This savory lemon butter chicken is super easy to make and over the top in taste! Full of flavor, every bite is unforgettable. The lemon butter sauce is hands down the best homemade sauce you'll ever make at home and pairs perfectly with the tender and juicy chicken!
Jump to:
- Why This Recipe Is Better Than The Rest:
- Everything You Need To Know Before Making This Recipe:
- 👩🏼🍳 Pro Tip: Don't Worry If the Sauce Looks Thin
- 🛒 Ingredients You'll Need
- 🔪 How to Make Lemon Butter Chicken: Step-by-Step Instructions:
- 🙋🏼♀️ Questions I Get Asked About This Recipe
- 🥗 Here's What I Serve With This Chicken
- 🥘 More Chicken Recipes You Just Have To Try!
- Lemon Butter Chicken
Why This Recipe Is Better Than The Rest:
✅ The lemon butter sauce is the star! This isn't just a chicken recipe topped with melted butter and lemon. The sauce combines fresh garlic, chicken broth, heavy cream, freshly grated Parmesan, lemon juice, thyme, and optional white wine for a rich, creamy sauce with bright lemon flavor. We're talking restaurant quality.
✅ It's a one-pan dinner! The chicken, sauce, and spinach are all prepared in the same oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven, which means fewer dishes to wash afterward. The recipe starts on the stovetop and finishes in the oven.
✅ It's versatile, You can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, swap the spinach for kale, and add ingredients such as mushrooms, capers, or sun-dried tomatoes.
✅ The sauce is flour free. It doesn't need flour to become creamy. If you want it thicker, you can use a simple cornstarch slurry instead.
Helpful Reader Review
"We have been making this for a few years now, and my whole family loves this meal. All six of my kids have it on their list of favorite meals and try to lay claim to the leftovers for lunch." - Nicole ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Everything You Need To Know Before Making This Recipe:
- Types of Chicken to Use for this Recipe: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts work best for this recipe, but you can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. If your chicken breasts are especially thick, use a meat tenderizer to pound them to a more even thickness. This helps the chicken cook more evenly and keeps it tender.
- Use Fresh Garlic and Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice: Because garlic and lemon are two of the main flavors in the sauce, fresh ingredients make a huge difference taste wise! Freshly chopped garlic gives the sauce so more flavor, while freshly squeezed lemon juice adds a super fresh citrus flavor.
- Use an Oven-Safe Skillet or Dutch Oven: You'll need a skillet or Dutch oven that can safely go from the stovetop to the oven. A shallow Dutch oven or deep cast-iron skillet works really well!
- The Chicken Isn't Fully Cooked After Searing: The chicken is only seared for about 2–3 minutes per side at the beginning. It will finish cooking in the oven once it's added back to the lemon butter sauce. Always use a digital meat thermometer and cook the chicken to 165°F.
- Store and Reheat Leftovers: Store leftover lemon butter chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3–4 days. When reheating, gently warm the chicken and sauce on the stovetop or in the microwave until heated through. Do not freeze this recipe, as the creamy sauce can change in texture when frozen and thawed.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tip: Don't Worry If the Sauce Looks Thin
- The lemon butter sauce will look fairly thin while it's cooking, but that's completely normal. As it simmers, the sauce will begin to thicken and become creamy.
- If you want a thicker sauce, make a simple cornstarch slurry by whisking together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Slowly whisk the slurry into the sauce while it's over medium heat and continue cooking until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.
- Don't use flour to thicken this sauce. It can give the sauce a pasty texture and alter the flavor. Cornstarch gives you a much smoother result.
🛒 Ingredients You'll Need
- Garlic - use fresh garlic instead of the jar version. Fresh chopped garlic tastes way better!
- Lemon juice - the same rule applies when it comes to lemon juice...freshly squeezed juice from the lemon adds a hint of zesty freshness.
- Spinach - while frozen spinach can work in a pinch, fresh spinach holds up better in this dish.
- Paprika - You can use regular paprika, but smoked paprika adds a subtle smoky flavor and more depth to the chicken. It's one of those simple ingredients that makes a big difference.
