Carrabbas Chicken Bryan is one of my favorite chicken dishes that you can find in a restaurant. I love the chicken drenched in a lemon-basil wine sauce with a piece of tangy goat cheese on top. I love to order this dish with mashed potatoes because to miss any of this sauce is well something that is almost criminal.
Carrabbas – home of An Open Kitchen
What’s not to love about Carrabba’s Italian Grill? They are one of the few restaurants where you can enjoy an open kitchen experience. You can order from Carrabba’s menu, see how your food is cooked, and you get to inhale the tempting aroma of your order while watching your meal being prepared. This makes Carrabba’s one of my favorite places to go for dinner.
Why is the Chicken with the Bryan Topping so Delicious?
You might wonder what makes the Chicken Bryan so tasty. The secret lies in the many layers of flavors. One of the most notable characteristics is goat cheese which accentuates the whole dish. Combined with fresh basil and sun-dried tomato slices, this dish tastes unbelievably delicious.
- Variations – This lemon butter sauce for chicken will also go great over some pasta. And, I think this recipe would be pretty much the same for the Carrabba’s Filet Bryan (minus pounding on the beef) if you want to try that.
Make Carrabba’s Chicken Bryan at home
You don’t have to go out to dinner to have something that tastes this incredible. You can make my Carrabba’s Chicken Bryan recipe at home. Best of all you can put this chicken recipe together in about 30 minutes.
While this recipe may take an extra step or two, I think you will find that it’s well worth it to make your dinner extra special.
While you have the chicken cooking you may want to roast some vegetables in the oven, or perhaps some tasty mashed potatoes would go well with this dish. Make it when you want or for someone’s special birthday dinner.
Love Carrabbas? Check out these copycat recipes
- Carrabbas Soups – Sausage Lentil
- Mussels Bianca
- Carrabba’s Dipping Sauce
More Italian Food Recipes
- Homemade Italian Sausage Recipe
- Canning Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
- Recipe for Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
- Crab Fettuccine Alfredo
- Shrimp Pasta with White Wine Sauce
- Red Lobster’s Shrimp Scampi Recipe
- Chicken Romano Pasta Recipe
- Pasta with Artichoke Hears and Capers
- How to Make Alfredo Sauce Creamy
- Uno’s Pizza
Be sure to check out more of my restaurant copycat recipes and easy homemade Italian food.
Carrabbas Chicken Bryan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts 4 portions
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablepoons olive oil
- 8 ounces goat cheese
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped white onions
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons basil, sliced thin
- 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes
Instructions
Chicken Preparation
- Prepare chicken by wrapping in plastic wrap and pounding out until thin. Remove chicken from plastic wrap and pat dry with a paper towel. Season chicken with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil.
- Cook chicken on a grill until it is done - it should take 3 to 4 minutes on each side. When chicken is done, place chicken on a plate, and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Slice the goat cheese into four slices and shape the cheese into disks, one for each piece of chicken.
Sauce Preparation
- Sauté the onions and garlic in 2 tablespoons of butter until they are fragrant and the onions are translucent. Add wine and lemon juice to pan and turn down the heat tp a simmer. Stir gently until it has reduced by half. When the wine has been reduced by half, add 3 tablespoons of cold butter and whisk until the butter has melted completely.
- Turn off the burner, add remaining butter and whisk in. The sauce should be getting thick now. Pour sauce through a strainer to strain out the onions and garlic. Then return the sauce to the warm pan and stir in half of the basil. Add sun-dried tomatoes. (
Assembly of the final dish
- Place each chicken breast on to a plate. Place a piece of goat cheese on the chicken and then spoon sauce over the chicken. Top each chicken breast with the remaining basil.
Adam
At Carrabba’s we don’t strain out the onions and garlic. Also add salt and white pepper to the onion and wine mixture. Last tip that everyone missed in their copy cat recipe is heavy whipping cream. Once the onions, garlic, white wine and lemon juice have reduced to an oatmeal like consistency. You want to had heavy whipping cream. Stir that in and then add your cold butter slowly. Remember this sauce is very fragile as a leftover and will break in a heartbeat if you reheat to fast.
Judy J
I made the sauce ahead of time and it was not good and separated. The tomatoes got leathery.
Stephanie Manley
When making a butter wine sauce, the emulsion can break if heated too quickly. If the butter is overheated or the sauce is boiled, the fat molecules in the butter can separate from the liquid, causing the sauce to break.
