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Upgrade your pan-seared chicken breasts with this recipe for lemon chicken and asparagus with a creamy garlic sauce. It's the type of recipe that will clear up the plate!
Lemon Garlic Chicken with Asparagus
Think lemon chicken and steamed asparagus are basic? Think again. This is one of those recipes you can rely on for a crowd-pleasing meal made with fresh ingredients.
Everything comes together in the skillet, and you'll learn how to make an incredible pan sauce super fast. Bonus: the mild flavor and snappy texture of asparagus pair great with chicken and offer a variety of health benefits, like fiber, vitamin K, and folate.
What You Need
The chicken breasts are seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil. For the sauce, you’ll need butter, shallot or onion, garlic, dried thyme (Italian seasoning or poultry seasoning), chicken broth, whole milk or half and half for creaminess, and lemon. You’ll also use some of these ingredients to season the asparagus.
How to Make Lemon Garlic Chicken and Asparagus
For best results, you'll want to use either a stainless steel pan or cast-iron skillet; both make incredible pan-seared chicken. Here’s how:
- Butterfly the chicken breasts for quicker and even cooking, then season with salt and black pepper.
- Pan-sear the chicken for 4 minutes on both sides. The exterior should be golden brown, and the internal temperature 165F.
- To make the sauce, sauté shallots in melted butter until golden; then, cook the garlic. Add chicken broth and milk while stirring to scrape up the bits from the pan's surface. Bring the sauce to a simmer, add the thyme, and cook for 10 minutes.
- Make the BEST asparagus by sauteing the garlic until fragrant. Add the asparagus spears and seasonings. Add water and steam for 10 to 13 minutes.
- Add the chicken breasts back to the pan to finish cooking, top with fresh lemon juice, and stir to combine with the sauce.
- Serve the chicken with the asparagus, some pan sauce, and a fresh lemon wedge. Bon appétit!
Prep Ahead Tips
I like to butterfly the chicken breasts ahead to save time and eliminate the chances of cross-contamination since no one is cutting raw chicken and veggies in the same area. Fresh items, like asparagus, shallots, and garlic, can be trimmed or chopped up to 4 days ahead and refrigerated in food containers for up to 4 days.
Pan-Seared Lemon Garlic Chicken & Asparagus
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied into 4 pieces
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 small shallot, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme or Italian seasoning
- ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup whole milk or half-and-half
- 1 medium lemon, juiced
For the asparagus:
- 1 lb fresh asparagus, ends trimmed
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup water
- 1 lemon, divided
Instructions
Cook the chicken:
- On a flat surface, butterfly the two chicken breasts into 4 thinner pieces. Pat dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the oil and heat it up. Place the chicken breasts in the hot pan and cook, without moving them, for 4 minutes on the first side, then once golden and seared, flip them over and continue cooking for an additional 4 to 5 minutes until the chicken breasts' internal temperature reaches 165F. Remove from pan onto a plate.
Make the sauce:
- To the same pan, add the butter and melt it, using the back of a spatula to grease the entire surface. Add the chopped shallot and sauté, for 2 minutes, until it's translucent and golden. Add the garlic, and stir to cook the garlic for about 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken broth and milk or half and half to the pan, bringing it to a simmer while stirring the tidbits from the bottom of the pan. Add the thyme, stir to combine, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce for 10 minutes.
Cook the asparagus:
- Meanwhile, prepare the asparagus by heating up a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, melt the butter. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Add the asparagus to the pan, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Stir to distribute. Add the water to the pan and cover it immediately. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, opening up the cover to stir occasionally.
- Once the asparagus are ready, remove the lid, squeeze half a lemon over the top, stir and turn off the heat.
Combine:
- Once the lemon garlic sauce is ready, add the chicken breasts back to the pan, squeeze the lemon juice into the pan, mix to combine into the sauce. Spoon some sauce over the top of the chicken and simmer for 2 minutes to heat everything through.
- Serve the chicken with the cooked asparagus and lemon wedges from the remaining ½ lemon sliced into wedges.
Dayna says
Yum!!!
Jackie says
This was delicious!