Lemon Butter Chicken
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Lemon Butter Chicken is a must try recipe! I’m all about lemon chicken so when you add a butter pan sauce to the mix you know it’s going to be unbelievably tasty. And not only that this chicken is so easy to make and it will come together in no time, making it the perfect dish to serve any day of the week.
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 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 we’re small to begin with, so be sure you are sticking with 4 small breasts or halving 2 large through their thickness.
How to Make Lemon Chicken
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 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 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 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.
More Chicken 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
Follow Cooking Classy
Lemon Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 (5 oz) chicken breasts*, pounded to an even 1/3-inch thickness
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, sliced into 1 Tbsp pieces, divided
- 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp fresh lemon zest
- 1 1/2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.
- Place flour in a shallow dish then dredge both sides of chicken breasts in flour, one at a time.
- Heat 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter, let butter melt, then add in chicken breasts in a single layer.
- Sear until golden brown on bottom, about 4 - 5 minutes then flip and continue to cook until chicken registers 165 degrees in center, about 4 - 5 minutes longer.
- Transfer chicken to a plate while leaving any little bit of excess oil in pan.
- Reduce to medium heat, add garlic and saute 20 seconds, or until just lightly golden brown, then pour in chicken broth while scraping browned bits up.
- Pour in lemon juice then bring mixture to a simmer, reduce heat slightly and let simmer until liquid has reduced by about half, about 2 minutes.
- Add in remaining 3 Tbsp butter and lemon zest, stir to melt butter.
- Return chicken to skillet, spoon sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley. Serve warm.
- Recipe source: inspired by my Lemon Butter Salmon