Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken – seasoned skillet chicken breasts in a fresh and creamy lemon pepper pan sauce.
Creamy Lemon Pepper Skillet Chicken
Thinly sliced seasoned chicken breasts in a rich and creamy flavor packed lemon pepper sauce. Finish with a sprinkle of fresh parsley or basil. Absolutely delicious over garlic mashed potatoes or homemade rice pilaf. Serve with a side of roasted broccoli or a fresh green salad for a quick and complete dinner that your family or guests will love.
Ingredients for Creamy Lemon Pepper Skillet Chicken
- Chicken Breasts – I used two very large chicken breasts sliced in half lengthwise
- Olive Oil – for browning chicken. You can also use Avocado Oil
- Kosher Salt and Coarsely Ground Black Pepper – for seasoning chicken and sauce
- Butter – for building the sauce. I like to use a high-quality butter like Kerrygold or the Costco Grassfed Butter
- Shallot – minced, can substitute a finely diced onion
- Garlic – freshly minced preferred
- Flour – for thickening the sauce
- Half and Half – for making a creamy pan sauce
- Chicken Broth – low-sodium chicken broth recommended, chicken bullion and water are a good substitute but be sure to adjust salt as needed if the bullion is not low-sodium
- Lemon Juice – freshly squeezed from one lemon
- Lemon Pepper Seasoning – a coarse lemon pepper seasoning like Kinder’s or McCormick
- Lemon Slices – for garnish
- Fresh Parsley or Fresh Basil
How to Make Creamy Lemon Pepper Skillet Chicken
- Prep the chicken: Pat dry, season with salt and pepper.
- Cook the chicken: Heat olive oil, cook chicken breasts until golden brown on both sides (5-7 minutes per side). Set aside.
- Make the sauce: Reduce heat, add butter, saute shallots and garlic. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.
- Thicken the sauce: Add chicken broth, increase heat, scrape brown bits. Add half and half, bring to a boil, then simmer until thickened.
- Finish the dish: Stir in lemon juice, lemon pepper seasoning, and chicken. Heat through.
- Serve: Garnish with parsley, additional lemon pepper seasoning, and lemon slices.
Recipe Tips
- Cooking time for the chicken will vary depending on chicken thickness and pan heat.
- If you need to cook the chicken in two batches and the pan is getting overly browned, you can remove from heat between batches, let cool, and carefully wipe out excess browning from pan. If you need to do this step only do it after the first batch so that you can still use the fond from the second batch to build the sauce.
- The flour stabilizes the sauce and keeps the lemon juice from curdling the half-and-half. Don’t skip the flour.
More Chicken Recipes
- One Pot Marry Me Chicken Pasta
- One Pan Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and Rice
- Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Thighs
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
- 2 large chicken breasts about 2 pounds total, sliced in half lengthwise to create 4 thin chicken cutlets
- kosher salt
- coarsely ground pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1 small shallot minced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice juice from 1-2 lemons
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
- fresh parsley or basil garnish
- lemon slices garnish
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Pat chicken breasts dry and season with salt and pepper. Do not season chicken with the lemon pepper seasoning, it will burn when browning.
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Heat olive oil to medium high and cook chicken breast 5-7 minutes on each side until breasts reach an internal temperature of 165℉. Depending on size of pan and chicken breast, you may need to cook the chicken in two batches. When chicken is ready, set aside to rest while creating the sauce.
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Reduce heat to medium-low and add butter to pan, sauté shallots for 1-2 minutes then add garlic and cook for another minute. Sprinkle in flour stirring constantly and toast for about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and increase heat to medium heat scraping up brown bits. Add half and half and whisk until smooth. Bring sauce to a boil and reduce to a simmer until slightly thickened. Stir in fresh lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning. Taste and adjust sauce as needed. Add chicken breasts and lemon slices to sauce and let heat through. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and additional lemon pepper seasoning as needed.
Adapted from The Kitchn Creamy Lemon Chicken
5 Easy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights
My five FAVORITE recipes for busy families!
- Quick to make
- Light on your budget
- Easy to clean-up
- and...most important...absolutely DELICIOUS
Sandra
This was one of the easiest chicken recipe I’ve ever made and it was really really good! Perfect dinner on busy weeknights!
Amanda
I cannot think of a better flavor combination to go with chicken. This recipe is fabulous!
Erin | Dinners, Dishes and Desserts
So tasty and incredibly delicious! I’d love to make this again for dinner!
Allyson Zea
Loved EVERY bite! So tasty and east to make!
Janelle
I loved the citrus in this! It blended so amazingly with the creamy sauce and chicken. YUM!!
Katerina Petrovska
Making the Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken was great! It had a tasty mix of lemon and pepper in a creamy sauce, and the chicken was tender and delicious.
Beti Micevska
The Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken turned out really well! It was flavorful with a nice balance of lemon and pepper, all in a creamy sauce. Very satisfying!