This classic French country chicken dish with yes, 40 cloves of garlic, is perfect for a weeknight dinner or your most elegant dinner party. Paired with budget-friendly chicken thighs, all that garlic mellows into buttery goodness for a dish you’ll fall in love with!
Friends and garlic lovers, if you’ve never made 40 Clove Garlic Chicken before, this is a recipe you’ll want to add to your repertoire!
Whenever I mention this dish to anyone and when they hear the amount of garlic in it, their eyes tend to get big and a look of incredulity comes over their faces. I understand their reaction because I did the same thing the first time I heard the name of the dish.
I had to try it myself, and I’ve been smitten with this dish ever since! Dark meat chicken, soft, mellow garlic, wine, herbs, a buttery finish and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes for a touch of heat combine for an easy, yet elegant dish!
What is a clove of garlic?
Fresh garlic is generally sold in bulb-like heads, that are covered in whiteish or sometimes purple papery skin. When the outer papery layer is removed, you’ll see that one bulb/head is made up of many individual cloves/lobes that are also covered in papery skin.
How to make 40 Clove Garlic Chicken:
- Start with three to four large heads of fresh garlic. Make sure the garlic feels firm and solid with dry skins. There shouldn’t be any green sprouts coming from the top.
- Remove as much of the papery skin as possible from 40 cloves. And if you use more than 40 cloves of garlic, I won’t tell anyone!
- Coat chicken thighs with seasoned all-purpose flour.
- Heat olive oil in a heavy pan and brown the chicken thighs well on both sides.
- Add white wine to deglaze the pan, toss in the garlic cloves along with fresh rosemary, thyme and bay leaves.
- Add chicken broth and simmer covered until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the garlic cloves are meltingly tender on the inside.
- Swirl in a little butter and crushed red pepper flakes for a touch of heat…
- And you have Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, one of the most lovely French-inspired chicken dishes of all time!
- Serve the 40 Clove Garlic Chicken with crusty bread for soaking up the amazing juices and for spreading the mellow, melty garlic onto.
What to serve on the side:
- Duck Fat and Rosemary Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Sausage
- Rosemary Garlic Crushed Potatoes with Lemon – Chive Aioli
- French Lentil Salad
- Brussels Sprouts Gratin with Brie and Bacon
- Cauliflower and White Bean Puree
- Roasted Cabbage Steaks with Mustard Vinaigrette
- Roasted Asparagus with Goat Cheese and Walnut Gremolata
- Asparagus Cordon Bleu
For more easy and delicious chicken recipes, be sure to try my:
- Chicken with Romesco Sauce and Saffron Cauliflower Rice
- Korean Braised Chicken Thighs
- Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Butternut Squash, Chickpeas and Olives
- Nashville Style Hot Fried Chicken
- Chicken Pinot Noir with Wild Mushrooms and Fresh Basil
- Pesto and Goat Cheese-Stuffed Chicken with Roma Tomatoes
- Curry Braised Chicken Thighs
- Southwestern Chicken Skillet
- Chicken Bouillabaisse
40 Clove Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste
- 4 chicken thighs - on the bone with the skin
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 40 large cloves garlic - left unpeeled
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary - leaves only, finely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- Chopped fresh parsley - for garnish
- Crusty French bread
Instructions
- Generously season the flour with salt and black pepper.
- Dredge both sides of the chicken thighs in the flour.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin side down first and brown well. Turn the chicken over and brown on the other side.
- Turn the chicken back to skin side up. Remove from heat.
- Add the wine then return to the heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the wine is reduced by half.
- Add the chicken broth and garlic and bring the liquid back to a boil. Add the thyme, rosemary and bay leaves.
- Reduce heat to a simmer, cover the skillet and cook for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked through to 165 degrees in the center and the garlic is tender.
- Stir in the butter and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Remove the bay leaf and sprinkle chicken with parsley.
- Squeeze the garlic out of the cloves to enjoy, preferably onto crusty French bread.
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you’re using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Annette McKenna says
Sounds absolutely delicious. My husband adores garlic and would probably eat the four thighs himself. For my family of 5 I would need to make at least 10 pieces of chicken. How do I adjust the garlic? Would I double, triple the ingredients?
Carol says
Hi, Annette, Thanks so much for your question! As you saw, this is a smaller scale recipe (serves 2-3). Generally, the 40 cloves of garlic are for 6-8 servings but we absolutely love garlic, too.
Sometimes one thigh is enough per person, others two. I would suggest doubling everything: Wine, broth, etc. Add as much garlic as you like. To make it easier on yourself, perhaps roast some whole heads of garlic on the side. Here’s a link on how to do that: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-roast-garlic-in-the-oven-5341 Thanks again, hope everyone enjoys and boy, your house is going to smell amazing!!!!
Cindy says
What a stunning chicken dish. You had me at garlic! I can’t wait to make this!
Carol says
Hi, Cindy, Thanks so very much and hope you enjoy!