Creamy Skillet Lemon Chicken

Creamy lemon chicken in skillet with lemon slices, cream cheese sauce and chopped parsley over top.

5 from 1 vote

Creamy Skillet Lemon Chicken

This delicious Creamy Skillet Lemon Chicken recipe is a simple recipe perfect for a quick weeknight dinner. Creamy lemon sauce with a tang from cream cheese makes this dish unlike any other chicken dinner. The refreshing lemon flavor will win the whole family over for sure!

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Author: Lorie Yarro

Ingredients

4 thin chicken breasts approx. 1 ½ lbs.
1/2 tsp sea salt, pepper and garlic powder to season chicken, more or less as desired
1 T olive oil
⅔-1 c chicken broth
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T butter
3 oz. Cream cheese
½ tsp pepper
¼ c lemon juice
Chopped parsley, lemon zest optional, for garnish

Instructions

Pat chicken dry with a paper towel and then season well on both sides with salt, pepper and garlic. Heat up a large skillet to medium-high heat and allow to heat up. Add in the olive oil and allow to heat up.
Add the seasoned chicken to the hot skillet and allow to cook uninterrupted for about 4-5 minutes. The chicken will easily pull away from the pan when it's ready to be turned. Flip and cook another 4-5 minutes on the other side and then continue to cook until the chicken comes to an internal temperature of 165°F. Remove from the pan and gently cover in foil to keep the chicken warm.
Shift the stove to medium heat. Add 2/3 cup of the chicken broth and deglaze the bottom of the pan scraping any browned bits. Add the butter and allow to melt and when just lightly bubbling, add the minced garlic and heat for about 1 minute.
Add the cream cheese and allow to melt, whisking well as you heat it to help it smoothly incorporate into the sauce. Add some extra chicken broth to thin it out a bit.
Once the cream cheese is melted, remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Add the chicken back to the pan and cover it with the sauce. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Notes

Allow your pan to get really hot. For that nice brown sear, make sure you allow enough time for your pan to get really hot. Allow the oil in the pan to heat up as well.

Use full fat cream cheese for best results. Lower fat dairy products can curdle in heat so sticking to the full fat cream cheese is ideal to add to the lemon butter sauce. Whisk it really well until smooth.

Make sure your chicken breasts are very thin. The cook time in this recipe is based off of chicken breast that is sliced very thin, no thicker than 1/2 inch. If you use larger pieces of chicken, it will certainly take much longer to cook.

Storage: Store any leftovers in a shallow airtight container for about 3-4 days. The shallow dish will allow for more chicken to sit in the sauce for extra moisture. Reheat in the microwave or bake in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes.

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