Directions: |
Directions:Slice chicken breasts in half to create a pocket, do not slice in half all the way through.
Mash garlic cloves into a paste. I just used a garlic press and then mashed them while I mixed in the other ingredients.
Add the olive oil, salt, pepper, and cilantro to this mixture and mix well.
Open the chicken breast and place about 1 tablespoon of garlic puree in the center and spread over the inside.
Close up the breast so the garlic puree is between the two halves. Do this for each of the four breasts.
Place chicken breasts in a ½ gallon zip lock freezer bag. If there is any garlic puree left over, add it on top of the chicken in the bag. Squeeze out as much of the air as possible as you close the bag. Let chicken marinate for at least an hour but longer is better.
Line a 13 x 9 or larger baking dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
I used parchment paper as I don’t want the aluminum to leach into my food.
Heat your over to 325 if you aren’t using convection. I used the convection feature on my oven at 300.
About 45 minutes before you want dinner to be served, heat up a cast iron pan on high heat as you are going to sear the chicken breasts.
After pan is very hot, place coconut oil in pan (it will smoke) and immediately place chicken breasts in the pan to sear. Be sure they do not open up while cooking.
Sear until browned about 30 seconds on each side.
Once they are seared nicely take them out of the pan and place in the baking dish. Bake until the internal temperature of the chicken is just about 155.
This usually takes about 30 – 45 minutes.
Remove chicken to platter and cover with foil to let chicken rest and keep it hot.
While chicken is resting, pour drippings in to small sauce pan, add chicken broth, garlic powder and cilantro.
Heat to boiling, turn down heat to simmer and let broth reduce down to about ½ cup, remove 2 tbsps. and put in small bowl.
Add cornstarch to the 2 tbsp. in the bowl and stir until it is smooth.
Add back to chicken broth and stir until sauce is thickened.
Make sure heat is on low now, add sour cream and ½ cup pecans, stir well making sure the sour cream doesn’t overheat but also there are no cornstarch lumps.
Add salt to taste. You can add pepper if you like as well.
Place chicken breasts on serving plate, top with sauce, then top sauce with remaining toasted pecans. Enjoy!
P.S. The chicken sears better is you take it out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you want to cook it but I didn’t do that. |
This recipe for Pecan Garlic Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce is from