Succulent chicken in a fresh and zesty sauce with a hint of sweetness.
This honey lemon chicken is ready in 20 minutes. A brilliant weeknight meal to serve with rice or pasta.
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This is a slightly different take on my honey garlic chicken recipe – given a Spring feel with lots of lovely fresh lemon juice.
Don’t worry, it’s not tart or sour though – the honey and garlic balances it out perfectly, giving a lip-smacking moreish taste.
It’s one of those super-quick meals to prepare, and means you can make 2 chicken breasts switch between 4 people.
I love how the sauce sinks into the rice or pasta (I still can’t decide which is my favourite to serve it with).
📋 What do we need?
- Chicken breast – use 2 large chicken breasts, so you have enough meat for 4 people. Some supermarkets sell ‘quick cook’ chicken breast steaks – which are basically chicken breast that have already been sliced in half – these work great too. Alternatively you can replace the chicken breast with well-trimmed boneless chicken thighs.
- Lemons – use fresh lemon juice rather than the stuff in a bottle. For this recipe the fresh flavour is important.
🔪 How to make Honey Lemon Chicken
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Coat the sliced chicken breast pieces in seasoned flour and fry in oil and butter until golden.
- Add garlic, chicken stock, lemon juice, honey and lemon slices and stir together, then bring the sauce to the boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes until slightly reduced. The sauce will thicken slightly as it starts to cool.
- Serve with a sprinkling of parsley over pasta, or over rice.
👩🍳PRO TIP I also like this dish served with orzo or couscous and a green salad for an even lighter meal.
🍽️ What to serve it with
- Fluffy boiled rice (this is my no-fail method)
- Shop-bought or Fresh Pasta
- Alongside this noodle salad or pasta salad for a lighter dinner
📺 Watch how to make it
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Honey Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts (around 200g/7oz each), sliced in half to make 4 thin chicken breasts
- 3 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice (juice from approx. 1.5 lemons)
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 lemon sliced into half-moon slices
- 1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
To Serve:
- cooked rice spaghetti/linguine or orzo
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts on a tray or board. Mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika. Coat both sides of the chicken with the flour mixture.2 large chicken breasts, 3 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp paprika
- Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, until the butter melts.1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 7-8 minutes, turning once, until both sides are golden brown.
- Add the garlic, stir for 30 seconds (don’t let the garlic burn), then add the chicken stock, lemon juice, honey, and lemon slices.2 cloves garlic, 120 ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock, 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 3 tbsp honey, 1 lemon
- Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, until the sauce is slightly reduced.
- Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve with rice or pasta.1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley, cooked rice
Video
Notes
Make the whole dish, then cool, cover and refrigerate for up to a day.
Reheat in a pan over a medium heat for 10-12 minutes. Place a lid on the pan to keep the heat in during reheating. It’s a good idea to add a good splash (1/4 cup or so) of hot chicken stock to help loosen up the sauce again. The chicken also tastes great cold for lunch the next day as part of a salad or wrap. Ingredient swaps
- Swap out the chicken breast for well-trimmed boneless chicken thighs.
- Add some heat with a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce or a teaspoon of sriracha to the sauce.
- Add some quick-cook vegetables to the pan – such as mange tout, baby corn or asparagus.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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The recipe is simple ,quick and delicious. We ate restaurant quality food at home! Thank you, will try all of your recipes.
So easy and delicious. I doubled the recipe and used chicken broth instead of stock. I wanted to lick the dish!!!! A total hit – this is definitely going into rotation. I can’t wait to have the leftovers in a wrap tomorrow for lunch. Thank you for this quick and easy recipe