The Perfect Easy Lemon Chicken
I love that this recipe doesn’t require many ingredients yet it still yields amazingly flavorful end results, and it is all thanks to that bright lemon and creamy butter. With this recipe, you get perfectly tender, golden brown pan-seared chicken breasts that are coated in that quick lemon pan sauce.
Want to see how easy this Lemon Butter Chicken recipe is? Watch the video!
Chances are this is a recipe you’ll want on repeat! I love skillet chicken dinners, I mean when you’ve got time a roasted lemon chicken is a good option too but the simplicity of this recipe and that buttery sauce is what makes me favor this recipe more. I could eat that pan sauce by the spoonful! Those browned bits from the bottom of the pan give it great depth of flavor and the chicken broth helps scrape those up while giving it a good pan sauce consistency. Then the lemon adds the perfect flavor pairing for chicken and the butter makes it nice and rich. You just need to try it!
Ingredients for this Lemon Chicken
Chicken breasts Flour Salt and pepper Olive oil Butter Garlic (if you love it feel free to add more!) Chicken broth Lemon Parsley (which is totally optional)
The chicken breasts I used (pictured above) look big because I’ve already flattened them out but they were small to begin with, so be sure you are sticking with 4 small breasts or halving 2 large through their thickness.
How to Make Chicken with Butter Pan Sauce
First, you’ll pound the chicken breasts out until you’ve got fairly thin chicken cutlets. For a shortcut here you could buy thin-cut chicken. Then season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge each side in flour.
Heat the pan and melt olive oil and butter in a pan. Add the chicken breasts and sear on both sides until golden brown and cooked through.
Transfer the chicken to a plate then saute the garlic. Pour in chicken broth then scrape up browned bits from the bottom (it gives it the best flavor!). Stir in lemon juice and bring mixture to a simmer, reduce heat slightly, and let simmer until it’s reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the butter and lemon zest and melt the butter through. Then return chicken to pan, spoon pan sauce over chicken breasts, and sprinkle with parsley. Serve chicken warm. See, easy breezy, right?
What to serve with Lemon Butter Chicken?
One of my go-to side dishes for a chicken like so is steamed or roasted asparagus or broccoli, then I also like to serve it with orzo. Cauliflower rice would also be a good healthier alternative to the orzo. I love how that bit of extra sauce goes with the orzo, perfect match. Plus orzo is so lazy and easy. Green beans or spinach salad would make a good green side for weeknight dinners, too.
More Dinner Recipes You’ll Love
Roasted Chicken and Veggies with Garlic Herb Vinaigrette Sheet Pan Lemon Chicken with Parmesan Broccoli Slow Cooker Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes
