Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken Recipe, Its Ingredients, Instructions

Lemon-garlic chicken in cream

This lemon chicken is crispy and tender, so full of garlic and rustic flavors, it’s bound to knock your socks off, yet it only requires a fraction of the fat of typical creamy sauces.

Lemon. Garlic. The sweet paprika. Thyme (or even parsley). Cream. This 20-minute chicken meal in a pan is a hit with everyone.

Lemon Garlic Chicken Collage in Cream

Many of you have cooked the Creamy Sun Dried Tomato + Parmesan Chicken Zoodles and tagged me in your Instagram photos.

You love the flavors but want to know how to reduce the cream sauce’s fat content without sacrificing flavor.

Chicken stock is the solution (or chicken broth). You can still have the creamy sauce with less than half the fat of a standard cream foundation if the majority of the sauce is composed of stock and only a little bit of cream.

And with crispy chicken as a bonus.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 chicken thigh cutlets (skin on and bone in)* See Notes
• 2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed with the back of a knife (not minced)
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper (or cracked pepper – optional)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock (or broth)
• 1/2 cup cream (thickened/heavy cream or coconut cream may be used)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• salt to season
• 4 fresh sprigs of thyme (or 1 teaspoon of dried thyme is fine)
• Lemon wedges to serve

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chicken cutlets should be well-cleaned and dried with paper towels. Use salt to season. On medium heat, melt the butter in a sizable skillet or frying pan that is oven-safe. Fry the chicken cutlets until golden and crisp with the skin side down (place a lid on the frying pan to avoid the fat from the chicken spitting all over the stove). Chicken should be turned over and cooked until browned. Put the chicken on a platter, turn off the heat, and pour most of the fat from the pan (leave about 2 tablespoons of the oil for flavor).
2. Put the pan back on the stove and turn the heat down to low. The remaining oil in the pan should now contain the chopped onion, minced and smashed garlic, paprika, and lemon pepper (if using). Stir occasionally until the onion is transparent and the garlic is aromatic. Add the thyme and season with salt to taste.
3. Preheat your oven to the grill/broil setting at this point.
4. Add the cream, stock/broth, and lemon juice, then cook gently.
   Return the chicken to the pan, cover it with the lid, and boil the mixture gently for an additional 10 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
5. Bake the pan, allowing the skin to get crisp (it takes about 5 minutes).
6. Serve with fresh thyme sprigs and lemon wedges or slices.

NOTES

*Chicken thighs are a lower-fat alternative to chicken drumsticks or skinless breasts.