the top of the “impress our guests” list! Tender boneless, skinless chicken breasts are pan crusted with Italian bread crumbs and browned to perfection. The basil cream sauce includes tons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with pasta or rice and a green salad or broccoli, and you have a dinner your guests will be talking about for a long time!
Ingredients
- Milk
- Italian breadcrumbs – or Panko breadcrumbs mixed with Italian seasoning
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Chicken breasts
- Butter
- Chicken broth
- Whipping cream
- Dried basil
- Salt and pepper
Method
This chicken recipe sounds fancy, and TASTES fancy, but it truly is easy to make. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be enjoying a 5-star meal in no time!
- First, prepare your chicken. Cut the chicken breasts in half and pound them out to be about ½ inch thick.
- Next, put the milk in one bowl, and the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in another bowl. It works best if both bowls are shallow and wide.
- Then, dip each chicken breast in milk and coat with breadcrumbs and cheese mixture. Place them on a plate or baking sheet until ready to cook. This step creates the “Parmesan Crusted” part of your chicken.
- At this point I usually set my oven to warm the chicken while I make the sauce.
- Next, heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. When it is melted and bubbly, add the chicken. Don’t crowd the pan. You may have to do multiple batches to get all the chicken cooked. Cook the chicken on both sides until golden brown and the internal temperature of the chicken reaches at least 165 degrees.
- After all of the chicken is cooked and warming in the oven, start your sauce. Pour the chicken broth into the hot pan and scrape all the cooked bits off the bottom of the pan. Then, add cream, basil, salt, and pepper.
- Once the cream is hot, add grated Parmesan cheese. Then, stir until the cheese is melted.
- Finally, simmer the sauce until it reaches your desired consistency. I like my sauce a little thicker so I cook it longer.
- Enjoy your chicken and cream sauce over rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes.
Tips for Crispy Chicken
- Thinner chicken breasts work best for this recipe. I always pound my chicken to about a quarter to a half inch thick. This ensures even cooking throughout without burning the outside crust.
- You can also fry up your chicken in a little extra virgin olive oil.
- After removing the chicken from the pan when you de-glaze your pan, make sure to scrape up all the bits cooked onto the pan. You want all those bits of browned crust for your sauce. YUM!
- You can use fresh or dried basil in the sauce, either will work.
- If you can, try to use freshly grated Parmesan cheese in the sauce. It melts beautifully and gives the sauce a nutty, salty flavor that pairs perfectly with the chicken.
Frequently Asked Questions
If (and that’s a big IF) we have leftovers of this recipe, I like to air fry the leftovers or bake them in the oven. If you put the chicken in the microwave, it will turn out soggy. If air frying, spray the air fryer basket and the tops of the chicken breasts with a little bit of cooking spray. Make sure to store (in an airtight container in the fridge) and reheat the chicken and sauce separately. This will also help keep that crispy golden crust.
The two tricks to getting breading to stick to chicken are: 1) getting rid of excess moisture on the chicken, and 2) controlling the heat of your pan. Before dipping chicken in the milk and bread crumbs, make sure to pat off any excess moisture on the chicken. The dryer the chicken is to start with, the better the crust will stick. Next, add the breaded chicken to a HOT pan. This will help the bread crumbs stay on and it will ensure a crispy outside. Additionally, DO NOT move the chicken around the pan. Keep it in one spot until you are ready to flip.
What to Serve with this Recipe
A simple green salad and bread is delightful with this recipe, but try a few of our favorite side dishes for a show-stopping meal.
- Best Oven Roasted Asparagus
- Oven Roasted Green Beans
- Parmesan Garlic Grilled Potatoes
- Perfect Mashed Potatoes
- Oven Roasted Vegetables
Read More: 35+ Quick and Easy To Follow Dinner Ideas Your Family Will Surely Love
More Recipes to Impress Your Dinner Guests
You can never go wrong with a good chicken dinner. From a busy weeknight to a weekend get together with friends or family, try our tried true Ten Best Chicken Recipes of 2019 or our BEST Chicken Breast Recipes for ANY Night of the Week! After you’ve tried this Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe, here are a few more meals that are guaranteed to impress your guests:
Chicken in Cream Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup Italian bread crumbs, or Panko bread crumbs mixed with Italian seasoning
- 1 1/4 cups grated parmesan cheese divided
- 4 chicken breasts cut into halves (8 pieces total) and pounded to ½ inch thick
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place milk in one bowl and bread crumbs and ¼ cup parmesan cheese in a separate shallow bowl.
- Dip chicken in milk, then coat with crumbs.
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter. When butter is completely melted and hot, add the chicken. Cook chicken in butter until browned on both sides and the internal temperature reaches at least 165 degrees. Remove chicken from skillet and keep in a 9×13 pan in the oven on warm.
- Add chicken broth to skillet and stir to loosen up browned bits from pan. Stir in cream, basil, and salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and whisk in remaining parmesan cheese.
- When the sauce has thickened to your desired consistency, pour sauce over the chicken and serve.
Just made this tonight and it was fabulous!!!! I will definitely be making it again and again and again!! Served it with brown rice and it was great! The sauce on the rice kicked it up a couple of notches. I was wishing the sauce was a little thicker but it doesn’t matter – it’s awesome!!! Thanks so much! Love it!!
