Chicken breast recipes can be so dull – time to step it up! Cream and lemon are a luscious combination and is sensational served over golden crispy chicken. A quick and easy 10 minute recipe with few ingredients, serve this Creamy Lemon Chicken with pasta, mashed potato or for a low carb option, creamy cauliflower mash!
Chicken Breast Recipe
I was browsing my Instagram feed the other day, and all I could think was “it’s so yellow and orangey.” I shared this observation with my mother, and her immediate response was “Well, of course. You post so many cheesy bread, potatoes and meat. Everything you like is yellow and brown. Even Dozer is yellow.” (Imagine this with a Japanese accent and finished with a snort of laughter).
I had no smart comeback for that. Because it’s completely true. 😂
So one of my (many) New Years’ resolutions will be (yet again) to post more green foods on RecipeTin Eats.
But for now – more yellow food.
In fact, a whole pan of yellow food. Golden brown (yellow!) chicken breast with a yellow lemon cream parmesan sauce. Bring on the yellow! 🙌🏻
What you need for creamy lemon chicken breast
Chicken breast – or boneless skinless thigh
Chicken broth/stock – gives the sauce flavour (it’s pretty dull without it)
Cream and lemon – because we’re making a creamy lemon sauce
Parmesan – for umami AND to help thicken the sauce
Mustard – sauce thickening and extra flavour/tang
Flour – to dust chicken (gives it a crust that the sauce wants to cling to, optional)
Garlic – because garlic goes in 99% of my savoury foods
Butter – because butter makes everything better
How to make creamy lemon chicken breast
You’re 10 minutes away from having this for dinner!
Here’s how it goes down:
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, dust with flour;
Pan fry until golden then remove
Add everything else in, then simmer for 3 minutes until thickened;
Return chicken into skillet to rewarm; and
Serve over pasta, mashed potato or for a low carb option, Creamy Mashed Cauliflower.
There’s plenty of creamy lemon sauce for this chicken breast recipe. Enough to toss through pasta!
What to serve with Creamy Lemon Chicken
Serve this with a crisp garden salad with a tangy French Dressing or Balsamic dressing. Or try one of these:
Side salad suggestions
Also, some warm bread rolls to mop the plate clean wouldn’t go astray! If you’re in the mood for homemade bread, try these easy No Knead Soft Dinner Rolls or this simple Irish Soda Bread (I call it Emergency Bread!).
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Creamy Lemon Chicken Breast
Ingredients
Crispy Chicken
- 600g / 1.2lb chicken breasts (2 large) (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt (kosher salt)
- 1/4 tsp Black pepper
- 1/4 cup flour (plain / all-purpose)
- 40g / 3 tbsp butter , unsalted
- 1 – 2 garlic clove, minced
- 1 1/4 cups chicken broth/stock
- 3/4 cup cream , heavy/thickened (Note 2)
- 3 – 4 tbsp lemon juice (adjust to taste, start with 3 tbsp)
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese , freshly grated OR store bought finely shredded (Note 3)
To serve
- Pasta of choice (I used linguine)
- Finely chopped parsley
Instructions
Crispy Chicken
- Slice chicken breast horizontally to create two thin steaks (so you end up with 4 thin steaks in total).
- Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper, then coat with flour, shaking off excess.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken 2 minutes on each side until golden and crispy, then remove onto plate.
Sauce
- Add a touch of butter if your pan is dry – but you shouldn't need it. Add garlic, stir 10 seconds.
- Then add chicken broth, cream, lemon and Dijon mustard. Bring to simmer and scrape the bottom of the pan to dissolve brown bits into the liquid. Use a whisk if needed to dissolve mustard.
- Add parmesan then simmer rapidly for 3 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Add salt, pepper and adjust lemon to taste.
- Return the chicken to the pan (pour in any juices on the plate too), turn to coat.
- Place chicken on serving plates with pasta or mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley if using. Spoon over Lemon Sauce and serve! (Bread for mopping wouldn't go astray either)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published January 2016, updated with new photos and video in November 2019.
