Lemon Butter Chicken
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
Easy crisp-tender chicken with the creamiest lemon butter sauce ever – you’ll want to forget the chicken and drink the sauce instead!
Happy New Year! I know I should really be sharing some sort of salad or quinoa recipe with the start of the year but you know me and my chicken thigh obsession. I just can’t get enough, especially when a lemon butter cream sauce is involved.
And if you’re in the need of some clean greens for the new year diet, well, this dish has plenty of baby spinach. Good enough, right?
Plus, these chicken thighs carry quite a bit of punch with that fresh, zingy lemon flavor and that smoky goodness from the paprika. And this cream sauce is absolutely heavenly. Just be sure to have a spoon ready because you’ll want to sip on it straight from the pan!
Lemon Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 cups baby spinach, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Season chicken thighs with paprika, salt and pepper, to taste.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; set aside.
- Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the Dutch oven. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream, Parmesan, lemon juice and thyme.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat, stir in spinach, and simmer until the spinach has wilted and the sauce has slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to the Dutch oven.
- Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
My family loved it. Their only complaint was that there was too much oil in the sauce. Very tasty!
I’ve made this many times and it’s delicious but sometimes the sauce is too liquidy how do you get it to thicken?
Our favorite chicken recipe! I cook it in a 12-inch cast iron skillet from stove to oven. I add the spinach, unchopped, after it comes out of the oven so it’s just wilted. Remove the thighs, stir in spinach and cooked linguine or other long pasta, let it soak up the juices for a few then dish up the pasta with chicken on top. Divine!
This is a wonderful tasty recipe that I’ve been making for about 4 years now so I thought I should let you know how everyone loves it when I serve it! In regard to people saying the sauce is too thin, that’s probably what I like about it most because I serve it with garlic bread to dip into the sauce. I double the spinach so I don’t have to make a side dish separately and the extruded water from that makes the sauce even a little thinner, but great for dipping bread into! A real one-pan, easy and delicious meal for us!
Made this and it was delicious! So simply yet so tasty!
This is such a good recipe. My sauce thickens every time. I use fresh grated Parm and fresh shredded parm, maybe that’s why it thickens. We also have done this with boneless skinless thighs, breasts, bone in skin on thighs and tenders. All have been phenomenal. We also do spinach and arugula served over rice or quinoa. I leave my lid off of my dutch oven. We do double the sauce and the next day we add shrimp and serve over gluten free noodles.
This recipe is fabulous with catfish fillets! We live on a lake and have catfish readily available.
Can you leave the parmesean out?
You can leave it out, the parmesean makes the sauce a little thicker, so you might want to add in a little cornstarch to compensate.
The BEST chicken EVER! I double the sauce because my whole family can’t get enough of it!
One of my go to recipes. It’s so easy to make and tastes great too!
My husband and I have made this for years. After the first batch I made some modifications. My favorite part was the spinach but when I triple the spinach it watered down the sauce too much so I doubled the rest of the sauce ingredients. We usually only cook 4 thighs for just the 2 of us.
You keep the dutch oven uncovered in the oven?
How long would you bake if using boneless chicken breasts? Thank you!
I want to make this for a large group, how would you modify the instructions to make ahead the day before and reheat the day of..whats the best way to make as much as possible ahead without sacrificing taste?
I have made this several times and have to refrain from drinking the sauce! Yeah, it’s that good. My question is have you ever mixed in uncooked rice to the sauce before putting it in the oven? I’m wondering about liquid quantity and cook time and whether that would work for a one pot meal.
I like to add pearl couscous to it. It does suck up the sauce, so you will want extra liquids
@Ashley I have never covered it. I usually use a roasting pan and leave it uncovered.
I have been making this for years
Does anyone know if we leave this uncovered or covered in oven ?
Uncovered
After returning chicken to the Dutch oven and placing in the oven… do you cover or leave uncovered ?
Uncovered
I have been making this for years, after my girlfriend, now wife asked me to make this for her. Now, my two kids 6 and 8 love this recipe.
I make this once a week. Its damndelicious.
This was awesome! I doubled the sauce, added some corn starch and added diced tomatoes. I also added a dash of red pepper to give it a little kick. I put it of some linguini pasta. Made steamed broccoli and dipped it in the lemon butter sauce!!! Amazing! I could see this being great with shrimp as well!
This was awesome! I doubled the sauce, added some corn starch and added diced tomatoes. I also added a dash of red pepper to give it a little kick. I put it of some linguini pasta. Made steamed broccoli and dipped it in the lemon butter sauce!!! Amazing! I could see this being great with shrimp as well!