Are you always looking for delicious new dishes to fix for your family? As primary care providers in central Missouri, we know it can be a challenge to come up with new and healthy dishes to feed your family. So, we thought we would share a couple of healthy but easy recipes for some chicken dishes that your family will love … one for the kids and one for the adults. If you’d like to try out some tasty new dishes, keep reading this blog!
LEMON CHICKEN
This Lemon Chicken is coated in your flour of choice, quickly pan-seared until crispy, and then drizzled with the best ever lemon butter sauce. It is a 30-minute restaurant-quality lemon chicken recipe that is perfect for a weeknight!
Ingredients for Healthy Buttery Lemon Chicken Recipe
Literally just 6 ingredients, besides oil, salt, and pepper, and 30 minutes separate you and the best lemon chicken! Please see more variations in the tips section below.
Chicken: Boneless and skinless chicken breasts are the default. Thighs will work and depending on their size, you might or not have to cut them thinner and cook longer. Chicken tenders are great too!
Flour: Any flour works. I used almond flour for a healthy lemon chicken variation. It did crisp up in oil on the non-stick skillet. It might soak more oil than a regular one though, so be sure to use a non-stick skillet.
Lemon: The amount of lemon depends on how tart you like your lemon chicken. Not sure? Start with less. I always use 1 tbsp when baking lemon muffins or lemon bread, so I did the same for chicken.
Butter and oil: I use olive oil for searing chicken and butter is to “sweeten” the sauce and offset the lemon tartness.
Chicken stock: Low sodium chicken stock/broth creates volume for the sauce. Worst case scenario, you can use water. I would not use a lot of white wine if any, because we have acidic lemon here.
Garlic, salt, and pepper: Garlic sauteed in a bit of butter is always a good idea for any sauce.
How to Make Lemon Chicken
Our easy lemon chicken breast recipe is healthy, fast, and uber delicious. The key is having chicken sliced, dredging station prepped and garlic minced before you begin to fry chicken cutlets. After that, it is literally 15 minutes until lemon chicken dinner is ready!
Prep chicken: Slice chicken breasts into thin cutlets lengthwise. This step eliminates messy pounding, however, you can do that as well if you like really thin cutlets.
Season chicken: Sprinkle with salt and pepper generously on both sides. That’s all lemon chicken breasts need for seasoning now because it will be coated in the best lemon buttery sauce later.
Pan sear chicken: Pre-heat ceramic non-stick skillet until hot and oil sizzles. Dredge each cutlet in flour, then pan sear for about 4-5 minutes per side. You can pack them tightly and add a bit more oil as the chicken soaks it up. Add a bit of butter and garlic and saute until fragrant.
Deglaze: Add stock, lemon juice and zest, and more butter. Let the mixture boil for 2 minutes to make a luscious sauce.
Pour lemon butter sauce over chicken and that is all to scrumptious best lemon chicken recipe in the world!
Oven-Baked Parmesan Chicken Tenders
It couldn’t be easier to get these homemade chicken strips on the table! Let’s go through it step by step.
Preheat – Preheat the oven to 400F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Set up – Set out three medium bowls. In the first bowl combine the white flour, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir to combine. In the second bowl combine the whisked egg and minced garlic, stir. In the third bowl combine the basil, paprika, Panko, and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine.
Bread- Place the tenders in the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, and finally the panko mixture making sure to evenly coat each piece.
Bake – Place the tenders on the sheet pan leaving enough room between each tender and bake for 15 minutes before flipping and baking for another 5 to 8 minutes or until the temperature reaches 165F.
Serve – Remove from the oven and allow the tenders to rest for 5 minutes. Grab your favorite dipping sauce and serve!
Bon Apetit from Central Ozarks Medical Center!
We hope you enjoy trying these recipes, and that they are a hit with your family. Was just a little bit of a twist, it’s possible to make some traditional dishes very healthy and easy to make. As medical care providers in the Lake of the Ozarks area, we believe that healthy eating goes a long way. We also feel that whenever you’re able to provide a little variety, it’s easier to get your family to go along. So, if you enjoy these recipes I would like to hear more, along with other tips on how to live and stay healthy, please follow us on social media. We have easy links to our social media channels below. If you are looking for a primary care physician in Richland or a family doctor in Camdenton or Osage Beach, give us a call to schedule your appointment. Numbers for all our clinics are at the bottom of our home page.
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