Life of Dozer
In the big fancy house I’m currently housesitting while I’m in between houses – when he gets fed up following me up and down the stairs, he parks himself halfway!!
Just made this tonight. So easy and yum! What a nice way to cook chicken – that small amount of flour makes a lovely crust. I was going to pair it with mashed potato, but my partner loved your photo with the pasta, so pasta it was.
Thank you so much for such a simple and delicious recipe….the sauce is so good it should be bottled!
Thank you Emma! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!! (Hmmm – YES that sauce should be bottled! New business venture for you! 😉 )
Another winner, Nagi! I could drink that sauce straight. Lol. Super easy, quick, and budget friendly.
P.S. I’ve made Pad Kee Mao four times since I reviewed it last week!! I’ve increased the Thai chili peppers to 4 on that dish.
And now suddenly I have a craving for Pad Kee Mao……
Hey! What is the brand of cream that you use? I am just so confused…
Hi May! Just any pouring cream is fine!
Made this last night, and everyone loved it! Paired it with leftover homemade garlic mashed potatoes from two nights prior and green beans…..the kids completely cleaned their plates! Thanks for the recipe, this one is a definite keeper.
YESSSSS! So glad everyone enjoyed it, thanks for letting me know Janetta!
I just made it and i LOVEDDDDD IT!! Im in love with everything incorporating lemon. Thank you!♡♡
ME TOO!!!! 🙂
I decided to make this recipe because i was apprehensive about cooking with dairy and lemon juice (acid) in the same pan, but nothing here mentions any trouble with curdling. My sauce was really looking good but as soon as i added the lemon juice into the pan all the cream curdled! I tried pouring it into a measuring cup and whisking it but it didn’t want to become smooth again. I ended up making a cheese sauce to go with the pasta and the chicken because that part was really great 🙂 … any suggestions to make it go better?
The cream curdled? I’ve never had that happen to me, I’m so sorry to hear that! I suggest just adding the lemon right at the end after you take it off the stove. As for cheese sauce? YES!!
This is one of THE BEST chicken dishes I have ever made. I added pancetta and capers to bring it over the top. Sauce is amazing on veggies as well!
WOO HOO! So glad you loved it Justin! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know! N x
Made this one tonight. My husband really liked it. I thought it was just so-so at first, but the more I ate it the more I liked it and by the time I was finished with dinner decided I quite liked it. The 3 year old didn’t like it so much; he thought it needed less cream and a little bit of ketchup. Thought you might like to know that in case you wanted to update your recipe. 🙂
Marci
Thanks so much for your feedback!! 🙂 Please let your 3YO know I will take his thoughts under consideration!!! (Future food blogger….??)
I made this and it was yummy !
I feed two growing teenage boys (aka bottomless Pits) and my fiancé kind of a picky guy… Was liked by all and myself as well … I had to double it to feed everyone and my sauce didn’t thicken the way I wished but still really good ! No used the full fat cream and served it over farfalle.
CHALLENGE: so I have a lot of leftover chicken and a pretty thin sauce … Need leftover ideas asap !!!! Thanks !!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Cheryl! Thanks so much for letting me know!! 🙂
I was thinking tonight that the sauce might be pretty good if you used it to cook rice and then serve the chicken over.
rice is a great idea for most leftovers …pretty much my go to item but my youngest doesn’t love rice so I baked some large red bliss potatoes and cubed the chicken and served it over the open face potatoes with the sauce over
Mmmmm hmmmm!!!!
This looks amazing! Cream is hard to replace– I am lactose intolerant, and cream is the worst on my stomach! Do you think cashew cream or coconut cream would make a good replacement in this recipe?
Hi Michelle! I’m so sorry but I’m not sure! 🙁 I wish I could help!!
Hey Nagi
Hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed this for our dinner tonight – the flavour was lovely. I made mashed potato (have been craving for soo long) and steamed beans and carrots. Wow!
