Make this easy creamy lemon chicken tonight! It’s a delicious and comforting chicken dinner that everyone in the family will love. The pan-seared chicken is tender, and the creamy lemon sauce is rich and tangy. It is so good!
One of my favorite one-skillet dinners is this easy creamy lemon chicken! It’s a very easy weeknight chicken recipe that everyone in my family loves. The simple pan-seared chicken is tender thanks a few tricks on how to cook moist chicken breasts…no marinade needed. And the creamy lemon garlic sauce for the chicken is seriously to die for! Tangy, rich, and creamy!
This easy creamy lemon recipe takes only 30 minutes to make and it’s all done in one pan. I think this makes it an awesome weeknight chicken dinner, right?!
Ingredients in Creamy Lemon Chicken Recipe
The ingredients in this creamy lemon chicken dish are very simple.
For the pan-seared chicken, you’ll need:
- Chicken breasts: for 4 servings, split 2 chicken breasts into 4 cutlets.
- Salt and pepper: always!
- Italian seasoning: I love the aromatic flavors that Italian seasoning adds to this dish. Adds depth.
- All-purpose flour: The chicken cutlets are dredged in flour to 1) give it a golden brown crust, and to 2) provide texture and flavor as the coating absorbs some of that delicious lemon cream sauce. So, don’t skip the flour!
- Olive oil: for the pan
For the lemon cream sauce, you’ll need:
- Minced garlic: for flavor
- Unsalted butter: adds richness
- Chicken broth: the liquid base for the sauce
- Fresh lemon juice: adds tanginess, flavor, and freshness.
- Heavy cream: to thicken the sauce, add creaminess, and balance out the acidity from the lemon juice
- Seasoning and garnish: Salt and pepper will do. For garnish, use chopped parsley and lemon slices.
The Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce
This creamy lemon garlic sauce is so amazing! And it’s super simple, rich, and creamy. The heavy cream balances out the tanginess of the lemon sauce, making one perfectly balanced rich and tangy sauce.
To make the lemon garlic cream sauce for this dish, simply heat some butter over the skillet and add minced garlic, cooking until fragrant. Then stir chicken broth and fresh lemon juice, and bring to a simmer. Next, add the heavy cream and combine.
That’s the sauce! Then all you have to do is add the chicken back and simmer for about 5 minutes until slightly thickened. I seriously love this dish!
How to Make this Easy Creamy Lemon Chicken
This chicken recipes comes together in 30 minutes or so. Super easy and only one skillet required to make clean-up a breeze! Seriously, there are so many reasons to love this creamy lemon chicken!
Here’s how to make it in a few simple steps:
- Prepare the chicken: Cut each (large) chicken breast into 2 thinner cutlets. For moist and tender chicken: using a meat tenderizer tool, pound the chicken to even thickness. A uniformly pounded breast ensures even cooking, which lowers the risk of overcooking on any one side. Pounding the chicken also helps break down the fibers, resulting in tender chicken.
- Season the chicken on both sides: I used salt and pepper, plus Italian herbs seasoning.
- Dredge the chicken in flour: This is crucial! The flour will give it a golden brown crust and allow the chicken to absorb more of the sauce!
- Cook chicken: about 4-5 minutes per side or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees F.
- Make the sauce: it’s a combination of butter, garlic, chicken broth, fresh lemon juice, heavy cream, and seasoning.
- Return chicken to pan: simmer for about 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
That’s all! I like to garnish with chopped parsley and lemon slices. Highly recommended. And, per usual, you can find detailed ingredient quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
I love to serve my creamy lemon chicken with these amazing crispy herb roasted potatoes! It’s the perfect pairing…seriously! Other ideas are my fluffy mashed potatoes or roasted broccoli with parmesan and lemon.
How to Keep the Chicken Moist and Tender
I get this question a lot: how do I keep my chicken breast from getting dry?!
