Lemon Pepper Chicken is an easy skillet dinner that your family will love. The simple and delicious lemony sauce pairs perfectly with the spice of black pepper.
Our family is always on the hunt for delicious dinners that come together quickly. I love having a dinner on the table that rivals any of our local restaurants when it comes to flavor.
This lemon pepper chicken recipe does just that. It is on the table in 35 minutes but has the most delicious lemony sauce. If you aren’t used to eating lemon flavored savory meals, please try this amazing chicken recipe. You will fall in love.
How to Make Lemon Pepper Chicken
This is just a brief overview of this great chicken dinner. For the full recipe with all of the measurements and more detailed instructions, make sure you scroll to the bottom of the post.
- Cut the chicken into cutlets. See photos for how to do this below.
- Make the coating for the chicken. In a shallow dish, whisk together the flour, lemon zest, ground black pepper, and kosher salt. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture.
- Cook the chicken. We are going to cook the chicken in olive oil in a skillet. Because we are cooking thin cutlets, we only need to cook the chicken for about 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the skillet.
- Make the sauce. Add chicken stock to the pan scraping up the browned bits from the pan. Add in butter, garlic, and lemon slices and bring the whole mixture to a simmer. Let it cook for 5 minutes so it reduces by half.
- Finish off the dish. Add the chicken back into the skillet, and spoon the sauce over. Serve everything over pasta.
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Lemon pepper seasoning is something commonly found in grocery stores in the Untied States. It is literally made of dehydrated lemon peel (or lemon oil) and black pepper. Sometimes it also has garlic and onion in it.
Because this isn’t something that is readily available world wide, I wanted to make a recipe that everyone can enjoy, regardless of where you live.
In this lemon pepper chicken recipe we are getting the great flavor a few different places. First, we are add lemon zest, black pepper, and salt to the flour the chicken is dredged in. Next, we add butter, garlic, and lemon to the chicken stock to make the sauce. The end result is the perfect lemon pepper taste that you are dreaming of.
Cutting Chicken into Cutlets
Chicken cutlets make for a very fast dinner recipe. Cutlets are made by cutting a chicken breast in half. Using a very sharp knife, you butterfly the breast open and then finish by cutting it all the way through.
Chicken cutlets can be purchased at the butcher counter, but given how large chicken breasts are these days, I prefer to buy a pound of chicken (usually two large breasts) and cut them myself. You can see how we do this below.
Dredging Chicken
Dredging chicken in flour before sautéing it in a skillet is like a cheaters way of breading it. Rather than doing flour, egg, and breading steps, we simply add a bit of flour around the chicken to get a nice coating in the skillet. This is a great resource on the difference between dredging and breading.
Serving Lemon Pepper Chicken
We love having this as lemon pepper chicken pasta by serving it over angel hair pasta. You could certainly keep this as a lower carb meal by serving this without pasta, or with zucchini noodles. In that case, I would recommend making a vegetable dish and a salad to go with dinner. You can find a few suggestions right above the recipe card below.
FAQ
This recipe is not gluten free as we dredge the chicken in flour that has been seasoned with lemon zest and black pepper before we sauté it.
Lemon pepper chicken has the great, bright taste of lemon with the subtle kick of black pepper. It isn’t sweet, and it isn’t bitter either. The two flavors work together perfectly with the butter, garlic, and chicken in this recipe.
Despite the black pepper in this recipe, lemon pepper chicken is not spicy.
What to Serve with Lemon Pepper Chicken
As mentioned above, we love this recipe over angel hair pasta. But if you want to make a low carb meal, you will want to skip the pasta and grab one (or all!) of these recipes.
- Mashed Cauliflower: This recipe would be absolutely delicious over mashed cauliflower.
- Air Fryer Broccoli would be a perfect easy side dish for this recipe.
- Tomato Bisque: Our creamy tomato bisque would be a fantastic balance to the flavors in this.
- Caesar Salad would accompany this dish in the most magical way.
If you make my lemon pepper chicken recipe, or any of my other recipes, let me know what you think! I love hearing how my recipes become part of your family dinners.
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in half into cutlets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup low sodium chicken stock
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 lemons cut into thin slices
- fresh parsley minced
Instructions
- In a shallow dish, whisk together 1/3 cup all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons lemon zest, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Toss the chicken cutlets in the flour mixture so they are well coated.
- In a large skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until an instant read thermometer reaches 165 degrees. Remove the chicken from the skillet and tent it to keep it warm. (There is no need to clean the skillet after this step.)
- Add the chicken stock, scraping up any brown bits. Add in the butter, garlic, and lemon slices. Bring the mixture to a simmer and continue cooking until it has reduced by half, about 5 mintues.
- Add the chicken back to the skillet, and spoon the sauce over it. Top with fresh parsley, serve over angel hair pasta, and enjoy.
Sherry says
This looks so good. My husband hates lemon anything. I am hoping to try with just lemon pepper seasoning and make my sauce richer and he will enjoy-fingers crossed. Loved your sour cream chicken.