Herb Chicken with Lemon Cream Sauce
This cream sauce is seriously out of this world. So tangy, buttery, creamy and just melt-in-your-mouth AMAZING!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We spent most of our day watching Butters running around in a sequin Santa suit.
Yes, that’s really a sequin suit. It’s truly amazing. And something I want to leave on 365 days out of the year.
But more importantly, I need this lemon cream sauce in my life more than anything.
Coupled with the browned up bits from searing the chicken with added butter, garlic, and heavy cream, this cream sauce is E-P-I-C.
I may even want to try this again in pasta form because like I said – this sauce is everything.
This and the santa suit.
Now my life is complete.
Herb Chicken with Lemon Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 8 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the lemon cream sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, combine olive oil, mustard, lemon zest, thyme and rosemary; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using your fingers or a brush, work the mixture onto both sides of the chicken.
- Melt butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; drain excess fat, reserving 1 tablespoon, and set aside.
- Add garlic and red pepper flakes to the skillet, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream, lemon juice and basil; season with salt and pepper, to taste
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet.
- 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 is so good and so easy to make! I paired with some baby reds and some seasoned green beans and boy did we eat good tonight! I can’t wait to make it for my mom and change her mind on lemon chicken…
I love this recipe so much! I always double the sauce on the chicken and I’m sure it would taste great with chicken thighs but I used chicken breasts. My absolute favorite recipe.
Delicious! The sauce is to die for! Thank you for this recipe!
What can I do but add my kudos to all the rave reviews below! My husband and I slurped up every drop of this lemon sauce. Since I was only making dinner for just us two, I was afraid the sauce would evaporate, so I followed others’ advice and cooked it on the stove, but if cooking for 4 or more I would follow the recipe as written. Another excellent recipe from Damn Delicious!
Wow, wow, wow!!! I am a caterer and was looking for a lemony chicken recipe. This one was a huge win! I’m serving at a wedding tasting tomorrow. Thank you!
I used the sauce on baked chicken breast using the dripping from the pan. Flavor was good but a bit too sour so next time I’ll use half lemon instead. Paired up with mushrooms risotto, oh so yummy!
Great dish family loved it will have again
can i use chicken breasts instead of thighs ?
This recipe will be a permanent addition to my dinner rotation! Absolutely divine!
Phenomenal! I’m so impressed with the intense flavour it such a short time. Did this chicken with roasted potatoes and broccoli. Husband loved it.
I’ve made it twice now, and it definitely ruins the sauce to cook it in the oven with the chicken. The sauce was perfect going in; came out of the oven thin and separated. So I’ll sear the chicken, cook separately in the oven, and finish the sauce on the stove. Then it’ll get 5 stars! I’m going to try to make the sauce separately to have with other meals because it really is delicious.
This was delicious! Unfortunately for some reason the sauce wasn’t very thick, but it was so tasty we didn’t care. Ate it with steamed broccoli and rice to start; leftovers with mashed red potatoes. YUM! Wasn’t sure how much 8 chicken thighs was supposed to be weight-wise, so I bought 8 (just for 2 of us). They were huge so I only cooked 6 and we had the last 2 for lunch. Worked out great. I’m dedicated to your site now! The quick pasta sauce is in the regular rotation and never disappoints.
I made this last night and loved it! Served over angel hair pasta and added artichoke hearts before putting it into the oven.
My boyfriend said it was even better the next day with the noodles soaking up the extra sauce. This will be going into our heavy meal rotation!
This is a really good dish and I’ve made it twice. The first time I thought I did something wrong because the sauce didn’t thicken appropriately, so the next time I made sure to follow measurements closely. Well the same thing happened again, so I thickened it with a cornstarch slurry. My entire family enjoys this dish. Thanks for sharing such great dishes!
Really wonderful recipe. Do you think it could be prepared and then Frozen? Thx
I make this with chicken breasts over tri color tortellini and we just love it! My boyfriend would have it every week if he had it his way. A relatively simple recipe that will have guests majorly impressed with what seems like a very complicated dish! Definitely worth making. My lemon cream sauce has never come out as thick as it looks on the picture, but still majorly delicious especially with a crusty bread on the side.
I removed my chicken and baked separate. Quickly sautéed onion and red pepper (separate pan) ; then added just a tiny bit of white wine (maybe 2 TBSP) to that in a shallow cast iron and baked the chicken atop of that (minus recipes sauce) on 450 for 15min. It was super juicy and crispy.
Made my sauce with white wine instead of chicken broth. I listened to a previous reviewers tip to leave the heavy cream until last (do not boil!) add butter and just lower heat and stir until warm at the end. I also added a bit of angel hair to my sauce and served the chicken on the side. Oooohhh myy gosh, the best food I’ve ever cooked.
Never boil the cream. Add it last and bring it to warm. I use dry white wine or cooking wine as well. Make a reduction with this, the lemon and some broth, in addition to plenty of butter. Add the cream last
Made this tonight and it was ah-mazimg! I used boneless chicken thighs instead of bone in and it was great. The hubby loved it and asked me to make it again!
My whole family loves this dish! I cannot use cream due to issues with dairy, so I use the cream on top of coconut milk. It tastes amazing. Thankfully I can handle small amounts of butter, so I still use that. Thanks for sharing. We eat it a few times each month over noodles.
DELICIOUS! Easy weeknight recipe to throw together. I used boneless skinless chicken breast, as I don’t like dealing with bones. It’s good with some rice and makes good leftovers! I also just used “italian seasoning” on the chicken, which is a combo of the herbs in the recipe.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Milou!