We are so glad you love this recipe! It is one of our all-time favorites!! Thank you so much for the 5-star rating! If you want the sauce to be thicker, you could simmer it for a bit longer or add more cheese to thicken!
This was REALLY good. The sauce was delicious, although a little on the thin side. It went a long way. We also used it as a dip for jo-jos and the day after, tossed the rest with some pasta. Thanks!
Oh man, I LOVE the idea of using the sauce for JoJos! YUUUMMM! Thanks for the comment! 😀
Thanks for the recipe! Do you use regular a pie and bread crumbs or panko Italian bread crumbs? Thanks!
You can use either. Typically I use regular panko breadcrumbs but Italian would be delcious!
I just LOVE all of your recipes! I haven’t ever tried this one over the 7 years I’ve been stocking your site!! 😛 The sauce in the picture looks a little thin, is that true? If so, have you ever made it thicker? Would adding flour in the beginning be best? How much do you think I would need to make it a thick gravy? Thanks Erica!! Love you girls!
Hi Sarah– Wow– 7 years! You have been following us almost since the beginning! Thank you for being a true, loyal follower! THANK YOU!!! 😀 You rock! We will keep doing our best to bring you yummy recipes for at least another 7 years 😉 Anyway, to answer your question– Yes, you can add a little flour to thicken or if it is too thin for your liking you can mix a little milk with some cornstarch and keep adding to the gravy until it thickens up more. Sometimes it comes out thinner for me, sometimes thicker– you just kind of have to mess with it to get it where you want it. Hope this helps! -Erica
Love this. I have made it a few times for friends and everyone has enjoyed it. Being a basil lover, I added some finely crushed dried basil to the bread crumbs. I also tried it over angel hair pasta that I added fresh chiffonade basil leaves to in the last minute of cooking…yum!
This is one of my very favorite recipes too– great idea adding basil to the breadcrumbs!
This recipe is amazing! The chicken was so delicious. In fact, I made this for my family and they all loved it too. I will definitely make this again. Thank you so much for a great recipe.
I’m so glad you like it! Thank you for sharing your success!
I’m going to make this tonight! I was wanting to make rice with the dish…would the sauce compliment it? It looks absolutely devine, but I’m sick of mashed potatoes right now haha!
Yes, rice would definitely be a great substitute! Let us know how you like it 😀
How many servings does this make? It’s just me and my husband and we’re pretty bad at eating leftovers.
It feeds about 4 to 6 people, if you weren’t wanting leftovers I would definitely half the recipe.
I added a teaspoon of flour to thicken it up. I also added chopped mushrooms to the sauce and boiled it for a few minutes to cook them. I served it with French green beans and some ‘sauce-dippin’ bread.’ Both the chicken and sauce were outstanding! My new boyfriend loved it! The best way to a man’s heart…LOL.
Absolutely! Thank you for the tips and serving suggestions. I’m so glad this recipe was a success.
Do you use the canned grated Parmesan, or do you grate fresh Parmesan?
I use the grated parmesan from the deli section of the grocery store!
I made last night and topped fried chicken with sauce. It was great. Gravy (sauce) over fried chicken is an old Southern tradition and this is a nice alternative to chicken gravy. Next time I will try over boneless-skinless chicken thighs.
I made this for my family and they all loved it! Thanks for the great recipe!
Can’t wait to try the recipe, but can you please clarify if you cook the chicken all the way through in the skillet? The instructions say to just “brown it on both sides”. Thanks!
Yes, the chicken cooks in the skillet and is just kept warm in the oven while you make the sauce. I like to place each chicken breast between two pieces of wax paper and pound with a mallet so the chicken breasts are all about the same thickness before I cook it in the skillet or fry pan. As you brown it on both sides on medium, the chicken will cook thoroughly. Thank you for your question and for visiting our site!
Can I make this with thighs instead? My family doesn’t care for chicken breasts. Obviously I couldn’t pound them though.
We have never tried it with thighs, let us know if you try it and how it turns out!
Made this chicken dish for dinner tonight, it was delicious! The chicken was so tender, my husband LOVED IT! Many thanks!
Oh, my stars. This is as wonderful and delicious as I thought it would be when I read the recipe. Such an elegant, yet easy dish. This is going into the regular dinner rotation.
Yay! So glad you liked it! It is definitely one of my very favorites too!
I made this last night. In lieu of the whipping cream, I used greek yogurt (its pretty much my go-to substitution for any cream of any type) and i thought it was DELICIOUS that way. It probably doesnt have the same flavor as was intended with the original recipe but YUM! Rave reviews! Definitely making this again.
I will have to try that, this is one of my favorites so a lightened up version would be good!
What can I add to regular Panko bread crums to make them “Italian bread crumbs”?
Italian seasoning. 🙂 you can actually find it already mixed. Or sometimes I just add dried basil, oregano, and parsley to taste.
I have a lot of Panko left over & wanted to use it up! Thanks Emily!
This is fantastic. I’ve made it probably three or four times now. I have to admit that adding garlic takes this to an entirely new place! So delicious.
This is my absolute FAVORITE dish! But I need to run 10 miles afterwards or I’ll gain so much weight! Lol I can’t get enough of it!
Could the chicken be baked in stead of fried, making i easier for a company dish.
I’m sure that would be really good!