Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken
With simple ingredients and half the fat of the usual creamy sauces, this lemon chicken is crispy and tender, so full of garlic and rustic flavours, it’s guaranteed to knock your socks off.
Lemon. Garlic. Sweet Paprika. Thyme (or even parsley). Cream. Everyone loves this one pan chicken dinner ready in under 20 minutes!
So many of you have made the Creamy Sun Dried Tomato + Parmesan Chicken Zoodles, tagging me in your pictures on Instagram, loving the flavours, but asking how to cut the fat content of the cream sauce without compromising on flavour.
The answer is chicken stock (or chicken broth). With most of the sauce made of stock, and only a small amount of cream, you can still have the creamy sauce with less than half the fat of a regular cream base.
And with the added bonus of crispy chicken.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thigh cutlets (skin on and bone in)* See Notes
- 2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 4 large cloves garlic , minced
- 6 cloves garlic , crushed with the back of a knife (not minced)
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper (or cracked pepper - optional)
- 3/4 cup chicken stock (or broth)
- 1/2 cup cream (thickened/heavy cream or coconut cream may be used)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- salt to season
- 4 fresh sprigs of thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme is fine)
- Lemon wedges to serve
Instructions
- Wash chicken cutlets and thoroughly pat dry with paper towel. Season with salt. Melt the butter in a large oven-proof frying pan (or skillet) on medium heat. Place the chicken cutlets, skin side down, and fry until golden and crisp (place a lid on the frying pan to avoid the fat from the chicken spitting all over the stove). Turn chicken and continue to fry until browned. Take off the heat; transfer chicken onto a plate and drain most of the fat from the pan (leave about 2 tablespoons of the oil for flavour).
- Return the pan to the stove and reduce heat to low. Add the chopped onion, minced and crushed garlic, paprika and lemon pepper (if using) to the oil left in the pan, occasionally stirring until garlic is fragrant and onion is transparent. Season with salt to taste and add in the thyme.
- At this point, preheat your oven to grill/broil setting on medium heat.
- Pour in the stock/broth, cream and lemon juice and bring to a slow simmer. Return the chicken back into the pan; cover with lid and allow to simmer gently in the sauce for a further 10 minutes, or until cooked through.
- Place the pan into the oven and allow the skin to crisp up (it takes about 5 minutes).
- Serve with lemon wedges or slices and fresh sprigs of Thyme.
Amber says
Made it for my family. Used garlic powder, onion powder, and Lawreys for the salt on the chicken. I also added mushrooms. It was amazing! Our plates were all scraped clean!
Ellie says
I made this today and it was really good my family and I loved it. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Joyce says
I made this and used chicken tenders cause it was what I had. I doubled the sauce and poured it over fettuccine. We scraped the bowl clean. So good.
Mel says
I’ve now made three of your creamy chicken dishes. All fantastic, but this one is the best!
Erica says
Cooked this today. Recipe was really easy to follow. Came out perfect. Was delicious & tasty.
Thank you
Karina says
Erica that’s so great to hear! Thank you for your feedback 🙂
Dan says
What if I wanted to use skinless, boneless breasts?
Karina says
Hi Dan. Chicken breasts are fine to use in this recipe also! They won’t need as long as thighs. I’d say 8 minutes less than the normal cooking time. I’d even suggest cooking them stove top only as they cook much faster than bone-in thighs 🙂
Sandy says
This sounds really silly but do i put it in the oven to broil with the lid still on?
Karina says
No no. Uncovered into the oven. Sorry I should state that in the recipe! Thank you for picking that up Sandy!
Sheri says
If I use chicken breasts do I still have to do step 5? And what side dish would you recommend to go with this dish? I can’t wait to make it! 🙂
Karina says
No you won’t need to as Breast fillets cook faster than thigh cutlets! I truly hope you enjoy it Sheri!
Lidia says
Delicious! My family loved it. I didn’t have heavy cream and used sour cream instead – still tasted great! The only problem was figuring out what is “medium” broiler setting…
Doug Resar says
This recipe was excellent , but my to taste it was a little to tart so I added 2 table spoons of honey. The family absolutely raved about it, so Karina big thanks to you and I can highly recommend this recipe to anyone.
Karina says
Doug that’s great to hear. I’m so glad to adjusted it to your tastes! Thank you for the recommendation!
Vanessa says
Do you think I can use half and half in lieu of the cream?
Karina says
Hi Vanessa! Yes, half and half is fine with this chicken 🙂
amie says
Hi Karina
How many propoints for this recipe?
Karina says
Hi Amie! I’ll work this one out and let you know tomorrow 🙂
Wendy says
Mmmmm, sounds delicious!