Lemon Butter Chicken
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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.
Did you make this recipe?
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Just made this and it looks & smells incredible! Gonna dig in!
Can I use boneless skinless chicken thighs? And do I need to adjust the cooking time?
Yes, absolutely. Cooking time should relatively stay the same but as always, please use your best judgment.
You can toss out the chicken and just eat the sauce over rice…its that good!!
This is absolutely an epic! so delish! Thank you Damn Delicious.
Just made this tonight. It was DamnDelicious! My husband loved it and it is really hard to get him to try anything new. Just found your site. Can’t wait to try the next dish!
i cooked it yesterday and my bf really like it. thank you for the recipe.
Delicious! I added Italian seasoning instead of Thyme and added diced onion in addition to the garlic. And I added some Ginger powder and Tumeric powder to the sauce. That was just cause I like the mixture of those two flavores. I also thickened up the sauce a bit with some flour cause I like my sauces a little thicker. It was really good!
In addition, I used the extra sauce to make a pasta side.
OMG! I do not write reviews ever! But this was amazing! Both my kids ate every bite! Will definitely be making this again!
I just made this! I used chicken breasts and put it over thyme seasoned brown rice. Delicious!
Sauce came out oily & thin. Poured it over fettuccini noodles. But didn’t’t care for the greainess
Made this tonight. I felt it didn’t need the cheese, and I would use less cream or cut it out altogether. The flavors of the butter, lemon, garlic, and thyme were terrific. Just felt it was heavier than it needed to be.
OH.MY.DELICIOUSNESS!!! I made this just now and had to post RIGHT AWAY! I loved it. I barely tasted the sauce and I’m in heaven…I close my eyes and groan with every bite while me husband looks at me like…”really?”….Yes, really. I am not a fan of thyme usually but lemon and cream and butter, uh yes! This was a perfect balance of all of them and the sauce…sigh. My new favorite way to eat chicken. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!
I made this tonight for dinner… I live alone and only had 1 chicken breast, so I scaled down the recipe…. Amazing!!! If it wasn’t 18 degrees outside if run to the grocery store to get more chicken! I’ll def made a full batch of this very soon!
Made this for dinner tonight. It was delicious. I added flour when I coated chicken in paprika to thicken the sauce 10/10!.
Chungah, do you think an enameled dutch oven could be used in place of a skillet for both the stove-top and oven parts of the recipe? I don’t have a large enough skillet that’s oven-safe, and it seems like the dutch oven would serve the same purpose.
Yes, absolutely.
I make this recipe so often. We love love love it. Thank you.
Need to make these immediately! My mouth is watering!
Greets,
Need to make these immediately! My mouth is watering!
Greets,
I made this last night and have to say it was incredible! Very easy and practical ingredients wise! A lot of times these dishes are so intimidating to make because of the 1,987,657 ingredients! Only change I would make is not chopping the spinach, and maybe adding a bit more so it’s more of a 2 in 1 if that makes sense 🙂 Love love love! Checking out many of these recipes and they all look great! You’ve found a new follower for sure! Keep them coming!
Was unable to get chicken today and was disappointed that I wasn’t going to be able to try it…until my husband brought out a pork steak cut of meat. Wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but smelled amazing while it was cooking…by my hubby nonetheless! Oh em gee, best sauce I’ve ever had!!! I even considered using it again tomorrow night and I’ve never liked repeat dinners. And the meat turned out perfect! Although it was pork, the searing made it more like a beef-style steak. Love love love this sauce and so did my picky 10- yr old who never liked any sauces!