Crispy Lemon Garlic Chicken
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This Crispy Lemon Garlic Chicken with a silky butter sauce might very well be my absolute favorite way to eat chicken breasts. Lemons provide a vibrant citrus base for the sauce, giving this dish a light, bright feel. The butter–oh the butter!–lends a velvety richness to the sauce that perfectly balances the acidity of the lemon juice and white wine.
With each bite, you get crunchy breading, tender chicken inside, and a burst of flavor from the sauce. It’s worth the work!
This recipe was a winner with my family and is probably my favorite Freezer Club meal we’ve had so far. I often serve it on top of whole wheat angel hair pasta, but tonight we had it with Basic Roasted Vegetables. Unforgettable.
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Crispy Lemon Chicken with Butter Sauce
Try this light, fresh-tasting twist on breaded baked chicken breasts. It is sure to become a family favorite.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (sub: all purpose flour or gluten-free flour)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 3/4 cup dry white wine (sub: unsalted chicken broth)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving
- Sliced lemon, for serving
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Instructions
Make It Now:
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Set Up Breading Stations: Mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a shallow plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs and 1 tablespoon of water together. Pour out the bread crumbs onto a third plate.
- Pound Chicken: Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound out to 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
- Dredge Chicken: Dip each chicken breast in the flour, then shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures. (Freezing instructions begin here.)
- Saute Chicken: Coat the bottom of a large saute pan with a thin layer of oil (about 2 tablespoons) and heat over medium to medium-high heat until shimmery. Add two of the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place them on the sheet pan. Wipe out the pan and add more olive oil to coat the bottom. Saute the remaining two chicken breasts for 2 minutes on each side. Place on the sheet pan with the others.
- Bake Chicken: Bake for 5 to 10 minutes while you make the sauce. Chicken is done when it registers 165°F internally or there’s no pink in the middle.
- Make Sauce: For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a paper towel. Over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter until bubbly and hot. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add the lemon juice, wine, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine.
- Serve: Place a chicken breast on each plate. Spoon some sauce over it, top with a little fresh parsley, and serve with a lemon slice on the side.
Freeze For Later: Follow Steps 2-4. Place breaded chicken in a flat freezer bag in single layers divided by parchment paper. Prepare sauce in Step 7, cool, and place in freezer safe container. Freeze chicken and sauce together as a meal kit.
Prepare From Frozen: Let chicken and sauce thaw in refrigerator. Follow Steps 5-7.
Notes/Tips
Recipe update on 3/20/23: I added garlic, reduced white wine by 1/4 cup, and removed the instruction to include the lemon halves while cooking the sauce to knock back some of the lemon flavor.
This looks like it would be a tasty dish. However, it is not Chicken Piccata. Your recipe is caught somewhere between Piccata and Francese. In Piccata the chicken is merely dredged lightly in the flour. No egg nor panko/bread crumbs. Also at the end when finishing the sauce with more butter you add capers as well.
Yes, not traditional for sure. Maybe a name more like Lemony Crispy Chicken would work better.
How is it that the breaded chicken isn’t soggy when you defrost it?
If you freeze it between layers of parchment paper, it really does well after you saute it. I’ve made breaded chicken many times and frozen it. Just don’t stack them on one another. Hope that helps!
2/3 cup of lemon was way too much for me. I’d start with 1/4 c and increase to taste
★★★
Thanks for your feedback. Good idea to start with less and increase according to taste.
This was very good. I don’t love the whole chicken pounding, dredging experience so i did a bunch up tonight and put it in the freezer. We ate a third of it tonight and have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. PLUS enough for two more meals in the freezer. That makes me very happy! I wasn’t sure about the sauce so I used less lemon than called for. It was great and would have been totally fine with all the lemon.
This recipe looks like a keeper! Do you ever use chicken broth or another substitute instead of the wine?
Hi Andrea,
I have only used white wine, but I’ve subbed chicken broth for white wine in other recipes and think it would be a good alternative. This is an awesome recipe for sure!
Rachel