When I came across this recipe it immediately caught my attention when I saw two of my favorite words -- "easy" and "garlic." Easy Creamy Lemon Garlic Skillet Chicken had amazing flavor and was exactly what it was named -- easy! One pan and some simple ingredients made this a pretty quick and simple dish to make.
The original recipe called for boneless chicken breasts but I chose to use chicken tenders simply because I like that they're already portioned into smaller pieces. Here's the ingredient list (that my Sweetie said I should always include on these posts so you can make it more easily):
- About 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 3 tbs butter
- 1 small shallot
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tbs flour
- 1 cup cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- Juice from a medium lemon
- 2 tbs chopped parsley
- 1 smalled sliced lemon
Nothing too exotic there, eh? For me the most exotic ingredient was that I used fresh lemons instead of that jar of lemon juice that's always in the fridge. Ready? Hang on, this is going to go fast (remember, I told you it was easy!)! The olive oil was heated in a large skillet over medium-high heat and the chicken was browned on both sides and then removed and set aside to finish cooking in the cream sauce a bit later. Now, on to the sauce...
Once the chicken was removed I lowered heat a bit down to medium and added the butter. Once it was melted, in went the shallot, garlic, salt, and pepper. This only needed to cook for about a minute or two until the the shallot started to soften. Once the shallot was soft, the flour was added and stirred around until the shallot and garlic were pretty evenly coated with the flour and then cooked together for another minute or two.
Ready for the magic? The broth and cream went in to turn the brown bits of stuff into a wonderful creamy sauce. It only took a bit of stirring to scrape up any of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan and make sure there were no lumps from the flour. After being brought to a boil, the heat was lowered to maintain a simmer and....the chicken went back into the pan and simmered together with the sauce for about 4-5 minutes while the chicken soaked in some of that creamy goodness and the sauce thickened. You'll know the sauce is thick enough when it coats the spoon.
Once the sauce had thickened, the fresh lemon juice was squeezed in and stirred in. Remember, I used real lemons this time! I felt like I was one of those famous TV chefs slicing the thing in half and then mushing it in my hand to get all of the juice out. By the way, have you ever noticed that after you squeeze the lemon your hands smell like you've been washing dishes? Hmmmm, I wonder if citrus dish liquid would work as a substitute if you ran out of lemons or lemon juice?
While the chicken simmered in the sauce, I sliced another lemon for the decorative garnish. Pro-tip: Do NOT use the lemon you've squeezed to make juice as the garnish. The visual appeal will definitely not be the same.
Everything was transferred to a serving dish, lemon slices placed on top, and the parsley sprinkled over the dish to add a bit of contrasting color. Simple, right? It really was. This is a dish that can be put together pretty quickly and it certainly tastes like a lot more effort went into it. This one will definitely show up on our dinner table again!
Bon Appetit!
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