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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This recipe looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it! Though I’m a little confused about the nutritional info what do you mean by Servings Per Container as I’ve noticed that is what it says on most of the nutritional info you have been posting? That could be any amount. So this one says Servings Per Container 8, is that for the whole recipe? Thanks!
Stefani, the entire recipe yields 8 servings but the nutritional information that is listed is always for one serving.
Made this last night and my family loved it, ate every single piece of chicken. The grease on top of the sauce is really thick though, I had to syringe it off with a turkey baster.
Hello, I tried this tonight and it was good but I think I messes something up.. I followed it exactly, I just did 4 chicken thighs instead of 8 and didn’t add the spinach. However, my sauce seperate a little (all the butter was at the top) and it was very creamy. The sauce was white and I only added the 1/2 cup of cream. Do you think it’s because I didn’t add the spinach or maybe because I added the cream first and then the chicken broth? Help! Lol
Jessica, unfortunately, it is very difficult for me to say with certainty as to why the sauce was so white. And as mentioned in the previous comments, a little bit of separation is completely normal. But all in all, I hope you enjoyed the recipe!
Made this tonight and it was AMAZING! I did double the sauce portion and made it with boneless/skinless thighs. Hubs loved it as did I, thank you for a yummy, quick, elegant meal!
This recipe is AMAZING!!!!!!!
This recipe is AWESOME! I changed it up by using boneless/skinless chicken breasts cut in half and it was VERY good and leftovers heat up just as good!
Could this work with skinless boneless thighs?
Yes, absolutely, but cooking time may need to be adjusted as needed.
I made this tonight and I have to say…it was DELICIOUS! I stuck to the recipe with only one exception. I didn’t have any heavy cream. I don’t drink milk or eat yogurt, so I debated for a while what to substitute for the cream. Finally, I decided to try to sub with cream cheese, but I only used half of what was called for. It didn’t harm the dish at all! I wanted to bottle that sauce and drink it later. So good!! Thanks for a great recipe!
I can’t wait to try this! However, I am not a fan of lemon at all even though my sister says I used to suck on lemons as a kid. She is thinking of someone else as I have been a super taster for as long as I can remember. To me when lemon is in anything, all I taste is lemon and nothing else. That chicken I got once at a Chinese restaurant that had lemon slices in the take-out bag even though I asked them to leave them out tasted like I was eating a lemon, I couldn’t taste the chicken at all. I will leave out the lemon. Will let you know how we liked it after I make it.
Can you make these without the skin or with chicken breast and if you can how many breast pieces would you use
Mariam, you can certainly use boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or chicken breasts) but you may have to adjust cooking time as needed if breasts are used instead. I would estimate roughly 2 – 2 1/2 thighs per breast.
Oh my gosh. I made this the other day and it has to be the most easy and delicious recipe ever. I made the 8 thighs. Ate two right away, froze the rest in little baggies with a bit of broth and then heated it up for lunch.
Gave some to my boyfriend as well and he loves it! So happy to have this recipe. Super easy and SO good.
do you bake the chicken in the sauce? (i.e could i transfer the whole cast iron directly from the stovetop to the oven, or do i have to pull the chicken out of the pan and place it in a pan to bake separately from the sauce?)
Yes, you can transfer the oven-proof skillet directly from the stovetop to the oven. Easy peasy!
Finally made it today. Soooo good. Sauce was a little thin but it was really good on some white rice. How it turned out http://imgbox.com/PPKdynj0
Messy plate 😛
I just made this – exactly as the recipe was written. Delicious!!! It will be my go-to chicken dish from now on. With the left overs (I made it for myself so there are a lot of left overs) I will make sure to have a french baguette to soak up all that fantastic sauce (this time I just used a spoon). Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
I forgot to come back and leave a review…. I’m not the cook in the family. My fiancé is . Cooking to me is popping a frozen pizza in the oven , for him it’s about dirtying up every pan , every spoon and using every herb in the house . Well it was his birthday so I wanted to fix him a dinner that wasn’t frozen (which I did have frozen pizza on back up just in case haha ) . I found this recipe and wanted to give it a try …. We both loved it! The sauce didn’t thicken for me but I think that was my fault. We still poured it over the chicken tho and it was amazing!
Thank you for the recipe!
Served with jasmine rice. Damn. Delicious.
I was looking for a new recipe for chicken thighs and found this one as well as your Garlic Brown Sugar and the Sun Dried Tomato Cream recipes. Each one sounded delicious and I had a hard time deciding which one to make first. Obviously, I made this one first. It was outrageously delicious!! The only changes I made was to add a whole bag of spinach (unchopped) and fresh thyme. I cannot wait to make the next two! Thanks for sharing your recipes =)
Unfortunately fresh spinach does not agree with me – can I use kale instead?
Yes, absolutely. Kale would be a great substitute.
OMG! This is damn delicious! Seriously!
Hi does anyone have any ideas for side dishes
Desiree, please feel free to check out possible side dish ideas here.