- The White Wine is Optional - A splash of dry white wine, such as Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, adds another layer of flavor to the sauce, but you can leave it out if you prefer to cook without wine.
Recipe Card
👩🏼🍳 Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients, exact measurements, and step-by-step instructions.
🔪 How to Make Lemon Butter Chicken: Step-by-Step Instructions:
Step 1
Start by seasoning the breasts with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.
Step 2
Next, add the unsalted butter and sauté for about 2-3 minutes, on each side. When it's finished sautéing, remove the chicken breasts from the heat and set aside set on a plate so you can sauté the garlic and butter.
👩🏼🍳 Important Note: The chicken is NOT done at this point!
Step 3
When the garlic is sautéd, you're ready to start making the sauce.
Step 4
Combine the sautéd garlic, broth, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and thyme. Oh - and if you're adding a splash of wine, add it now! Bring the sauce to a slow rolling boil.
Step 5
Add a large handful of fresh spinach to the sauce and stir once to coat.
Step 6
The spinach will start to wilt as the sauce gets hot and starts to slowly thicken.
Step 7
When the sauce slightly thickens, add the sautéd chicken into the dish with the sauce so it can bake together with the other ingredients. The sautéd garlic mixed with the juices and other ingredients makes you want to eat it at this stage...but since the chicken is not fully cooked, you'll have to wait a bit longer!
Step 8
Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. When done, remove the dish from the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving. Top with fresh chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
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🙋🏼♀️ Questions I Get Asked About This Recipe
In this recipe, it's made with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, chicken broth, butter, garlic, lemon juice, thyme, and a splash of white wine. It's so good you'll want to eat it by the spoonful!
Yes, you can use frozen spinach, but I strongly recommend fresh spinach for this recipe. Frozen spinach releases a lot of water when it thaws, so it's important to completely thaw it and squeeze out as much of the excess liquid as possible before adding it to the sauce. If the spinach isn't drained extremely well, the extra liquid will make the lemon butter sauce too thin and may prevent it from thickening properly.
This recipe should not be made ahead of time. It's best fresh out of the oven.
🥗 Here's What I Serve With This Chicken
🥘 More Chicken Recipes You Just Have To Try!
Did You Make This Recipe?
If you tried this lemon butter chicken, let me know how it turned out in the comments below! I love hearing from you! And, please leave a 🌟 rating while you're there!
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Lemon Butter Chicken
Equipment
- oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven
- measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- ½ tablespoon smoked paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 4 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- splash of dry white wine, optional
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Season the chicken with ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and ½ teaspoon paprika. Set aside.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in an oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat.
- Add the chicken and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove and set chicken aside on separate plate.
- While the chicken is resting, return the chicken back to the same skillet and melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the skillet. Add 4 cloves of chopped garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.
- Stir in 1 cup of chicken broth, ½ cup heavy cream, ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon thyme, and a splash of wine.
- Bring sauce to a boil and reduce heat.
- Add in the 2 cups of spinach and 2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley and simmer until the spinach and parsley has wilted and the sauce has slightly thickened.
- Continue to cook the sauce about 5-7 minutes so the sauce becomes thicker.
- Once the sauce has reached the desired thickness, return the chicken to the ovenproof dish.
- Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Remove the dish and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving. Top with fresh chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- The sauce will be a little thin. To thicken the sauce, add a cornstarch slurry in step 10 above. To do this, add one tablespoon of cornstarch to one tablespoon of water into a small bowl. Whisk the ingredients together until it forms a slurry. While the skillet is still on medium heat, slowly whisk the cornstarch slurry into sauce and continue to whisk until it has slightly thickened.
- If using thick breasts, use a meat tenderizer to pound the meat. This helps break down the fibers making the meat extra tender.
- Don't use flour to thicken the sauce. It adds a pasty flour flavor and will ruin the sauce. The cornstarch slurry I mentioned above works best.
- Depending on the size of the breasts will determine how long it takes to fully cook. Use a digital thermometer to check for doneness. When the breasts reach 165°F, it's done.
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Do not freeze.
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Christie
I love the flavor of this recipe. I wish the parmesan cheese didn't clump. That's a problem when a roux or slurry isn't used. Do you have any recommendations?
