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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Great! hugry now, I have to try this this week. Thank you for sharing!
Made this tonight following the recipe on the most part. Thighs weren’t available so I used drumsticks. Followed spices as written and also added garam masala which REALLY goes well with roasted chicken. Added that pop to this recipe.
I’m pretty hard to please so the fact I think this recipe came out very good is saying something.
i made this tonight. It was wonderful, and I know the leftovers will
Be outstanding. The sauce was a bit lemony….I used a large lemon. It
Might be better to to use an exact amount measure. I put it
over brown rice, but next time I’m going to try egg noodles. I
might even double the sauce!
Made this for dinner last night and it was a big hit! I used flattened chicken breasts instead of the thighs. I also used white wine in place of the broth. Served the dish over orzo that was cooked in chicken broth. I couldn’t pull myself away from the table. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds and looks delicious. However, I never want to vary from a blogers recipe until I have followed it exactly. But, would I get the same results if I used all parts of the chicken. Each family member has a choice as to which piece of chicken they enjoy. Thanks!
It should be fine but you may have to adjust cooking time as needed to ensure that all the chicken parts have been completely cooked through.
Chungah, this chicken dish was damn delicious!! After making this I came back for more pins! You had me at, “so good you could just drink the sauce”! It was as delicious as you described. Thanks for sharing : ) I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!!
I just made this, and it was absolutely amazing. I did not think I would literally want to drink the sauce as you suggested I would. I may or may not have tipped my plate into my mouth at the end of the meal. Yeah okay I drank the sauce!
I did use boneless, skinless chicken thighs and it turned out perfectly (no adjustment in cooking time needed)
Thanks!
Looks delicious! Will be making for dinner tonight!
I had this recipe saved in my favs and was looking around for something to do with chicken thighs tonight. This is a keeper! I had to make a few little changes. I had boneless/skinless thighs. No heavy cream, only half and half. No spinach, just kale. Added rosemary as it’s my fav spice for chicken. Added the parm only as a topping just before popping it in the oven. My experience is that any recipe where you stir in parm you end up with more parm on the spoon and skillet than in the dish. Anyway, all done in an iron skillet and it was wonderful! Thanks! Next time I’ll try it with spinach. I agree with another poster…this is a restaurant quality dish!
Hi,
Made this dish for dinner last night. Holy smokin’ paprika, this is one amazing dinner. I think next time, tho I’ll use skinless, boneless thighs since I can’t bring myself to eat the skin. But the flavors are wonderful.
I have a convection oven and would like to know if that would affect cooking time?
I have found that convection ovens are a little bit hotter so I would reduce cooking time by about 5 minutes, or more, as needed.
this really looks yummy … I’m gonna try to make this evening
Sorry if this seems a silly question but what is meant by quicken broth? Is thus the same as stick?
Vicky, are you referring to chicken broth? Chicken broth is simmered liquid food preparation made from the bones and meat of a chicken. Additional flavoring from spices and vegetables is often included in chicken broth as well.
Thank you, sorry for my bad typing there! Do you have a recipe for this? I’ll have a look, if not I’m sure I’ll easy find one on the net. Just one more question, I assume the cup measurement referees to a US measurement, which goigle says I’d equivalent to 236ml?
I do not have a recipe for this at the moment but there are many available online. And yes, the cup measurements refer to U.S. measurements. There are many free online conversion measurements available to meet your requirements.
Many thanks for your prompt replies and inspiration, I can’t wait to try this!
Hi, this recipe looks marvelous. My question, does cooking the spinach in the oven 25 minutes not turn it to mush? Thanks
Not at all!
Is there anything you could recommend to replace the spinach as I can’t eat cooked spinach?
You can try a different type of green – arugula, kale, etc.
I’ve never had lemon with spinach before. Thanks to this recipe I intend to incorporate it into spinach (with the garlic, paprika, and a touch of cream) as a side dish. It’s wonderful.
My husband let me have the ‘extra’ piece of chicken because he wanted the rest of the sauce to sop up with crusty sourdough bread. Both elements are delicious. I did make a small change based upon the issues some people were having with the cream separating. I waited to add the cream. I brought the sauce to a boil, reduced the flame, then added the cream. We also used frozen spinach (defrosted and drained) and only 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter divided. The final result was a slightly healthier and less costly dish which still hit all the high flavor points wonderfully.
Next time I intend to aim for more of a gravy rather than a thin sauce. Like many pan sauces, I’ll simply remove the veggies & meat after cooking, place the pan over the heat, and reduce the sauce over a medium flame for a couple of minutes – adding a touch more dairy to finish. Either way it’s a lovely sauce/gravy with flavorful lemony chicken.
Love to try this recipe it’s look yummy! Had a recipe very similar! Yummy! Can’t wait!
Hi. I made this twice now. It was awesome! But the second time, I used the bone in skin on thighs and the grease/fat really distracted from the sauce. I wasn’t sure how to remove all that greasy fat. We ate it all, but I think next time I will use skinless boneless thighs? Any other suggestions?
Shey, you can trying draining off some of the fat after the initial sear.
I just made this for the 2nd time tonite. I don’t remember whether I drained the liquid from the initial sear the first time I made it, but I had to tonite. I completely washed my skillet because there was too much black seasoning on the bottom. I love this recipe exactly like it is! Well, maybe i add more spinach because i love fresh spinach. lol I made mashed potatoes (and used the sauce for gravy) and garlic parmesan spaghetti squash. I’m so glad I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
You can also just pull the fat off the thighs under the skin. I did that and didn’t have too much grease as a result. Great recipe and was delicious. I didn’t bring sauce to boil before adding lemon juice And had no separation of cream and acidic lemon juice. Very yummy and will make again.
Thank you and will check out more entries on your blog !
Looks amazing. I’m making it tonight but I can’t have spinach. Do you recommend any adjustments? Thank you.
Do you have any other greens available, such as kale or arugula?
No. I made it without and it turned out great. We’re making it again but doubling the sauce ingredients because it was so yummy. Thanks!
I made this last night and it was great. Restaurant quality. We are having left overs tonight. YUM!