{One Skillet} Lemon Chicken and Red Potatoes

A healthy, fresh, and flavorful one skillet meal – lemon chicken, red potatoes, and carrots. This is a simple dish all made in one skillet over the stove-top.

How was your weekend everyone?! Are you all sad it’s Monday already? Just the thing to combat with the Monday Blues is this dinner! It’s a super tasty and ridiculously easy one pot meal for you all. BONUS: it’s quite healthy – no cream sauces and still loads of flavor! Second bonus: definitely a family friendly meal!

We missed the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. day last weekend, but this Monday all of Australia is celebrating Australia Day so the husband has the day off and it feels like a long weekend for us. It’s also supposed to be super hot so we are thinking it will be a beach day! We finally made it down to the zoo over the weekend and that was so much fun. I’ve always said the Chicago Zoo is my favorite, but I have to give the Perth Zoo first place now. I mean, is it really fair though when the Perth Zoo has koalas? <3.

The little man loves animals and naturally was just going crazy over all the new types of animals, especially the pelicans. He threw a fit when we left the bird exhibit because he wanted to go back. He also kept trying to pet the birds or pick them up. There are a lot of free roaming birds throughout the zoo, so this became his goal for the entire trip. Luckily the birds were always a bit quicker than him, but this was much to his dismay.

We were at the zoo for over 5 hours because there was so much to see and do. We watch an Elephant Show were one of their elephant’s just celebrated her 58th birthday. So the zoo keepers had made her a ginormous cake out of bread and fruit which she was inhaling.

Other highlights:

The tiger came right up to the window and paced from one end to the next for at least 20 minutes. We were totally mesmerized especially the little guy. It was cool being that close to such an active animal when they are usually hidden and sleeping somewhere in the exhibit.

The husband pet a kangaroo and I’m working up my nerves to do it. The kangaroos have a whole section in the zoo where they can roam freely and you can pet or interact with them. (SO COOL.)

I saw a KOALA BEAR. All caps needed because I’m obsessed with those cute, cuddly little bears <3. P.S. Did you know they sleep for 20 hours a day? I would go crazy.

The red potatoes and carrots take a bit longer than the chicken to cook, so you start by cooking them in a melted butter + olive oil mixture. I place the vegetables (red potatoes cut side down) into two separate sections of the skillet and let them cook without touching them too much (monitoring, but leaving them alone).

This gives the red potatoes a nice crusty “shell” which I love – it’s so much flavor and a nice crunch. Definitely cook the potatoes to your preference though – if you don’t like the crusty feel of the potatoes, you’ll just need to stir them a bit while they are cooking.

The chicken goes into the last section of the skillet and the red potatoes + carrots get flipped/mixed around at this point. Then all the yummy spices and seasonings are added. My personal favorite is the sliced up lemon. I’ll admit, it’s probably because it’s so pretty looking that I love it so much, but putting the sliced lemon on top of all of the food and stirring it around with it all gives a boost of delicious and fresh lemon flavor.

It intensifies the flavor of the dish and will make your guests think the chicken had been marinating for hours. When it hasn’t. 🙂

With so few ingredients though make sure you are’t leaving anything out or you’ll likely miss out on flavor. I’m especially saying this about the fresh parsley – that is a MUST!

It adds so much good flavor and a perfect complement to the lemon. You can however, switch it out for a different herb like rosemary if you like that better. Just make sure there are some good herbs in the dish.

Oh and lots and lots of lemon pepper. Because yum.

5 from 6 votes

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{One Skillet} Lemon Chicken and Red Potatoes

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Servings: 2 -4 servings

Author: Chelsea

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, separated
• 2 tablespoons butter (do not substitute)
• 1 cup chopped baby carrots (cut each baby carrot into 3 pieces)
• 2 cups diced petite (baby) red potatoes skin on (about 9-10 petite potatoes), each potato diced into 12 pieces
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts)
• 2 large lemons
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• Salt, lemon pepper, and paprika, to taste
• 1/4 cup Fresh parsley, minced

Instructions

1. Preheat a large (must be nonstick) skillet (at least 12 inches) over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and butter.
   

2. Once the butter is completely melted, place the peeled and chopped carrots in one section of the skillet and the chopped red potatoes in another section of the skillet. (See picture above).

3. Allow to simmer uncovered, stirring every 3 or so minutes, for about 8 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, remove the fat from the chicken breasts and slice into small cubes. Pat all sides dry with a paper towel. In a large bowl, add in 1 teaspoon paprika, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, and 2 tablespoons flour. Whisk together. Place chicken cubes on top of spice mixture and toss to evenly coat all the pieces of chicken.

5. Spoon the potatoes and carrots over to one half of the pan and add in the coated chicken pieces to the other half. 

6. Flip the potatoes and carrots around and cook for another 5 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork while stirring and flipping the chicken until no longer pink.
   

7. Meanwhile, zest one of the lemons to get 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Juice one of the lemons to get 3 tablespoons juice. Whisk in 2 tablespoons olive oil and very finely minced garlic. Pour over the ingredients in the skillet and gently stir all of the ingredients together

8. Slice the remaining lemon into thin slices. Add the lemon slices to the skillet and allow the ingredients to simmer on low.
   

9. Stir the ingredients often until the liquid is absorbed into the ingredients and the chicken is completely cooked through and veggies are tender.

10. Season to taste if needed (adding more salt and pepper) and sprinkle with fresh parsley. (Discard lemon slices before serving). Serve immediately.