I also made a double batch of your Chinese chicken and corn Soup – my son has just had spinal surgery and is now home after 5 days and I wanted to make him some food for the soul – what a better dish to serve to him!
“Thanks Mum, that was so good” was his feedback.
So thank you, once again – we are all happy tonight ?
Is your son ok? Is he ok???
This was DELICIOUS. I didn’t have a drop of cream in my house, which is very unusual, so I ended up using 1% milk (yes, yes I did). It thickened up just enough for me so it worked just fine. But the flavor was amazing. I rarely get anything more than a “it’s good” from my husband, but even he enjoyed it a lot! This is a keeper. Thanks!
YAY!! So glad you loved it Nancy, thanks for letting me know! N x
This dish looks delicious, Nagi, and so does that salmon pasta! Hope you’re enjoying the New Year 🙂
Thanks Sabrina! Hope 2016 is going FAB for you too!!! N x
Hi Nagi,
As far as I’m concerned, all the dishes can be yellow and orangey as long as they taste as delicious as this one!!
I thought i made enough for lunch leftovers tomorrow but my fiance-who-was-not-so-hungry loved it so much it all disappeared before I could pack away any extra!
Thank you for the recipe and your wonderful blog 🙂
Clearly you are a wonderful cook and your fiancé has wonderful taste 🙂 Thank you for trying my recipes, so glad you enjoyed it!!! N x
I’m so glad I tracked this down. I love the idea of cream and lemon and chicken, then add pasta, what’s not to like? I don’t know that I have seen lowfat cream here, but no problem, I’ll use full fat. There really isn’t that much, right?If I’m going to worry about the fat, I can skip the pasta and do a “green” veg, although it doesn’t sound quite as good.
You are a better person than me if you go veggies instead of pasta with this Cathy!! 🙂
I made the lemon/cream chicken last night, it was definitely delicious but..the sauce was much too thin, it would not cling to the past. I made it with heavy cream, a real splurge
Hi June! Glad you loved the flavour! Try simmering the sauce a bit longer, when it simmers down, it thickens!! <3 N x
Thank you for your comment June. I really appreciate people who cook the recipe and then give feedback. I also found the sauce a little runny, but eventually when mixed with the pasta it ended up pretty good. My issue was that I didn’t crisp up the chicken enough, was a bit pale looking. But the taste was very nice. I’ll make it again and crisp it up a bit more. Thanks for the recipe Nagi!
Heryl
Hi Cheryl! So glad you enjoyed the flavour!! The sauce needs to be cooked long enough to make it to the thickness desired but you are right, it certainly does thicken as it cools and when it is poured on the pasta!! Hope you have a FANTASTIC weekend Cheryl!! Thank you again for taking the time to leave your comments!! N x
I recently found your page and I am so glad to have come across these amazing recipes!! Everything looks so gorgeous!! I’m in love and I can’t wait to try them out!! ???
Happy New Year my dear! Your mom is too funny – I can just hear her saying, ‘even Dozer is yellow.’ Lol!
As a kid, my mom would make a crispy lemon chicken dish that was always one of my favorites. Though over the years, I had forgotten all about it! How does that happen?! In any event, thank you so much for posting this! I’m really loving the gravy you’ve added – we didn’t have that! This is a dish I will certainly be making very soon! Also, sending this to my mom to remind her 🙂
Happy New Year to you too!!! I can’t wait to read about your trip!! Oooh, that reminds me of your orange chicken. So good. SO SO good!! I have to make it again soon. Must!
Sooo glad you are going to post the Salmon Alfredo recipe! Will be making both of these soon…Thanks!
Soooo glad you approve!!! I’ve been worried about not posting enough GREEN foods!!
How about some sort of posh caesar salad, Nagi? I’m sure you can hide a decent amount of cheese in that.
Don’t worry, dear, I posted a chocolate recipe this week. 2 rebels together … ha! And I’m not even planning to post anything green.
Absolutely LOVE this meal of yours – love that you’ve served it with asta.
BA HA!! You mean you didn’t kick off the new year with healthy food either?? 😉