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.
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I can’t believe no one has asked about the rosemary. It’s not in the list of ingredients however, it is referred to in the directions. So, my question is, how much rosemary.
I made this last night, and it was delicious. I wasn’t sure if my partner was going to like it, but he demanded that I do this again soon.. So thank you!
However, the color of my sauce was more brown than the white sauce in the picture. And at the end, when I was ready to serve the chicken, there was not much sauce left in the pan. Not sure if the chicken absorbed it or if the sauce evaporated…Either way, the chicken was amazing.
Hi there! I am going to try to make this dish with Mahi Mahi. Would you recommend me adding extra butter to compensate for the reduced fat content? Thanks for any advice you could offer 🙂
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
I made these tonight and they came out fantastic. I followed the recipe to the tee, and reduced the heat to a low and let the sauce cook for 10 minutes on simmer to thicken. Perfection. Thank you!
You might try evaporated skim milk in place of the cream….it will give you that creamy texture.
Loved this dish! Second what Kathy says….would recommend a longer sear time and allow meat to cook longer to help eliminate the separation in the sauce. Although, my sauce had separated prior to going in the oven, Still tasted amazing, will definitely make again!
Really awesome dish!! Would recommend a longer sear at medium temp to render off more fat. That would allow the meat to cook a bit longer and eliminate the separation in the sauce others report, which is probably due to fat released in the oven cooking. The sauce is absolutely fabulous!!!
Just made this tonight and it was fantastic! Thank you from everyone!!!!!
Hello. Thank you for a new recipe. My house smells amazing! It had a lot of flavor but it needed something. Maybe I should have added more salt. And I think I will thicken the sauce more next time! Great first try though. My kids ate it too.
can you please post Nutrition Facts.
Thanks
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, it is best that you use free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
This was awesome, fiance liked it too 🙂
So I want a crock pot chicken recipe but then love the lemon idea. I think I’ll make your honey garlic chicken crock pot recipe and also the lemon cream sauce to put on over everything. Hope it works well!
I love that you added ranch! I love easy recipes like this!
When I was making the sauce the milk curdled when I put it in. Is that normal?
Curdling is not normal. Perhaps your heat source was set too high?
I made this tonight and my whole family loved it! Even the kid who claims to hate chicken! I used chicken tenderloins. Seared on each side for 2 minutes. Removed from pan, made sauce and returned to pan to finish cooking. Served over rice with limas beans. Everyone cleaned their plates.
This is an absolutely great sauce. We used skinless chicken breast, so coated with Panko bread crumbs before browning. Turned out great.
This was SO DELICIOUS! I wanted to lick my plate because the sauce was so yummy. Thanks for another awesome recipe!
Made this dish last night with a few modifications- chicken tenders instead of thighs and low fat milk in the sauce instead of cream- WOW was it good! So happy I came across your blog a few weeks ago- your recipes are amazing!
This looks sooo good I think I will try it tonight x
So I made this last night and it was almost perfection! I don’t know if I cooked it too long? But the cream sauce didn’t turn out so well. It looked like it seperated.. Any tips for the next time??
Perhaps the heat was set too high?
I made this recipe tonight. And while the flavors and chicken were delicious, my sauce seemed to become too fatty, and decidedly not creamy, when cooked with the chicken thighs. Did I miss a step where I’m supposed to remove the sauce from the pan before adding the thighs? That doesn’t seem right as you want the chicken to cook and soak in the flavors. anyway, I was a bit confused. Maybe add flour to the “drippings” before serving?
Thanks for another great recipe!
Phil, perhaps there was just too much excess fat? If there is too much, you can simply drain as needed, reserving about 1 tablespoon.
Phil, I’m with you! I felt like the cream sauce should have been made separately. This was tasty, but definitely not like the photo or directions indicated.