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.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
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I have made this dish twice before. I use it as a family time meal. My children enjoy coming in the kitchen and taking part in making this dish. We laugh…we talk. Love it. Great way to teach them how to cook once they are older and on their on.
Made this for dinner tonight. What can I say…. it’s was fab! We made it with 4 bone in chicken thighs and used the full sauce recipe. We serve it with capellini pasta and it has made our best of the best list. The only thing we changed was double the garlic and added red pepper flakes to give it a little heat. The lemon butter sauce was thin, but delish and worked perfectly with a half box (8oz) of pasta. We added a side salad and it feed two of us with one thigh each. We are looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow.
Great job DamnDelicious!!
This was SO yummy. It sounded good, but tasted even better. I followed the directions except: (1) I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts since one of my family members doesn’t like bones in their chicken and two others don’t like dark meat–it was awesome this way; (2) I doubled the sauce which I highly recommend–it is truly drinkable, and I took so many test sips while it was cooking that I’m glad I did double it; (3) I used 2 cups of fresh spinach even though I should have used 4 since I doubled the sauce. I don’t love spinach enough to have a ton in the recipe. Also, I chopped the spinach before measuring and throwing it in. It appears that Chungah had hers chopped before throwing it in as well from the video. In short, this was awesome and I will definitely make this again on a regular basis!
I will be using boneless, skinless too. Same cook time or less?
My family LOVED this dish! Everyone cleaned their plates, and it appealed to all five of us. It sounded good, but tasted even better. I followed the directions except: (1) I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts since one of my family members doesn’t like bones in their chicken and two others don’t like dark meat–it was awesome this way; (2) I doubled the sauce which I highly recommend–it is truly drinkable, and I took so many test sips while it was cooking that I’m glad I did double it; (3) I used 2 cups of fresh spinach even though I should have used 4 since I doubled the sauce. I don’t love spinach enough to have a ton in the recipe. Also, I chopped the spinach before measuring and throwing it in. It appears that Chungah had hers chopped before throwing it in as well from the video. In short, this was awesome and I will definitely make this again on a regular basis!
This recipe is amazing! It taste so wonderful and is
so easy to prepare.
What sides are recommended for this recipe?
I roast asparagus as a side, which works perfectly with the sauce. I also served with rice once and mashed potatoes another time – both were hits!
This looks super delicious. Can’t wait to try this tonight.
This is by far the best chicken recipe ever! And you’re right the sauce is unbelievable. Tasted like a fine restaurant quality dish. The amazing part it was pretty simple to make. Thank you for sharing this recipe. This will be a family favorite for years to come.
I am definitely going to make this dish again! It was quite tasty!
This is an excellent recipe, very much restaurant quality.
My entire family LOVE this recipe. The Parmesan cheese seems to clump even though I add it slowly. Any suggestions?
What I learned when adding cheese to any sauce is that you must let the roux first cool down then add the cheese slowly. And also having the cheese at room temperature when adding really helps as well. The high heat makes the cheese clump
I have this in the oven right now and it smells AMAZING! My husband is super exited to try this. This may have been answered already but I gotta know, please… should I cover or uncover once in the oven?
For those concerned about the sauce, just reduce it more before adding back the chicken.
Ive made this 20 times …..its now a family staple along with
Several recipes of Marcella Hazan.Thx so much.Brava to you
Delicious!! I made double & only a few pieces are left. This one’s a keeper!
What if I don’t have an oven proof pan; can I use a baking pan?
Yup, we use a deep baking pan and heat for the same punt of time. Also, if anything gets too srospy, you can cover it with alfoil.
It was great. I didn’t have spinach so I used asparagus. Has very good flavor
Absolutely fantastic! My roommates loved it.
Made this for my family. SUPER tasty, great flavors! I wish the sauce was a tad thicker, but other than that, DELISH! Husband wants this on rotation 🙂
I added thinly sliced potatoes after the spinach (I used about 4 cups of spinach), seasoned potatoes, increased liquid to come up to potatoes, put chicken on top, covered and baked until potatoes were fork tender. It was very very good! Easy, one pot meal that my family loved. Will definitely make again. As far as sauce, I didn’t mind it being runny, I wasn’t expecting it to be “thick”. I supposed if you wanted a thicker sauce you could make a roux with chicken fat/butter, flour, cream/chick broth. Then add veggies.