My creamy lemon chicken recipe gives you a luscious, tart sauce over tender chicken and can be ready in just 30 minutes!
Lots of chicken recipes promise to be quick and delicious — but this recipe delivers! It cooks up in one skillet, which means minimal clean-up on top of a speedy dinner. A winner in the world of lemon chicken recipes!
You’ll love this if you gobbled down my lemon pepper chicken or my instant pot lemon chicken. This creamy lemon skillet chicken has the flare of my show-stopping creamy Tuscan garlic chicken!
Let’s make dinner!
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What I Love About This Recipe
What’s not to love about a recipe that balances creamy with tart and savory? It’s flavor perfection!
- It makes a restaurant-quality meal in 30 minutes.
- The sauce is amazing. I double it sometimes to have extra for pasta.
- Make your family happy and full
Creamy Lemon Chicken Video Tutorials
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How To Make Creamy Lemon Chicken Recipe
This recipe is fairly simple and straightforward to put together. The chicken is first coated lightly with a bit of flour and salt and pepper, then it’s cooked in the skillet until it’s nicely golden brown. Then the chicken is removed to a plate and you make a pan sauce in the skillet!
Viola, maestro, you have just created a stovetop symphony of deliciousness!
Creamy Lemon Skillet Chicken Recipe Notes
Worried your creamy lemon chicken won’t turn out as easy-peasy as this recipe promises? It will if you follow my tricks — read on!
Ingredient Notes
From the chicken to the lemon, this dish has it all!
- Pan: I use my Lodge 12-Inch skillet to prepare this dish. The chicken browns up fabulously with its even distribution of heat, and you just get a richer flavor with cast iron!
- Caramelized Lemons: I love to make this with caramelized lemon slices, as shown in my photos. There are tons of recipes online to make your caramelized lemons — or you can buy some!
- Lemon Juice: One lemon juice trick I always push on people is to buy lemons in bulk when they’re on clearance, then juice them and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. That way you have fresh lemon juice on hand whenever you need it!
Tools to Make
You’ll need a handful of tools for this dish, but I promise they’re all easy to find and clean!
- Paper towels for drying off your chicken
- Plastic bag for coating your chicken in flour
- 12-in skillet
- Measuring cups
That’s it! Be sure to utilize proper sanitation steps when dealing with the raw chicken, but otherwise, this is a very straightforward recipe.
How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?
I treat this creamy lemon skillet chicken recipe as I would a typical chicken casserole since it’s a one-pot wonder!
You should definitely put any leftovers in the fridge ASAP. Chicken and room temp don’t get along! Wrap your leftovers uptight and store in the fridge for up to four days.
Can You Freeze This?
Yes! This makes a great freezer meal — with one warning.
The high dairy content of this dish risks doing funky things in the freezer — meaning, you could get some separation in your sauce. But if you properly cool down your dish (let it come to room temperature, then chill it in the fridge) before freezing, you should be good to go.
Freeze your dish for four months!
To thaw, let it thaw slowly in the fridge overnight. Don’t rush it or you risk the sauce separating! Reheat in the microwave.
Make Ahead Tips
Since this dish is all-in-one to make on the stove, it’s really difficult to make any part of it ahead of time. You can always make the full dish ahead of time, though, and then reheat to serve!
Also, I love using pre-cooked chicken in this dish. Then I just have to make the sauce and reheat the chicken! It shaves off a bit of time to let your dinner go even more quickly.
Serving Recommendations
I like to serve this simply with a salad (Mediterranean salad or Portillo’s chopped salad)or some roasted broccoli on the side. But, what I find to be even more important when serving this incredible creamy lemon chicken, is to cook up a little rice or pasta (pesto pasta salad, lemon garlic pasta) or serve it with some nice fresh crusty French bread or my secret ingredient no-knead bread so you don’t miss a single solitary drop of that sauce!
Believe me, you don’t want to miss any of the sauce. Frankly, I swear I could drink that sauce up with a spoon it’s so yummy!
Recipe Variations
Now, some flavor variations!
- Want to add another note alongside the citrus? Toss in some garlic bulbs to get lemon garlic chicken!
- Love the creamy element? Go bigger with lemon butter chicken!
- Give this dish a Mediterranean twist with some thyme and dill to get Greek Lemon Chicken!
- Capers a great salty balance to citrus and cream — add a handful for lemon caper chicken
- Up the sweet factor with a squeeze or two of honey to get honey lemon chicken!
Creamy Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon~divided
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 chicken breast halves boneless and skinless
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter cubed
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream ~divided
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 large lemon thickly sliced optional
- 1 fresh lemon zest optional
- 1 tablespoon Italian parsley roughly chopped, optional
Instructions
- Remove chicken from packaging and dry with paper towels.
- Add 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag. Add chicken, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat, shaking off excess flour as you remove it from the bag.
- In a 12-inch skillet, melt butter. Add the coated chicken pieces and cook over medium heat, 7-9 minutes per side or until chicken is cooked and an instant-read thermometer reads 170 degrees. Remove chicken to a plate and loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep it warm.
- Add the chicken broth to the pan drippings. Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir well, lifting up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, about 8 minutes.
- Add lemon slices, pushing them to the bottom of the skillet and continue simmering another few minutes or until the broth is reduced to about 1/3 of a cup. Remove the lemon slices to the plate of chicken.
- Stir in 3/4 cup cream and the lemon juice and simmer over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Add remaining 1 tablespoon flour and remaining 1/4 cup cream to the skillet and whisk until smooth.
- Bring sauce to a boil; cook for 1-2 minutes or until sauce has thickened.