I used to have the same problem and always got super frustrated and disappointed. BUT…after extensive testing and testing, I was able to make moist pan-seared chicken every single time. Yes, every single time!
You can find more tips and techniques in my moist and juicy pan-seared chicken guide, but here are the basics:
- Pound the chicken breast to even thickness. For this skillet creamy lemon chicken recipe specifically, you’ll actually split each chicken breast into 2 thinner cutlets FIRST, and then pound slightly until evenly thick. Don’t pound it too thin though.
- Don’t overcook it. Since these are thinner, about 4-5 minutes per side will do.
And there you have it…one-pan easy creamy lemon chicken in 30 minutes. I am sure you will love it!
More delicious and easy chicken dinners:
- Cajun Chicken Alfredo
- One Pot Mexican Chicken and Rice
- Easy Chicken Parmesan
- Chicken Quesadillas (these are seriously amazing!)
Thanks for stopping by and please don’t forget to pin this recipe. Much appreciated!
Kitchen Tips
- After splitting each chicken breast into two thinner cutlets, pound slightly it to even thickness, roughly. This will also break down the fibers a bit and prevent it from “curling up” on the skillet.
- This recipe calls for dredging the chicken in flour. There are 2 reasons for this: 1) it will create a beautifully golden brown crust, and 2) the coating will absorb some of that creamy sauce, making it ultra delicious!
- Use a large skillet to avoid overcrowding the pan. Overcrowding leads to steaming.
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Easy Creamy Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 large chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- Olive oil
Creamy Lemon Sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh chopped parsley for garnish
- Lemon slices for garnish
Instructions
- Cut each chicken breast in half lengthwise to get thinner cutlets. Over plastic wrap, slightly pound the chicken to even thickness as needed using a meat mallet. This is for even cooking and to tenderize the chicken a bit.
- Season both sides of the chicken cutlets with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning (per chicken cutlet, use about ¼ teaspoon each: Kosher salt, ground black pepper, Italian herb seasoning). Dredge the seasoned chicken in flour and shake off any excess.
- Heat some olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook prepared chicken on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side, until golden brown or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Don’t wipe the pan clean. Melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, then add garlic, and cook until fragrant. Add chicken broth and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Taste it, and add the second tablespoon of lemon juice if desired (I ended up adding 2 tablespoons). Bring to a light simmer. Then, stir in heavy cream plus salt and pepper to taste until evenly combined.
- Return chicken to pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for another 4-5 minutes until the sauce has thickened a bit.
- Serve with lemon slices and freshly chopped parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
- Special equipment: meat tenderizer tool or meat mallet
- Chicken: Get large and thick chicken breasts so that each cutlet is decently portioned. You can also get chicken cutlets from the store instead.
- Dredging the chicken in flour: Not only will the flour create a beautiful golden crust, but it also create a coating that will absorb some of that delicious sauce.
Cheryl Hopkins says
This is amazing! I don’t enjoy cooking but this was easy and turned out perfectly. My husband keeps asking me to make it again.
Sherri Boykins says
Absolutely delicious recipe! Like one of the other comments I added lemon zest and shredded Parmesan. I’m sure I would have been happy with the outcome either way but I LOVED this dish!
Samantha says
This was delicious! I added my own little touch to it because I wanted to make a chicken picatta type of dish so I doubled the sauce, added freshly grated Parmesan to the sauce and garlic salt. Took the chicken out of the sauce and poured the remaining sauce over angel hair pasta and tossed it to cover it all. Then added a teaspoon of capers over top of each piece of chicken to finish! It was fantastic. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Janine says
Amazing recipe. I used herbs de province because I didn’t have Italian seasoning. Also added lemon zest. This is a keeper!
Served with fettuccine noodles.
Tiffany says
After Door Dash cancelled my order I quickly whipped this up! Truly is so easy and delicious!
James says
Hello..
Has anyone tried frying the chicken the night before and then rewarming in fresh sauce the next day?? Cooking for 60 peeps..
thank you
James