Lemon Dijon Chicken
A fresh lemon infused dinner that comes together in a pinch!
Chicken dinner falls on one of two ends of the spectrum — it’s either a dry mealy mess of diet food or it’s a heartburn-inducing fried delight of comfort. With this Lemon Dijon Chicken, the daily chicken dinner has found a steady and stable middle ground. Pan-seared chicken is cooked in a light-roux-based pan-dripping sauce fortified with lemon, mustard, and fresh herbs for a dinner that balances both sides of the coin.
While chicken has had a long-running partnership with creamy, cheesy sauces, this lighter mustard-based sauce is thickened slightly and packed with so much flavor, that you won’t miss the heavy sauces at all!
Start by pan-searing the chicken breasts. Don’t worry about cooking the chicken completely, as it’ll cook again later in the pan.
Once the chicken is cooked and removed, whisk in flour, mustard, butter, and lemon juice. You’ll want to whisk this well to remove any potential flour lumps. When the roux is smooth, add in wine or stock to deglaze the pan. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to incorporate any brown bits of seasoning from the chicken.
Slice the chicken (it will be raw) and place it in the pan with the sauce. Cover it with lemon slices, simmer the chicken and sauce until the chicken is completely cooked through, it’ll take anywhere from three to four minutes.
Served straight from the skillet, this Lemon Dijon Chicken is a delightful weeknight and weekend dinner. The ingredients are easy to acquire, and the results yield a restaurant-worthy dish.
The chicken is tender and juicy, while the sauce is smooth and complex from the lemon and mustard. Adding a tiny bit of flour thickens the sauce without making it too heavy.
You can serve this in a variety of ways. Roasted potatoes or a fluffy pilaf would be great sides for a weeknight. To fancy it up, you could also serve it over pasta. The pan sauce from the skillet coats the pasta in the most satisfying way possible.
It’s a recipe that can always be on standby and is ready to jump in to solve any recipe roadblock you have during the week!
Lemon Dijon Chicken
Allergens: Poultry
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast of mostly even size, about 4 average sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 cup white wine or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 lemon sliced, optional for garnish
- 2 teaspoons roughly chopped fresh parsley
- Pasta or rice, to serve on the side
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat up olive oil and add in the chicken.
- Sear the chicken on one side, about 5 minutes. Don’t move the chicken breasts around. Flip the chicken to the other side and cook for an additional 4 to 5 minutes (if your pieces are thicker it may take more time.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Whisk in flour, mustard, butter, and lemon juice. Once the sauce starts to thicken Deglaze the pan with the wine or stock, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan to remove any golden brown bits of food.
- Once the liquids come together to form a sauce, slice up the chicken and add it back into the pan (if it’s not a hundred percent cooked all of the way through it’s okay, it’ll cook completely in the skillet). If you’re using the lemons, add in the sliced lemons now.
- Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes to cook the chicken completely, soften the sliced lemons, and thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve over pasta or rice, enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Averie Cooks.