- Slip the chicken back in the sauce and flip it over once to coat. Garnish with caramelized lemon slices, lemon zest, and parsley as desired.
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More Lemon Chicken Recipes
Want even more easy peasy lemon chicken dinner recipes? I got you covered!
- Baked Lemon Chicken – All the flavor with that oven-baked warmth
- Lemon Chicken Piccata – A classic you can whip up right at home
- Chinese Lemon Chicken – Never buy take-out again!
- Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta – Pasta and chunks of chicken in a rich, velvety, luscious lemony cream sauce!
- Instant Pot Lemon Chicken – Go even faster with your Instant Pot!
Conclusion
Creamy, savory, tart, and dreamy — this creamy lemon chicken recipe really has it all! Not only does it give you a riot of flavors, but it’s also easy to make and a snap to clean-up. What more could you ask for?
What did you serve your creamy lemon chicken with? Let me know in the comments!
Amazing! Everyone had seconds. I Sprinkled Parmesan and garlic salt on chicken when I put it in the pan to cook. After pouring the sauce on chicken, I tossed some zoodles in the pan to warm, and added it, along with steamed broccoli. just tossed it all together.
Mink, I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe. It’s one of my favorite ways to serve chicken! I could drink the sauce with a straw!!! <3
Super easy and tasty, used half/half and turned out delicious. Sew
I have made this at lest 20 times I love it it’s one of my favorites thank you for sharing this lemon chicken recipe it comes out perfect every time.
You’re welcome, Charlotte! 😀
I’ve made this before and its delicious. But I was wondering how this would with using oranges instead of lemons. But maybe cutting back on a little of the orange.
Hi Cat. Gosh, that’s an interesting idea! I’ve not tried it with orange. If you give it a try, let us know how it comes out. You may be on to a new great thing!
I love this lemon chicken it’s easy to make and comes out perfect every time.
When I don’t have any heavy whipping cream I have used evaporated milk and it came out
just as wonderful.
Thank you for sharing your amazing recipes
You’re so welcome, Charlotte! I’m so happy you love this recipe. I do too. It’s such a great weeknight dinner. Love your tip about subbing the heavy cream with evaporated milk. Thanks for sharing your tips <3
I want to make this for a dinner with friends when we share a cabin in the National Forest in November. How do I caramelize the lemons? Some of us are steering clear of carbs, so I was thinking of serving this with roasted asparagus and maybe parsnips? Any other ideas?
Hello Jude. The caramelizing directions are written in step #5. What about serving this for your low carbers with cauliflower rice or mashed cauliflower?
Could you substitute evaporated milk instead of heavy cream
Hi Sherice! Wow, it sounds like an interesting idea! I’m sorry but I haven’t tried it before so I can’t say for certain. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work out though. We’d love to hear back from you if you give it a try! <3
I have done this several times and can say yes it comes out perfect.
Thank you Charlotte <3
Hello can I use something else besides heavy cream? Such as cream cheese or regular milk?
Hi Jacky. Yes, you can. Of course your results will be slightly different, but still yummy. With regular milk the sauce will be thinner. I’d love to hear about your results. 🙂
I made this for my teenage boys tonight- they loved it. One said it was one of the best chicken dishes he has had!! I love when I find something they like! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re so welcome Julie! I’m so happy the gang liked the chicken. I totally agree it’s wonderful when everyone likes what you’re serving for dinner!
This was AWESOME! I’ve tried recipes for lemon chicken before, and you can hardly taste lemon at all, but I could taste lemon in this and it was delicious. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recipe.
You’re so welcome MK!
Can I use salt and pepper sous vide chicken breast for this recipe? Would I still flour and brown in butter and get good results? Thank you!
going to make this tonight!!
Enjoy, Krista! 🙂
Hi, I made this last night and it was tasty! Tons of flavors. I didn’t use the lemon slices but instead added more lemon juice. I added lemon pepper seasoning to the chicken for more taste. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Stacey. So glad you liked the recipe. Love the idea of lemon pepper in the recipe. Great ideas, thanks for sharing them!!!
Just made this tonight and I have to say your blog is appropriately named!! Second recipe I’ve tried of yours (skillet chili Mac and Cheese) and both were great!! My mom doesn’t like lemon, but my Dad and I loved it! When I make it again I’ll decrease cooking time just a bit for the chicken because I used tenderloins instead of breasts. Maybe 5-6 mins per side. Thank you!
Hi Katie. So nice to hear from you! I’m glad you liked both recipes. Reducing the cooking time for chicken tenderloins makes a lot of sense!
This was amazing! My family loved this! A made some fettuccine and tossed it in. Yum!
So glad you enjoyed this Ellen! Fettuccine sounds fabulous with this 🙂
Yum! This was amazing!!! I just made this for the first time today and just finished eating it. Thank you so much for the recipe. It is definitely a keeper! 🙂
You’re so welcome, Crystal. Happy you enjoyed it!
Just had this for dinner. I thought it was delicious! will def make again.
Happy to hear you liked it Amy 😉
Tried this recipe tonight….really great! I will make it next time I have company!
Thanks Janet. So glad you enjoyed it!
For dinner tonight we had this chicken, roasted broccoli and carrots, and your recipe for peach crisp (plus raspberries). It was fantastic! Thank you for the delicious recipes!!!
So glad you liked them, Leanna!
This was amazing! ! Much better than I thought it would be. So creamy and lemony…. I might have to make it again tonight
Hey Ashley. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Omg yum!!! I wonder if I could make this recipe with coconut flour instead?