This simple juicy one-pan chicken cutlet recipe cooks up in less than 30 minutes, uses only a few ingredients, and makes the perfect easy weeknight meal. These lemon chicken cutlets are quick to cook, easy and so delicious!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
This lemon chicken cutlets recipe is one of my favorite recipes because it is so easy to make and so big on flavor. For those busy nights, we have a handful of chicken recipes that we turn to and this is one of them.
We also love our chicken with prosciutto, Chinese chicken, and tarragon chicken. Definitely worth checking out too.
The chicken in this recipe is quick to cook because it is pounded thin into cutlets for quick cooking and the lemon butter sauce for the chicken only takes minutes to come together. No cream is required for this recipe either!
Serve it with ravioli and asparagus or garlic and olive oil pasta for a complete meal.
What You Will Need
This recipe is very simple. You want to make sure you use high-quality ingredients since all the flavors will really shine through.
Here is what you will need:
- Boneless Chicken Breast. Boneless chicken breast is my preference for this lemon butter chicken. You will cut them thin into cutlets- see the recipe below for more info on this.)
- Flour. I use all-purpose flour. This is for the breading on the chicken.
- Parmesan Cheese. I also like to add some Parmesan to the chicken coating to add even more flavor to the chicken breast.
- Lemon. This is a lemon butter chicken so you will need fresh lemons!
- Olive oil.
- Butter. You can't have lemon butter chicken without some butter 🙂
- Chicken stock. While many recipes call for some sort of cream, I prefer to use chicken stock to deglaze the pan and marry with the butter. It makes a wonderful creamy lemon butter sauce when you add the lemon to it.
- Garlic.
- Oregano (optional)
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Fresh Italian parsley and lemon slices for garnish (optional). I always love adding parsley to any of my Italian dishes and this lemon butter chicken is one of them.
Substitutions Tips
When making this lemon chicken, make sure to not leave out any of these ingredients since they all work so well together. You can omit the Parmesan portion for the chicken if you do not have that on hand and just bread your chicken with a flour and spice mixture.
You can also leave off the garnish portion of the recipe, the parsley and lemon slices. Just make sure you follow the rest of the recipe as is for the best results!
How to Make Lemon Butter Chicken
You will need just a few prep bowls for the coating of the chicken but it is all very manageable.
- Gather ingredients: This may seem like an obvious step in any recipe but what cooks like to call mise en place (French for setting up) is so important with a quick-to-cook recipe like this lemon chicken.
- Mix flour, Parmesan, and spices. This is the coating of the lemon chicken. The chicken is going to be pressed directly into this flour-butter mixture. Doing this creates a juicy tender chicken breast.
- Add chicken to the flour mixture. This is what pressing the chicken into the flour mixture looks like. Just press one side of the chicken breast in then flip it over to press in the other side so both sides of the chicken are coated evenly.
- Sauté chicken in pan. Once you preheat a large skillet over medium heat with some olive oil, add the coated chicken breast into the pan and sear on both sides until golden brown and cooked through. Because the chicken is cut thin (or pounded thin) it cooks quickly.
- Remove chicken to a plate when cooked on both sides. Once the chicken is cooked through and golden brown on both sides, your pan will look a bit rough. That is good. This will set us up for more flavor which we will do in the next step.
- Sauté garlic in butter. Melt the butter then add the garlic and cook for one minute. Since the pan is nice and hot already, it cooks quickly.
- Easy Lemon Butter Sauce: To make the lemon butter sauce you are going to Deglaze the pan by stirring in the chicken stock, lemon, and remaining butter. Make sure to stir and scrape all of the crusted pieces on the bottom of the pan. This is extra flavor in the sauce! Let it reduce just a bit.
- Add chicken back to the pan with parsley and lemon slices. Now it is all about bringing the chicken and lemon together and warming the chicken back up after it has rested.
I told you this lemon butter chicken was a very easy recipe! The garlic, parmesan, lemon, and chicken stock all come together beautifully in one skillet and it tastes amazing.
What to serve with lemon chicken cutlets
If you are looking for ideas on what to serve with this lemon butter chicken recipe, here are some of our favorites:
More Chicken Recipes
If you love these easy lemon chicken cutlets, you may also like these:
Lemon Butter Chicken Cutlets
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 boneless chicken breasts pound thin and cut in half
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ cup Parmesan freshly grated
- ¼ cup All purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Dried Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Lemon Butter Sauce
- ¼ cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter divided
- 4 cloves garlic finely minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoon Italian parsley chopped fine. Optional
- lemon slices garnish. Optional
Instructions
Making the chicken
- On a large plate, mix your flour, Parmesan, salt and oregano.¼ cup Parmesan, ¼ cup All purpose flour, 1 tablespoon Dried Oregano, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- Place your chicken breasts one at a time in a large ziploc bag.2 boneless chicken breasts
- Pound thin to about half of its original thickness.
- Cut your pounded out chicken breasts in half to make 4 thin chicken cutlets.
- Dip the chicken into your flour mixture making sure to coat both sides then set aside.
- Pre-heat a large sauté pan over medium heat.
- Add your olive oil.1 tablespoon olive oil
- Now add your chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes a side until the chicken is browned on both sides.
- Remove your chicken from the pan on to a plate and set aside.
Lemon Butter Sauce
- Reduce heat to medium low.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan.4 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Add your minced garlic and cook for 10 seconds. The pan is very hot so make sure to not cook the garlic too long or it will burn.4 cloves garlic
- Now add your chicken stock to the hot pan and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.¼ cup chicken stock
- Add your lemon juice and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.3 tablespoon Lemon juice, 4 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Taste for any additional salt needed and add more to taste.½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Once the butter has fully melted, place your chicken back into the pan and cook for an additional few minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through.
- Top with fresh parsley and lemon slices.2 tablespoon Italian parsley, lemon slices
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer hereTried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Leora a Meller says
I am new to your site and so far am very excited about making your brisket recipe for the holidays. Would love to make the butter chicken, but I do not mix dairy and meat as I am kosher. Do you have any suggestions for a substitution for the butter??
Melissa says
Hi Leora. So glad you are enjoying our site 🙂 You can try using extra olive oil in place of the butter.
I hope this helps!
Jen says
This lemon butter chicken was amazing! Very easy and quick to make. The whole family enjoyed it.
Melissa says
Love hearing that! Thanks so much for sharing
Kathleen Hannon says
I made this last night w/ angel hair pasta w/ a very generous sprinkling of freshly grated oarmesan/ reggiano..this is the very best lemon chicken I've had..and I often order this when dining out.
Also,thank you for adding the ingredients along w/ the instructions..saves slot of unnecessary scrolling
Melissa says
I am so glad you loved it! Thanks for sharing 🙂