Sour Cream Chicken is an easy delicious dinner that your family will love. A simple creamy marinade makes for moist chicken – everyone will want seconds!
This very simple chicken recipes comes to you courtesy of my grandmother’s church lady friends. It has all the makings of an old school recipe, and I think you are going to love it.
Is there anything better than easy comfort food?
The chicken in this recipe is first marinated in a sour cream based marinade and then it is lightly breaded and baked with butter on top. While the pictures make it seem so, it doesn’t crisp up. Rather, it is delicious and moist and full of perfect simple flavors.
This is my favorite recipe for chicken that’s just right for a family meal, company and equally as luscious cold! Trust me a rating lower than 5 is just wrong in my opinion. This recipe rocks.
How to Make Sour Cream Chicken
- Cut Chicken Cutlets: The original recipe didn’t call for this, but as chicken breasts come so large now, you will want to cut the chicken into cutlets. You can see how to do that in my post about Chicken Piccata.
- Marinate the Chicken: As mentioned, the chicken is marinated in a creamy marinade overnight. With just a few minutes of prep, dinner is almost done when you walk in the door the next day.
- Bread the Chicken: The sour cream covered chicken gets a light toss in bread crumbs.
- Bake: Finally the chicken gets a drizzle of butter and then is baked.
Sour Cream Marinade
The marinade for this recipe is very simple, and I bet you have most of it in your refrigerator and pantry already.
- Sour Cream: Since this recipe is baked, do not use low fat.
- Lemon Juice
- Garlic
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Salt
- Paprika
- Cayenne Pepper
- Celery Salt
Marinating Chicken
I love marinating chicken. Chicken is like a blank canvas that can easily take on flavors, and marinating is the perfect way to do that.
I recommend marinating for at least 2 hours, but no more than 24 hours. The bottom of that time range gives the chicken great flavor. Past the end of that range and your chicken will start to break down too much.
FAQ
Yes! If you can find gluten free bread crumbs, then the rest of the recipe will be good to go.
I find that sour cream, when put to heat, can separate or curdle if it isn’t full fat. Since it is the foundation of the marinade, it’s best to stick to full fat.
How to Serve Sour Cream Chicken
If you are looking for some side dishes to go with this great and easy recipe, here are a few of our favorites:
Sour Cream Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cut to be 1/2 inch thick
- 1 cup sour cream (I do not recommend using low fat)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup butter melted
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breasts in half. Use a very sharp knife to cut them in half, butterfly them compltely open, and make two chicken cutlets – like very thin chicken breasts.
- In a reusable and sealable container, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, and celery salt.
- Pat chicken dry. Add to the sour cream mixture, turning it several times to make sure it is fully coated. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and coat a 9 by 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Gently remove the chicken from the sour cream mixture. Roll in the bread crumbs and place in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with each piece of chicken.
- Pour the butter over the chicken and bake, covered, for 30 minutes or until the chicken registers 165 degrees with an instant read thermometer.
Cat says
Hi Lisa,
I see this is covered on bake. Won’t that steam the chicken and make it soggy? Yours looks crispy.
It isn’t crisp the way that fried chicken is crisp. The breading on the outside does get a tiny bit crisp even with it covered, but again, not like fried chicken.
Lesley says
I do something very similar to this but instead of breadcrumbs I crushed up Ritz garlic butter crackers for the breading. Takes it to a whole new level!
I just wanted to add that I absolutely love all of your recipes🙂
I’m so glad that you are enjoying my recipes, Lesley!
Carol says
What do you do with the butter in the recipe .
You pour it over just before backing, in step 6.
Ann says
OK….I used to cook this all the time…uncovered! I tried it covered tonight, second guessing myself, and it’s a soggy mess. It’s under the broiler now trying to salvage it.
Ann, I’m sorry that this didn’t work out the way you were anticipating. We love the recipe as written and we are pretty clear in the post that it doesn’t crisp up like fried chicken.
Cat says
Hi Lisa,
Can we use full fat plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream? Thanks.
Hi Cat! I’m sorry, I haven’t tested this recipe with Greek yogurt. You would need to try it to see if it works. Sometimes that swap works seamlessly and in other recipes it doesn’t, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you without testing it first myself.
John Pereira says
Lisa
I love your recipes I’m going to try
This one tonight
Thank you so much
You are welcome!
Denise says
Hi Lisa, can celery seed be used instead of celery salt? Didn’t make yet but rated 5star as ALL your recipes are great as usual.
Stacey Thornton says
If I’m baking this Sour Cream Chicken, covered, will it be crispy or should I uncover for a bit?
Thank you.
Judy Whiting says
I made this delicious dish a few days ago and it came out perfect. For the bread crumbs I used the garlic and herb. I will for sure make this again.
I’m so glad you liked it Judy!
Susan Schloss says
Well, I had about 1 1/2 lbs. of chicken. I only had a little sour cream, so I added 1/3 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup Ranch dressing, and 1/3 cup Mayo. I cut the chicken in half both length wise and crosswise. Added 1/2 package of Lipton Soup Mix, paprika, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic. Pounded the chicken on both sides after covering with plastic wrap. Patted each side of each piece of chicken dry with a paper towel. Put the sour cream mixture in the largest plastic container I have. Put down a few pieces of chicken at a time, coating both sides with the creamy mixture. Covered and refrigerated for 2 hours. Then I will add the breadcrumbs to coat and bake until done. Will let you know how it came out, and will send a photo!