Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Lemon Cream Sauce

These Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Lemon Cream Sauce are seriously good and they are so easy to make. Quick and delicious!

A Delicious Meal in 30 Minutes

I think the perfect weeknight meal is one that takes little time to prepare, but looks and tastes like you spent way more time on it than you did. This skillet chicken recipe definitely checks those boxes.

You have a wonderfully juicy chicken breast covered in a creamy lemon sauce served over a bed of rice. Tons of flavor and, with only 15 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of cook time, you are in and out of the kitchen in about 30 minutes.

Preparing Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Lemon Cream Sauce

Making the Sautéed Chicken Breasts

There’s nothing terribly difficult about preparing these tender chicken breasts. It’s a simple quick sauté in a hot skillet.

One reason it’s quick is that you use thin chicken breasts. They cook up quickly and still retain their juiciness.

To get them thin, I use a meat mallet to pound the chicken cutlets down to about ½ inch thick. If I happen to have a large chicken breast, I cut it in half first before pounding it out.

Prior to sautéing, I coat each chicken breast in a seasoned flour. The flour step is important as it helps the chicken to get a nice golden crust.

I sauté each piece of chicken in a hot skillet for no more than 4-5 minutes per side until they are a wonderful golden brown. Then, I set aside the sauteed chicken while I make the lemon cream sauce.

Making the Lemon Cream Sauce

And, with just a few simple sauce ingredients, the tangy, creamy sauce is ready in minutes as well. You use the same skillet that you just used to sauté the chicken breasts.

​The first step is stirring in some wine while scraping the brown bits (leftover from sautéing the chicken) off the bottom of the pan. Once that comes to temperature, you add in some chicken stock and bring to a gentle boil.

Then, the rest of the sauce ingredients go in, including fresh lemon juice, cream and a little salt and pepper. I have to tell you, a little bit of cream goes a long way, too. It’s only a quarter of a cup, but it’s just enough to thicken the sauce slightly and add a nice creamy texture, without adding a lot of extra calories.

Allow these ingredients to reduce in the skillet and thicken slightly. This isn’t a heavy, thick sauce.

Bringing it All Together

You’re just about there! Once the sauce has reduced slightly, add in the fresh chopped parsley and the cooked chicken. Make sure you coat the chicken pieces with the sauce and you’re ready to go.

Serve the chicken over rice and make sure you add the lemon cream sauce over the top of the chicken breast pieces and rice. You now have a wonderful chicken dinner the whole family will enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

• I find the easiest way to pound out the chicken breasts is to either put them in a zip top bag or on a plastic cutting board and cover them with plastic wrap. Then, pound them out with either a smooth meat mallet or the back of a small skillet.
• If your chicken breasts are extra large, you can reduce the number of breasts to two and cut them in half for 4 portions before pounding them out.
• Boneless chicken thighs also work well for this recipe. Since they are already relatively thin there’s no need to pound them out which saves a bit of time.
• If you prefer not to cook with wine, increase the amount of chicken stock to ½ cup plus 1 tbsp and omit the wine.
• I really the extra creaminess from using heavy cream, but if you want to lighten up the recipe substitute half and half.
• The chicken breasts are delicious on their own, but I do love to serve them over white or brown rice (which soaks up all that luscious lemon cream sauce) along with a side salad or lemon pepper green beans.

Ingredients Needed to Make Sautéed Chicken Breast with Lemon Cream Sauce

Full instructions can be found below in the printable recipe card

• Boneless skinless chicken breasts
• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• Olive oil
• White wine
• Chicken stock
• Fresh lemon
• Heavy cream
• Fresh parsley

How to Make Sautéed Chicken Breast with Lemon Sauce

• Put the chicken in a gallon size zip top bag and pound it out until it is about ½ inch thick.
• Put flour on a plate or in a shallow dish. Season with 1 tsp salt, ¾ tsp pepper and garlic powder.
• Coat the chicken with the flour mixture.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
• Sauté chicken breasts in the hot skillet for about 4 minutes per side, until cooked through.
• Remove from skillet and cover with foil to keep warm.
• Reduce to medium heat and add wine, stirring to scrape up any browned bits.
• Bring to a bubble and cook for 2 minutes.
• Stir in chicken stock and bring to a bubble.
• Stir in lemon juice, cream, remaining ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper.
• Cook for another few minutes to allow sauce to reduce and thicken slightly.
• Stir in fresh chopped parsley.
• Add chicken back to skillet turning to coat in the sauce.
• Serve chicken with sauce.