Cheers!
Amanda Mason
Hi Christie! I'm so glad you loved the flavor! I've never had the Parmesan cheese clump with this recipe so I'm not sure. I've not heard any comments from others about this either. Maybe the cheese got too hot too fast? Not sure.
Elena
My family absolutely loves this recipe!!! I change it up sometimes by using green beans instead of spinach. Or asparagus! Always comes out fantastic!!
Amanda Mason
Yeah! I'm so glad you guys love it so much!! Thanks for writing in an letting me know!!
Laurie
I’ve made this so many times - it is a family favorite. I’ve tweaked it a little by adding chopped kale instead of spinach and added fresh mushrooms to it, I serve it with some orzo and a salad it is a colorful, healthy and enjoyed by all. The chicken thighs, smoked paprika a s lemons are key to this dish!
Amanda Mason
hi Laurie!! YEA! I love that you love my recipe so much and that it is a family favorite!! Yes - a super versatile dish. I love your additions of the kale and mushrooms!! I can't wait to hear what other recipes of mine you try so keep me posted!!
Indiana
OH MY GOD!!! So delicious, the flavour was amazing and everyone at my dinner table was in awe. 100% would cook again!
Amanda Mason
Yeah! i'm so glad you loved it!! It's definately a favorite in our house, too!!
Kristie
I made this last night for the first time and wow, this was amazing! My husband even said for me to not loose this recipe. I don't have a cast iron so I made it on the stove and then put it in a roasting pan to put it in the oven. Next time I am going to double the sauce 🙂
I am not able to save this to my pintrest because it said I can't save it from this domain....
Amanda Mason
Hi Kristy! I'm SO glad you loved the recipe! I love the idea of doubling the sauce!!! The pinning problem is on the Pinterest side. Here is a URL to my video pin for this recipe. You should be able to pin this version: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/491244271856225873/. Let me know if any issues there! Thanks so much for following me on the food blog! I can't wait to hear what other recipes you make!!
Emily
I made this recipe the other day in a cast iron skillet and followed everything exactly. Best chicken recipe I have ever had and even my parents made it the same week because how much I raved. The left overs last really well and I had plenty of lunches for work.
Amanda Mason
Yeah Emily!! I'm so glad you love it! It is almost better the next day for leftovers...almost!! Thank you so much for letting me know how you liked it!!!
Vicky
I love this recipe; I’ve made it a few times now and it’s a keeper. I was wondering- do you think I could prep it all while my son in school and have it in the fridge for an hour or two before putting it in the oven for the 30 min? It’d be wonderful to have the bulk of the work done before school is over.
Amanda Mason
Absolutely! That pre-prep method should work well! Just cover it while it's in the fridge since it's raw chicken. You're essentially "marinating" it so it will probably give you more flavor! Enjoy!!!
Isabella F.
Wow, that was delicious! <3
Amanda Mason
Yeah Isabella!! I'm SOO glad you loved it!!
Lani
Do you cover this when it goes in the oven?
Amanda Mason
No - cook it uncovered.
Sarah
I cooked mine uncovered in a Dutch oven for the 30mins & it came out literally black... I’m so disappointed. I followed every step & it looked good going into the oven and I took it out - it’s all burnt and black???
Amanda Mason
Hi Sarah - I have no idea what happened. I've only heard positive results on this recipe from everyone. I make this dish at least every other week and I have no problems. Are you sure you hit bake and not broil on your oven?
Melissa
Why doesn't the sauce for this recipe call for a roux?
I've seen this recipe in several places on the internet, and everyone says they have the same issue - the sauce won't thicken (I had this problem when making it, as well). I've seen two suggestions, either a reduction by boiling or adding cornstarch. Why not make a roux? Using a roux as a thickening agent is often preferred as it's the best way to preserve flavor, texture, and consistency. And there's a perfect opportunity to add the flour - when the garlic is being sauteed in the butter. It's pretty much textbook.
Has anyone tried it this way?
Amanda Mason
I wanted to make this recipe without flour for anyone who may be gluten free. You can absolutely make a roux but I didn't want the sauce overly thick. It's all about preference.