Several Contributors Were Combined To Make My Version — Chances are this is a recipe you’ll want on repeat! I love skillet chicken fast , simple and versatile to make. As 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!
Basic Ingredients for this Lemon Chicken — Variants Allowed
Ingredients By Weight
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) Otr Cilantro ( spicier)
One pound — Baby Spinach — all you want it shrinks…
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.
- Then season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper or if you brined the chicken ( basic) and then dredge each side in flour. Now I use my blended flour or you can use Webber’s Chicken Blend mixed and variated into the flower, I add powders of Garlic, Onion, Rosemary, Thyme, Sriracha powders…or Cayenne.
- Heat 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. And melt olive oil and butter in pan. Add the chicken breasts and sear on both sides until golden brown and almost cooked through. Continue to cook until chicken registers 160 degrees in center, about 4 - 5 minutes longer. Almost done because they will be going back in the pan .
- Transfer the chicken to a plate then sauce the fresh garlic. More the merrier as it sweetens when cooked. Pour in chicken broth, or Coconut Oil 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.
- Add a pound of baby spinach and mix well with the garlic,butter and olive oil…and the fod from the chicken.
- 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 or cilantro. Serve chicken warm.
What to serve with Lemon Butter Chicken? —
7. 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.
Variants —
- Some brine the chicken, not neccessary,
- Season both sides of chicken with Home made rub, add flour to shallow dish then dredge both sides of chicken breasts in flour and rub, one at a time
- Coconut oil if you wish to thicken sauce, reduce to medium heat, add garlic and sauce 20 seconds, chicken broth while scraping browned bits up. Pour in lemon juice then bring mixture to a simmer, reduce heat slightly again.
- Add Baby Spinach or Seasonal greens…
- Garnish with parsley or Cilantro.