Chicken With Garlic Sauce (Georgian-Inspired)

In this aromatic and flavourful dish, pan-fried chicken is slathered with cilantro garlic sauce made with almonds and almond milk. It’s a delicious dairy-free sauce that you will want to put on everything!. This chicken in garlic sauce is inspired by the famous Georgian chkmeruli recipe. This recipe post has recently been updated.

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Chicken In Garlic Cilantro Sauce

I was inspired to create this recipe after visiting Ukraine a few years back. Besides family catch-ups and seeing my childhood friends, I was also very excited to eat some of my favourite Ukrainian dishes. But, to my surprise, Ukrainian cuisine didn’t grab my attention while I was there.

It seems that in the last few years, Ukrainians have become obsessed with Georgian food. We have always been exposed to some of the dishes from Georgia as it was part of the Soviet Union, but it seems that right now Georgian cuisine is seriously en vogue and I fell in love with it.

Georgian food is full of fresh salads, vegetable dishes, grilled meats and hearty stews. They love garlic, and spices, nuts and fresh herbs like parsley and coriander are used extensively in the recipes.

I tried (and loved) many new dishes on this visit but one captivated me the most: the famous Georgian garlic chicken, also known as chkemruli or shkmeruli. I read that the name comes from a village where the recipe originated. It consists of perfectly roasted or fried chicken smothered in a creamy garlic sauce.

While the authentic recipe uses dairy cream/milk for the sauce, I wanted to create a dairy-free, paleo-friendly version for the blog. I used nuts and nut milk to create the creamy sauce and the final dish turned out as well as I had hoped. It got thumbs up from my dinner guests, and I hope you also get to try it.

If you like this recipe, make sure to check out my Georgian salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and walnut garlic dressing.

How To Make Georgian Chicken In Garlic Sauce

Let’s go over what you need and how to make it. You can also skip straight to the recipe card below with full details and nutritional info.

Pan-Fry & Bake The Chicken

You can use any part of the chicken for this dish. I found that the traditional recipe often calls for the whole chicken, which is then cut up into pieces and pan-fried/roasted, but I opted for a few chicken legs (with the thigh on) and wings.

You could do this with chicken thighs (ideally with the skin on) or even the breast meat. Turkey would also work well. The total amount of chicken used was about 1-1.2 kg (2.5 lb).

Step 1. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a little bit of coconut or olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the chicken pieces, skin side down. Cook for 7-8 minutes on each side, until golden and crispy.

Step 2. At the same time (or 10 minutes later), preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F. While the chicken is pan-frying, prepare the sauce (see below).

Step 3. Transfer pan-fried chicken to a large baking dish. Reserve the cooking fat/juices from the chicken in the pan. Place the baking dish with the chicken in the hot oven (middle shelf) and roast for an additional 15 minutes. Then turn off the oven and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes.

Garlic Cilantro Sauce (Dairy-Free)

For the sauce, I am using almonds and almond milk but you could try cashews or other white nuts, and different dairy-free milk. You can make this sauce without the use of fresh coriander as it’s not always used but something I think works really well.

Ideally, you will need a food processor or a blender to puree the nuts and the milk together before cooking the sauce with the garlic.

Step 1. Add the almond milk, nuts and fresh coriander to a blender or a food processor and puree until smooth and thick. Set aside.

Step 2. Add the garlic, coriander seed powder, turmeric and cumin to the pan with the chicken fat/juices and place over medium heat. Stir through for a minute or two, until the garlic gets a little golden, and then pour in the blended almond milk mixture.

Stir the sauce in the pan, over medium heat, incorporating all the spices, garlic and almond mix into a nice, thick sauce. Add about ½ teaspoon of salt and juice of 1/2 lemon, plus a pinch of pepper. Stir for another 30 seconds to a minute, and set aside.

Step 3. Pour the garlic sauce all over the finished chicken while still in the baking dish so that you can incorporate all the cooking chicken juice from the bottom when serving. Top with chopped coriander over the top.

What To Serve With Georgian Garlic Chicken

You can serve this chicken as is with the sauce and pair it with cooked vegetables or a salad. You can try my Georgian salad to stay in the theme or make a simple garden side salad.

For a more substantial side, serve this chicken with rice, cauliflower rice, mashed or baked potatoes, quinoa, pasta noodles or even some simple bread rolls or toasted sourdough to soak up that wonderful garlic cilantro sauce.

Full Recipe 

Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.

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Want more interesting chicken recipes? Try my Paleo Bang Bang Chicken, Spicy Korean Chilli Chicken or Sticky Marmalade Chicken.