Wow. What a great dish! Of course, with a name like “saucy garlic chicken” you can’t really go wrong. Before making this dish, I had never made a pasta dish where the sauce was baked without the pasta in it. I prefer it this way actually. The pasta was perfectly al dente and that’s because I didn’t have to mess around with my boiled pasta time to account for baking in the oven. One less thing to think about if you ask me. 🙂
I don’t like to exaggerate (well…maybe) but this sauce was pretty incredible. The recipe called for 4 whole bulbs of garlic, but I had just bought a huge jar of peeled whole garlic cloves so I used 40 of those instead. I guessed that each bulb has about 10 cloves of garlic. It sounds totally excessive but goodness was it delicious. To save yourself some time, roast the garlic ahead of time, this can be done a few days ahead or even the night before.
I also added sun-dried tomatoes to the recipe because I have a huge jar of those I needed to use up as well.
A big thanks to A Taste of Home Cooking for putting this recipe on my radar!

*A taste of home cooking said that she would try the chicken in bite sized pieces next time she makes it and I totally thought the same thing when I saw the recipe. Plus, hubby likes it that way, it’s less work to eat.

Saucy Garlic Chicken
Taste of Home Magazine

4 whole garlic bulbs (or 40 cloves)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
9 oz fresh baby spinach ( I used a 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach defrosted and drained)
4 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper, divided
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves – cut into bite sized pieces
6 tablespoons butter, cubed
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups 2% milk
2 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Hot cooked pasta
Chopped tomato and minced fresh parsley, optional

Remove papery outer skin from garlic (do not peel or separate cloves). Cut tops off of garlic bulbs; brush bulbs with 1 tablespoon oil. Wrap each bulb in heavy-duty foil.
**If you are using individual cloves, place on a foil sheet, cover with oil, pinch foil up on sides and across the top to seal shut. Bake at 425° for 30-35 minutes or until softened. Cool for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place spinach in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Top spinach with sun-dried tomatoes.

In a large skillet, saute chicken with remaining oil; place over spinach.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in 2 cups cheese, nutmeg and remaining salt and pepper. Transfer to a blender; squeeze softened garlic into blender (or if you used individual cloves, just toss them in, don’t forget the oil that is flavor!) Cover and process until smooth. Pour mixture over chicken.

Cover and bake for 30-35 minutes until sauce is bubbly. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer. Serve with pasta. Sprinkle with tomato and parsley if desired.