This super easy skillet lemon butter chicken is the chicken recipe of your dreams. This juicy one pan chicken recipe cooks up in less than 30 minutes, uses only a few ingredients and makes the perfect easy weeknight meal. The lemon butter sauce for the chicken is so amazing too and really makes this dish special.
This lemon butter chicken recipe is very easy to make. The chicken is pounded thin for quick cooking and the lemon butter sauce only takes minutes to come together. No cream required for this recipe either!
Since there are only a few ingredients to this lemon butter chicken, you want to make sure that you do not skip any of them. All of the ingredients come together to balance each other out and make the most delicious lemon butter sauce which is what makes this recipe what it is.
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Ingredients Needed
- Boneless Chicken Breast. Boneless chicken breast are m preference for this lemon butter chicken. You will cut them thin into cutlets- see 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
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
This easy lemon butter chicken is cooked in one pan, including that creamy lemon butter sauce. You will need just a few prep bowls for the coating of the chicken.
I told you this lemon butter chicken was a very easy recipe! The garlic, parmesan, lemon and chicken stock all come together beautifully and taste so amazing.
What to serve with lemon butter chicken
I really love serving this lemon butter chicken with a light pasta like olive oil and garlic pasta or my white wine garlic butter sauce for pasta but you can also serve this with Italian potatoes, roasted asparagus , garlic roasted green beans or any other side dish that goes well with a lemon flavor.
Tips
I really prefer working with chicken stock in all my recipes including in this lemon chicken. You could also use chicken broth here too.
If you are really in a pinch, a bouillon cube added to water can also work though it won't be as good as the real thing.
Although parsley is an optional ingredient, I recommend it for two reasons. It makes the dish beautiful by adding that pop of color (we eat with our eyes first).
Parsley also aids in digestion which makes it a great addition to any meal.
Pairing Ideas
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 You May Like:
Easy Skillet Lemon Butter Chicken
Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
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 here
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 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
Natasha says
Yum! This came out great. We served it with spaghetti which was perfect for picking up the sauce.
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 🙂