This one-pan Paleo lemon chicken recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, clean eating, and Whole30 compliant. I make it all the time. We love it. This recipe is much more about the technique than the ingredients. It's a great weeknight meal to make for the whole family.
This recipe has a simple breading and after it's all golden brown, you make a quick lemon sauce right in the pan. Make some extra sauce to put over noodles, cauliflower or the carb of your choice.
My children love this sauce and fight over all the last bits in the pan. I really like it with roasted asparagus or roasted broccoli on the side. If you have picky eaters, you can even give them a chicken finger before you put the lemon sauce on it and let them dip it in ketchup or honey mustard sauce.
Whenever I make this for guests, they are always surprised by how fast it comes together and how good it tastes for so little effort and they always want the recipe.
This easy weeknight clean eating lemon chicken skillet dinner recipe is another one of my recipes I've made a hundred times or more. Yes, when I get a recipe the whole family can eat and enjoys, I make it a lot.
The whole family loves it and it's easy to adapt. I've made this so many weeknights and even for guests. The only person in my family who doesn't like it, won't eat chicken. Ever. So she doesn't count if you ask me.
There are tons of variations you can do with this recipe
- We'll each them as plain chicken tenders with some Italian seasoning, paprika and garlic powder added to make them taste really flavorful.
- You can take this basic clean eating lemon chicken recipe and at the end, use about half the amount of lemon and add heavy cream (not half and half or milk) and stir until it thickens and eat it either as a sauce on the side or make a little more and make it a little thinner and use it as a pasta sauce.
- Add some onions to the cold pan and do the same thing with the seasoning and flour and you've got easy pan-fried onions. My entire family fights over these.
- On fish for fish tacos.
- In a taco salad. Just use the ingredients you would normally put on a ground beef taco salad, but instead use this breaded chicken. So good. Especially with grape tomatoes and homemade mayonnaise as the dressing.
- Make the chicken tenders and at the end, use cream or half-and-half and make a simple white sauce right there in the pan. It's really good if you add some roasted garlic. Then it's kind of like chicken fried steak, but with chicken.
- Do the same technique I mention right above this, but use hamburger or pounded steak and you've got an actual chicken fried steak. Add some spices, like red pepper, garlic and plenty of pepper and I like it better than a chicken-fried steak from most restaurants.
I hope you like my recipe. I think it's awesome and I hope you do too. Please comment below and let me know what you think about it.
This easy roasted vegetables recipe is my #1 way to cook vegetables. I'm obsessed and you will be too. Try it with any recipe. Simple, Healthy Roasted Vegetables Recipe
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One Pan Paleo Lemon Chicken Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Paleo
Description
This lemon butter chicken has a simple breading and after it's all golden brown, you make a quick lemon sauce right in the pan. I've made this hundreds of times and I still love it. Make extra sauce to put over noodles, cauliflower or the carb of your choice.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ Pounds Chicken tenders
- ⅓ Cup Flour of Choice (such as cassava flour *, Paleo flour, TigerNut Flour *, gluten-free flour *, regular flour, wheat flour, einkorn flour *, spelt flour * or arrowroot starch *. I've tried so many kinds of flour and they all turned out.)
- Real Salt * (to taste)
- Ground Pepper (to taste)
- ¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Tbl Grass Fed Butter (divided (leave out for dairy-free or use an oil of your choice))
- 1 Cup Chicken Stock
- Fresh Lemon Juice (Use juice of 1 ½ large or 2 small lemons)
- 1 Fresh Lemon (for garnish)
- Fresh Parsley (for garnish)
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour with a few pinches of salt and pepper.
- Toss the chicken tenders in the flour until well coated.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil to medium/high in a large frying pan.
- Add 1 tablespoon of the butter.
- Add half of the flour coated chicken tenders to the skillet, keeping them from touching. Cook until the chicken is golden brown on the bottom.
- Turn over and brown on the other side.
- Remove chicken from pan and add in the remaining tablespoon of Olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Add the remaining chicken tenders to the pan and cook in the same manner. When the chicken has been browned on both sides, add the previously cooked chicken back to the pan.
- Pour the chicken stock and lemon juice into the pan and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes, or until sauce has reduced by half and thickened.
- Check seasonings and add more salt, if desired.
- Add lemon slices and chopped fresh parsley to the pan to garnish.
Keywords: Simple, Quick, Easy, Favorite
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Nadia Anderson_SwagBagCh1ck
This one-pan lemon chicken has a simple breading and after it's all golden brown, you make a quick lemon sauce right in the pan. I've made this lemon…
★★★★★
Alice P
I make this all the time with regular gluten-free flour. I love it. The amazing part is that my husband who is the pickiest eater in the world for a 72-year-old man (I'm not exaggerating) actually asks for it. I finally get to add a recipe to my very short list of recipes that he'll eat. I'm a very happy camper. Sometimes I just use bottled lemon juice instead of fresh lemon. I think it's almost just as good.
★★★★★
Joan
i made this for my son and his wife....added capers. delicious!
★★★★★
Hilary
Delicious and oh so easy!
★★★★★
Harper
Delicious! I did it with norms flour and whatnot since that’s what i have on hand, but i thoroughly enjoyed it:)
★★★★★
Ali S
Wonderful!
★★★★★
Michaela
Skipped the butter because I’m dairy free and added an extra lemon!
