Spicy Lemon Butter Chicken

About Spicy Lemon Butter Chicken

I just whipped up the most tantalizing dish—Spicy Lemon Butter Chicken—and couldn’t wait to share the recipe.

Crisp, juicy chicken pieces bathed in the creamiest spicy lemon butter sauce: are your taste buds tingling yet?

What’s fantastic about this recipe is not just its deliciousness but also its simplicity. It’s a one-pot wonder made with basic ingredients, perfect for a hassle-free lunch or dinner.

I opted to pan-fry the chicken breasts for that golden crispiness, but you can toss them in the oven or air fryer for a healthier twist.

And guess what? This recipe is super flexible. Need to feed a crowd? No problemo! Just double or triple the ingredients accordingly. Remember, if you’re frying up a storm, do it in batches to keep that chicken sizzling to perfection.

Ingredients

Chicken

I made this recipe using boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you can also use chicken thighs or tenders.

The cooking time will differ, as chicken thighs take longer than chicken breasts.

If you like crispy skin on the chicken, then you can leave the skin on, too.

To Coat The Chicken

You will need all-purpose flour, grated parmesan cheese, salt, and black pepper powder.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

To pan-fry the chicken, use good-quality extra virgin olive oil. If you don’t have olive oil, you can use any cooking oil.

For The Sauce

The crispy fried chicken is topped with a delectable sauce made using lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper powder, cold unsalted butter, and fresh parsley.

For a taste change, you can replace lemon juice with orange juice and orange zest.

There are many Italian seasonings available in the market, but if you can’t find them, you can use a combination of red pepper flakes, dried basil, dried oregano, and freshly cracked black pepper.

You can use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic, but fresh garlic’s taste is hard to match.

Add heavy cream to the recipe to make the sauce creamier and richer.

How To Make Lemon Butter Chicken

Coat The Chicken

Rinse 4 boneless chicken breasts with water and pat them dry using paper tissues.

Pound them using a meat pounder until they are quite thin.

Mix the following ingredients in a large shallow bowl.

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper powder

Dredge the chicken breast in the flour mixture from both sides.

Pan Fry The Chicken

Heat 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil in a 9-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Shake the chicken breasts to remove the extra flour coating and line them in the hot skillet in a single layer.

Fry for 4-5 minutes without disturbing, then flip the chicken breast using a pair of tongs.

Fry for another 3-4 minutes until golden brown from the other side as well.

Remove the fried chicken breasts to a plate and cover the plate with a lid.

Add the remaining oil to the pan and cook the other breasts.

Make The Sauce

Add the following ingredients to the same pan where we cooked the chicken and stir well to combine.

• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper powder

The bits of chicken sticking to the bottom of the pan in which we fried it contain all the flavors, and we don’t want to lose those flavors.

Cook on medium heat until the sauce is reduced to ⅓rd (3-4 minutes), stirring frequently.

Add 6 tablespoon cold unsalted butter (cut into 1-inch cubes) to the pan and cook until everything comes together (1-2 minutes), stirring frequently.

Serve The Chicken

Transfer the cooked chicken breast to the serving plates.

Pour the creamy lemon butter sauce over the chicken. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and a few lemon slices, and serve hot.