To prevent a butter wine sauce from breaking, it’s essential to heat the ingredients slowly and stir constantly. It’s also a good idea to remove the pan from the heat periodically to prevent the sauce from getting too hot. If the sauce does break, you can try to save it by whisking in a small amount of cold butter or cream, which can help to re-emulsify the sauce.
Hef
I followed recipe, sauce never thickened after adding the butter. I hated throwing away the garlics and onions
Stephanie Manley
You most likely needed to turn up the heat a bit more to help the sauce thicken.
Adam
Do not strain the onions and garlic out. Carrabba’s leaves them in. Add a few tablespoons of heavy whipping cream just like Carrabba’s does once the onion and wine mixture has reached an oatmeal like consistency. Then reduce heat to low and whisk in cold butter a few knobs at a time until it’s all melted in. Watch your heat.
Megan
DO you think Vermouth would work for the sauce? Also, did you use Sundried tomatoes in oil? Can’t wait to try this as it’s my favorite thing on the menu there.
Stephanie Manley
Vermouth would work well in a pinch.
SA Mattthews
Can you substitute anything else for goat cheese? I never have goat cheese on hand!
Stephanie Manley
I think you could swap it for cream cheese.
Real American
Don’t be obtuse. This is a dish at Carrabba’s, if you don’t like it don’t make it!
SR
No need to be a d*ck. It was a simple question. Grow up.
Susan
This recipe is spot on! Tastes just like Carrabbas Chicken Bryan, which is by far my absolute favorite restaurant dish! My husband loved it, and my 22 year old son said “this is my new favorite thing to put on mashed potatoes” which is a HUGE compliment, lol.
I made it exactly as written, but doubled the sauce, and it was perfect! Thanks so much for posting this!
Britany
Made this recipe for the first time last night and it is phenomenal! The chicken Bryan is my favorite dish at carrabba’s and due to covid we haven’t been in a while. I choose a dry chardonnay with vanilla notes that complemented the cheese perfectly…..the only difference I made in preparing the recipe(other than doubling the amount of sauce I prepared) is when cooking at home, I prefer oven baked proteins. So I prepared the sauce exactly the way the directions say up to the point where you add cold butter. I seasoned a couple beautiful chicken breast and once the sauce hit room temperature I poured it over the chicken and added the tomatoes, basil, and the cold butter and popped it in the oven at 250 for one hour……the flavor of the sauce baked right into the chicken and I’m telling you, it was exactly what I’ve been craving. I will for sure be making this again!
Stephanie
I am so glad this recipe hit the spot! Loved your take on the recipe.
Shaun
So you didn’t pre bake the chicken or did you? I’m thinking I should bake the chicken also.
Alyssa
As someone who used to work at Carrabba’s, I am looking forward to trying this! I love food so much that I was even a taste tester for a few years. Thank you for this recipe, as I think it looks pretty dang close…the pounding chicken is the only thing they didn’t do when I worked there, but I will try it out. While working there, I loved ordering this, but I had them using these toppings with the style of chicken from Pollo Rosa Maria! Mmmmm…
Cassie
This is my go to for many years. I love this recipe and am making some tonight with fresh basil from my garden I grew just for this!! My only variation is white wine vinegar instead of wine because we don’t ever get wine.
Stephanie
Vinegar works because it’s replacing the acid that is in the wine.
Kat
If I made extra sauce, how long do you think it could be kept in the fridge? Do you think the sauce would reheat well?
Stephanie
This sauce may not reheat well, it make break, I would just make the sauce portion of the recipe when you wanted some.
Scott Smith
I made this tonight and it was spot on Carrabba’s. It was rather time consuming to prepare the reduction while putting together a full meal but definitely worth the extra effort. Thank you very much for the recipe.
Stephanie
I am glad you enjoyed it.
Jamie Becker
Wow that was delish!!! I added about a tablespoon of cream because why not!!! Very easy to make and I will be making again very soon!!!
Ella Nihan
I made this last night for hubbie and guest and we all loved it. I can usually look at a recipe and tell if it’s going to be good and it was great. We freq. Carrabbas and they said it was better then Carrabbas!
Stephanie
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Beverly Johnson
I had this at Carrabbas just last week.LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!! Can’t wait to try this at home. But I’m wondering how I can marinate the chicken before cooking it. I think the flavor of Carrabbas comes from a combination of marinating and grilling. Any suggestions?
Kevin Aponte
Im trying this tonight. wish me luck! 😛
Fc
What is a good wine to use
stephaniemanley
I would use an inexpensive Chardonnay.