★★★★★
Rebecca Baron
You can just skip the butter next time and use more olive oil in place of the butter.
Hilary Mouat
Just made this for dinner, it’s really easy & super tasty. Followed the recipe to a tee & it turned out looking almost exactly like the photo, I would have taken my own photo but we ate it too quickly!
★★★★★
Karen Jones
I added rice noodles and boy was it yummy!!! Great recipe.
★★★★★
Fortunata T
Very easy to make & smells delicious😋
★★★★★
Julie M.
I’ve added in some fresh ginger to this recipe. Delicious 😋
★★★★★
Denise M.
Loved this meal
★★★★★
Crystal Delp
Delicious!
★★★★★
Ariel C
Loved the texture
★★★★★
Theresa P
Used almond meal instead and added capers.
★★★★★
F S
I used basil instead of cilantro, turned out great!
★★★★★
Samantha
Delicious! I made this with almond flour and it was so good!
★★★★★
Rebecca
I'm so glad you like it. I was afraid to try it with almond flour at first, but it really is good with a nutty flavor and crusty texture. Thanks for your comment too. Maybe other people will get brave and give it a try!
Sara S
Made this for dinner yesterday. Everyone loved it! This was surprisingly very easy to make. And it tastes delicious! So much flavor, but it doesn’t require a ton of ingredients. Simple and delicious. Perfect for an easy weeknight meal, but also nice enough to serve to company. I’ll be making this often!
★★★★★
Rebecca
I'm so glad you like it. I made it so many times that we're all sick of it. Luckily, that took like 200 times, so for most people, you're probably good. . . I tend to make the same thing over and over. At least that's one of the good things about my blog now is that it forces me to try lots of new recipes now.
Nicole
I made this for dinner tonight and it was SOOOO GOOD! Super easy and Delish!!! I also made your Lemon Bars prior to making dinner. Equally AMAZING!
★★★★★
Rebecca
I'm so glad you liked them both. Sounds like you love lemon!
Lisa Stork
I know you said Coconut flour does not work the best but what about almond flour?
Rebecca
It's ok. It works fine until you put the sauce in the pan, then it falls apart a bit, so just serve it separate. It actually has a good, nutty taste when you use it for breading, which I like.
Amanda
Do you have to use chicken stock?
Rebecca
No. Chicken broth or even water will work. You just get the richest flavor with chicken stock.
Terri
Love your recipes. Doing your coconut shrimp in pina colada sauce tonight!
★★★★★
Sarah Scully
I am going to make this tonight! What would you suggest serving it with Rebecca?
★★★★★
Rebecca
Well, I'm late answering, but I like to eat it with einkorn penne pasta and roasted asparagus or broccoli.
Shawna
I am confused as to all the oil and butter. If I only put 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan, what do I with all the other oil and butter?
Rebecca
I'm so sorry about that. I changed the recipe and missed changing all of it. It's only 2 Tbl. of oil, although you may have to add a bit more as the chicken absorbs it. Then the butter is put in right at the end.
Travis W
Really? Put the chicken in cold oil? I have never done this (complete rookie home chef) and it seems to go against the very limited culinary knowledge that I do possess.
★★★★★
Rebecca
Ha ha. Yes! It does go against everything, but it totally works for lazy people like me that don't like to flour the chicken separately. That way you don't have to touch the chicken as much and don't dirty nearly as many dishes and it turns out fine for me. I've done it hundreds of times with frozen chicken, which flour doesn't stick very well to anyway.
Sandy Valvano
Dcan i use corn startch instead of einkron flour iam gluten free help
Rebecca
It may sort of work. I know a light coat of arrowroot starch works, and that's gluten-free. But a gluten-free flour blend would work too.
Julie
What do you think about using coconut flour rather than arrowroot flour and/or almond flour? (Whole30)
Rebecca
You can try it, but coconut flour is very different and I haven't had good luck using it for breading or thickening because it absorbs too much.
Amber
I made this tonight for my family and it was AMAZING!! Thank you so much for such a delicious, simple recipe!
Rebecca
I'm glad you like it! I've made it hundreds of times and love it with some pan-fried onion rings and I usually make some einkorn pasta to go with it for my children and make a little extra sauce to go over the noodles. I'm working on FINALLY getting the onion rings recipe on my blog because they are THE BEST!
Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen
Looks easy, light and delicious. Pinned!
Dianna Thomas
Now this sounds great-- and not so many ingredients that I should have everything here to make this tonight for dinner-- We love the pepper lemon garlic flavors blended so this should be a hit-- thanks-:-)
★★★★★
Rebecca
Yep. Not fancy or anything but good and healthy and filling and easy.
Wanda Tracey
I will love this recipe because I love chicken anything but I really love the flavor lemon too.Thanks for posting this. and it doen't look to difficult to make either.
★★★★★
Ellen @ My not so Simple Life
My daughter loves chicken fingers, I am pinning this to try later. I really love the fact that they are gluten free too.
Peggy Greco
thanks for sharing this tasty recipe with us.
★★★★
Sílvia Ávila
So delicious, i love the lemon flavour 🙂
Wanda Tracey
This sounded so delicious it just stopped me in my tracks.I just recently bought quinoa and have been wondering how to use it.I was pleasantly surprised to find all these wonderful recipes for it and especially this one.Thank you for sharing.
Susan Broughton
This sounds like a really good recipe! I love the lemon flavor so I think I will like it. thanks