It’s a well known fact that bite-sized food just tastes better and these garlic chicken bites are no exception! Served skillet style with peppers, onions and mushrooms, this easy 20-minute meal is big on flavor with little effort required.
I don’t often buy chicken breasts. If I do, 9 times out of 10, they’ll be cut up into little bites (like this honey garlic slow cooker chicken) because it just makes the meal more fun.
Chicken breasts can also be easily dried out during cooking since they’re so lean, unless you’re dumping a jar of salsa on top and covering them in cheese like our baked salsa chicken. I find cutting them into bite-sized pieces to be key to avoiding this.
This garlic chicken bite skillet is packed with tender, juicy pieces of chicken and rounded out with peppers, onions and mushrooms for a complete meal.
It’s ready in 20 minutes, uses just one pan and can be customized to any vegetable you have on hand and served either as is or over rice.
I love this meal for easy weeknight dinners. Without fail, there’s always at least one day a week where the thought of dirtying more than one pan is just too much by the time dinner rolls around. These chicken bites are the answer to those frazzled nights!
INGREDIENTS TO MAKE THIS SKILLET CHICKEN BITE RECIPE
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt & pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
- butter or ghee
- mushrooms (white button or baby portobello work well for this recipe)
- red bell pepper (or another color pepper)
- onion
- garlic (since the garlic is the main flavor component here, use fresh cloves!)
- smoked paprika
- Worcestershire sauce
- fresh thyme (swap out dried thyme if you don’t have any fresh sprigs on hand)
- fresh parsley
The full ingredient list with amounts is at the bottom of the post in the recipe card if you scroll down.
CUTTING THE CHICKEN INTO BITES OR CUBES
A simple tip for making it much easier and less messy to cut chicken is to do so while it’s slightly frozen.
This isn’t necessary, obviously, but it really makes a big difference in prepping chicken! You can do this with any boneless cut.
It not only cuts down on the mess and makes things easier but also safer to avoid accidentally cutting your fingers in the process.
HOW TO COOK THE CHICKEN BITES
Place a large skillet with the olive oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, season the cubed chicken bites in a bowl with salt and pepper. Once hot, add the chicken to the skillet and lightly brown on all sides.
My Pro Tip
Recipe Tip
Add a coating of arrowroot or tapioca starch to the chicken bites before browning for a crispy coating on the outside. Our jalapeño chicken recipe includes this and results in perfect crispy edges!
Push the browned chicken to one side of the pan and add the butter or ghee to the other to melt.
Add the mushrooms, peppers, onions, garlic, thyme, parsley and smoked paprika to the empty side of the pan and cook until the vegetables are softened and tender, about 5 minutes.
Add in the Worcestershire sauce and stir everything together until combined.
Season to taste with more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve and enjoy this easy 20 minute chicken skillet dinner!
CAN I USE CHICKEN THIGHS?
You can definitely swap out boneless skinless chicken thighs in this recipe. In fact, chicken thighs are my preference as far as flavor goes.
You’ll want to trim any excess fat off with kitchen shears to keep the chicken bites mostly meat. I make chicken saag this way and the taste can’t be beat.
I would also suggest cooking the thighs a minute or two longer when browning to make sure they’re fully cooked through.
HOW TO SERVE GARLIC CHICKEN BITES
Since these chicken breast bites are accompanied by a medley of vegetables, it’s certainly a complete meal on its own. Often, chicken bite recipes are just for the chicken alone which then require you to figure out a carb and vegetable to go with them. Not necessary here!
If you want a more filling option, serve over rice or another cooked grain of your choice. Pasta or couscous would work well too.
If I’m not doing rice, I also love this chicken skillet recipe served over mashed potatoes or another mashed vegetable like rutabaga or yuca.
Cauliflower rice is always a great option for the lower-carb crowd.
CAN I USE OTHER VEGETABLES?
Of course! Use whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand.
Broccoli, zucchini, carrots and cauliflower are all good vegetable choices that would work well with the flavors in this skillet recipe.
Even frozen veggies will work fine, just cook them a minute or two less to avoid getting soggy.
HOW TO STORE THIS EASY CHICKEN SKILLET RECIPE
The chicken bite skillet will store well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
You can also freeze this dish in for up to a month if desired.
MORE CHICKEN BITE RECIPES TO TRY
Creamy Turmeric Chicken Skillet
Thai Basil Cashew Chicken Skillet
Spicy Mango Chicken Skillet
Honey Orange Sesame Chicken
Garlic Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1 inch cubes
- Sea salt, to taste
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter or ghee
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (white button or baby portobello)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Place chicken in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Pour olive oil into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken bites to the pan and lightly brown on all sides. Push chicken bites to the side of the skillet then add the butter or ghee to the pan to melt.
- Add mushrooms, bell pepper, thyme, parsley, onion, garlic and smoked paprika to the empty side of the skillet. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add Worcestershire sauce and stir everything together. Adjust salt and pepper to your taste.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
We are always looking for new ways to use chicken and this looks amazing.
Omg….how delicious this looks! Love the flavours and recipe looks easy to make too.
What a fast and delicious meal! I was super happy when I brought out my cast iron to make it. Thank you for the awesome recipe!
Made it for the frist time yesterday for dinner to serve with stir-fried noodles, and we absolutely loved it! Great flavours, lots of garlic and just sooo incredibly easy to make! Thanks for the recipe :)
Sometimes big chunks of chicken is too much for me, so it was great to find a bite-sized recipe. I served it on rice as you suggested, and the whole family loved it.
Thanks for the tip about adding a coating of arrowroot to the chicken. It turned out great. I will be using that trick again!
I loved it! The mushroom was a super good idea, it brought the whole chicken skillet on a new level. Recommended!!!
This was so delicious and really easy to make! I added some zucchini and cooked in my cast iron. Will definitely make this again.
This was so delicious and really easy to make! I added some zucchini and cooked in my cast iron. Will definitely make this again.
I made this with chicken thighs, cooked it a couple of minutes longer as per your suggestion, and enjoyed every bite of this paired with cauliflower rice!