Pan-fried chicken bathed in a sauce of milk and an enormous quantity of crushed garlic — Georgia's most extraordinary garlic dish.
Shkmeruli — named for the village of Shkmeri in the Racha region — is one of the most garlic-forward dishes you'll ever encounter. Whole chicken is pressed flat, fried until golden, then bathed in a cream sauce made with as many as 20 cloves of crushed garlic and a splash of milk. The result is intensely savoury, intensely garlicky, and completely transformative. It went viral after spreading from village kitchens to Tbilisi restaurants in the 2010s.
Serves 4
Spatchcock the chicken (cut down both sides of backbone, remove, flatten). Season with salt and pepper.
Heat butter and oil in a large heavy frying pan or skillet. Place chicken skin-side down. Weigh down with a smaller pot or foil-wrapped brick. Fry 12 min on medium-high — skin should be deeply golden and crisp.
Flip chicken. Cook another 8 minutes until cooked through (74°C in thigh). Lift out and rest.
Pour off excess fat, leaving 2 tbsp in pan. Add garlic paste off heat — it must not burn. Stir 30 seconds in residual heat.
Return to low heat. Add milk and cream. Whisk and bring to a gentle simmer. Add salt and white pepper. Cook 4 minutes until slightly thickened.
Cut chicken into 4 portions. Return to pan, skin side up, into the sauce. Spoon sauce over the top.
Bring whole pan to the table. Sprinkle with coriander. Serve with crusty bread to mop the sauce — that's the whole point.
Crush the garlic to a paste with salt — it disperses better than minced.
Resist boiling the sauce — gentle bubbles only.
Use 6 chicken thighs instead of whole chicken — more reliable, juicier
Add 1 tsp blue fenugreek (utskho suneli) for traditional Georgian aroma
Substitute milk with chicken stock + extra cream for richer sauce
Refrigerate up to 3 days. Reheat very gently — sauce can split if boiled.
Shkmeruli originated in the village of Shkmeri in the Racha mountains of northwestern Georgia. The original village version uses just garlic, milk and country chicken — restaurants in Tbilisi added cream to enrich it. The dish exploded in popularity in the 2010s, with TV chefs around the world adopting it.
It is. That's the dish. After cooking, garlic mellows dramatically — but the depth is unmatched.
Only if boiled hard. Keep at a gentle simmer once cream is added.
Per serving · 4 servings total
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