Our Creamy Lemon Chicken is a low carb, decadent dish that cooks in just one skillet in about 20 minutes! Our lemon sauce for chicken is hard to resist and adds so much flavor!
Lately, I’ve just been obsessed with lemon.
I’ve even started putting lemon in my water, which seems like a normal thing that people to do, but it’s completely new for me. I had never been a lemon wedge kind of girl before the last couple of weeks.
On a hot day, it tastes refreshing and zippy. On a cold day, it reminds me of the summer sun.
This Creamy Lemon Chicken is definitely an all year round dish in my house. Cooking chicken in a lemon sauce is so simple, but gosh, it adds big flavor.
I love dinners like this – it’s naturally low carb, there are no funky ingredients or weird steps to cut out carbs, and pretty much everyone I’ve ever served this to has raved about it!
Let’s do this!
👩🍳Ingredient Notes:
Chicken – We’re using thin sliced chicken breasts, so that they’ll cook quickly and evenly. You can also pound out your chicken to an even thickness, rather than slicing them thin.
Creamy Sauce – Our lemon sauce for chicken is made up of that broth with some lemon juice, garlic, heavy cream, and butter.
Herbs – We sprinkle in some dill for a little pop of freshness. Basil or parsley would also be delicious.
- Start to finish in 22 minutes! You can’t beat that.
- This dish is naturally low carb – no funky swaps or tricky steps to eliminate carbs.
- You can serve this with a side of steamed veggies or over zucchini noodles, mashed cauliflower, or even pasta (for the carb eaters, of course).
How To Make Lemon Garlic Chicken:
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and then cook it in a hot skillet with a bit of oil. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
Deglaze the pan by adding in a splash of chicken broth and scraping up the browned bits. Add the remaining broth, lemon juice, and garlic and bring to a boil and reduce by half.
Add the cream and butter to make the sauce nice and creamy.
Return the chicken to the pan and let it simmer for a minute or two and then serve.
🍋Lemon Sauce For Chicken:
Our lemon sauce is so simple and only takes a few ingredients. It can be drizzled over any chicken you like, like our crispy baked chicken thighs.
Try making this sauce and serve it over grilled or roasted chicken next time. It adds so much fresh, zippy flavor.
Make this lemon sauce for chicken exactly as directed here, starting with step 4 in the recipe. No need to deglaze the pan, since you’ll be starting with a clean pan.
❓Recipe FAQs:
You can keep leftovers store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about 2 to 3 days. You can reheat in the microwave or on the stove. The sauce should thin back out as it reheats. You can add a little extra cream or milk if it is too thick.
If it seems like the creamy garlic lemon sauce is too runny and not thick enough, you probably just need to give it longer to reduce. The longer it cooks the more it will reduce and thicken!
I haven’t tried it with this recipe but I see no reason why boneless chicken thighs wouldn’t also work!
I’ve only tried this with the cream but some readers have commented that almond milk and coconut milk work too, though it may not be as thick or creamy.
🍽 More Low Carb Chicken Recipes:
Spinach Stuffed Chicken: This one was an instant hit here on the blog and for good reason! It’s easy, healthy, and full of goodness.
Slow Cooker Chicken Wings: These wings start in the slow cooker and then crisp up under the broiler. Easy!!
Air Fryer Chicken Breast: The perfect way to make some fried (low carb) chicken! The air fryer makes everything easy.
Low Carb Taco Soup: This recipe includes instructions for pressure cooking and slow cooking.
Cauliflower Chicken Fried Rice: This is one that my kiddos love for a quick lunch. I start with shredded cooked chicken and the whole thing comes together so quickly!
Creamy Lemon Chicken with Garlic
Ingredients
- 1 pound thin sliced chicken breasts
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon dill
Instructions
- Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering.
- Add the chicken to the skillet and cook until browned on each side and cooked through, about 8 minutes total. Remove chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Add the chicken broth, to the pan and whisk to deglaze the pan. Add the lemon juice and garlic to the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Allow chicken stock to reduce by half, about 10 minutes.
- Whisk the butter and cream into the chicken stock until butter has melted and mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Return chicken to the skillet and sprinkle with fresh dill. Cook for 1 minute to rewarm the chicken.
- Serve immediately.
Carol says
Excellent recipe as is but I have made this many times with other additions like pre cooked cauliflower, onions, spinach, tomatoes or whatever I have in the fridge.
Carmen B says
This is exactly how you described it…fast and delicious!!! I added some fresh sliced mushrooms.
Karly Campbell says
Thanks for the review, Carmen! Sounds delicious with mushrooms!
Alicia F says
We love this recipe. Quick and easy and the hubby, son, and daughter all eat it.
Karly Campbell says
Love it when a recipe works for the whole family! Thanks for the review!
Alicia Foreman says
I’ve made this several times now and still love it but my sauce is always pretty thin and runny. I want it thicker and creamier. What am I doing wrong or what should I do different?
Karly Campbell says
The sauce is meant to be pretty thin and runny, so I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. You can reduce the chicken stock a bit more to help thicken it before adding the butter and cream, but it’s really not going to get very thick since there isn’t any thickening agent in this. If you’re low carb, you could try sprinkling a little bit of xanthan gum over the top when you whisk in the cream, but I haven’t tried it in this recipe. I’d probably test it with just a little pinch (around 1/8th teaspoon) to start, because it can get slimy/weird if you use too much. If you don’t mind the carbs, you could make a cornstarch slurry and whisk that in to thicken things up.
Megan Price says
Super yummy but it takes forever to make. what is the point of boiling the chicken broth for 10 minutes?! That’s kind of a waste just to boil out half the broth.
Karly Campbell says
Takes forever? It’s a 20 minute recipe, haha. You boil the chicken broth to reduce it so that it’s a thicker, flavorful sauce.
Megan says
It took me 45 minutes. It says to cook the chicken 8 minutes each side plus boiling the chicken broth for 10 minutes. Plus prep and reheating the chicken. That’s not 20 minutes. Haha
Karly Campbell says
Oh gosh, it’s actually just 8 minutes total of cooking the chicken since it should be thin sliced chicken. It’s hard to gauge how long prep will take people, but all you really need to do here is season the chicken with salt and pepper and then you start cooking. Rewarming the chicken should only take a minute, since it’s thin slices and only been sitting out for about 10 minutes. Either way, I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe – might be quicker to make the next time. 🙂
LP says
Very tasty and easy to make!
Love that it only used one pan.
Ashly S says
10/10 this recipe is delicious! I did add shallots, oregano, and parsley flakes because I really like having all three of those in a creamy recipe. Throw this and the sauce on some noodles and it’s perfect!
Gretchen Brown says
Oh my yummmmm. This was OUTSTANDING. The only change I made was dairy free heavy cream due to allergies. It was PHENOMENAL! Thank you so much for such a great recipe!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you enjoyed it! What kind of heavy cream do you use that is dairy free? Never seen that before and my daughter is trying to eat more plant based so I’m always on the lookout for new things! 🙂
Gretchen Brown says
I used Califa Farms DF heavy cream. I also like the So delicious heavy cream, but I seem to only find that during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. It can be tough to find. I got mine at Harris Teeter here in NOVA. Hope that helps
Avery R says
I ended up putting a can of coconut milk in the fridge to allow the coconut cream to solidify on the top and I just used that for the cream aspect. It worked great!