Lemon Parmesan Chicken
This meal brings restaurant-quality flavor right to your kitchen—and it’s downright delicious!
The lightly breaded chicken is perfectly crispy without the need for Panko or deep frying. The green beans are tender with a hint of lemon and a nice char, and the optional lemon butter sauce? Perfection!
Best of all, you can make this entire dish in one pan. I start with the lemon butter sauce, then cook the chicken, and finish with the beans. It’s a one-pan dinner everyone will be obsessed with!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make Lemon Parmesan Chicken:
- Chicken breasts: Slice thin and pound evenly for faster, even cooking.
- Flour: Adds a light coating for a crispy finish.
- Parmesan: Use freshly grated for the best flavor and texture.
- Paprika: Adds a hint of color and touch of smokiness.
- Garlic powder: Boosts flavor without being too overpowering.
- Olive oil: Divided for sautéing and coating the chicken. Don’t skimp here!
- Butter: Adds richness; use unsalted to control salt levels.
- Green beans: Trimmed and halved for quick cooking.
- Lemons: Fresh juice and zest bring a bright, fresh finish!
Optional Lemon Butter Sauce: Brown butter with garlic, parsley, and lemon for a rich, flavorful finish. It’s perfect drizzled over the chicken and beans!
How To Make Lemon Parmesan Chicken
- Prep Chicken: Pound chicken pieces, drizzle with oil, then dredge in flour mix.
- Cook Chicken: Heat oil and butter. Cook chicken on both sides until golden, then transfer to a plate.
- Cook Lemons: Slice lemon, add to skillet, and cook until softened. Set aside.
- Cook Beans: Add butter, green beans, salt, and pepper. Cook until tender.
- Assemble: Return chicken and lemons to skillet. Drizzle with lemon juice, sprinkle Parmesan, and serve.
Lemon Parmesan Chicken Tips
- Pound the chicken evenly for a faster cook time and even browning. Use a rolling pin or meat mallet.
- Use fresh lemon juice for the best flavor—bottled juice just doesn’t compare!
- Don’t stir the beans too much; a good char adds tons of flavor!
- Watch the butter closely when browning for the sauce—it goes from golden to burnt fast.
- Keep chicken warm by covering with foil while you cook the beans.
What To Serve On The Side
This Lemon Parmesan Chicken goes really well with:
- Rice or Quinoa: Perfect for soaking up that lemon butter sauce.
- Mashed Potatoes: My personal favorite base for this chicken!
- Dinner Rolls: Great for soaking up any extra sauce!
- Side Salad: Try a simple garden salad for a light side.
Storage
For the crispiest results, enjoy the chicken hot, as it loses its crispiness quickly. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat in a skillet or Air Fryer for best texture.
More Chicken Dinners:
- Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs made in the slow cooker or pressure cooker
- Chicken Rice Bowl with the best sauce!
- Teriyaki Chicken Salad with a 3-ingredient dressing
- Chicken Meatballs tender with a crispy exterior
- Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup with veggies
Lemon Parmesan Chicken
Lemon Parmesan Chicken packs crispy chicken, lemon-kissed beans, and an optional lemon butter sauce—all in one easy, flavor-packed pan!
Equipment
- Large nonstick saucepan 12-inch
- Aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 6 pieces, 2 breasts
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan sandy texture
- 1/2 teaspoon salt plus more as needed
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 3 cups green beans trim and cut in half lengthwise
- 2 lemons
- Lemon butter sauce optional, see notes
Instructions
- If making the lemon butter sauce, start there. See notes.
- In a shallow bowl, mix flour, Parmesan, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Cut each chicken breast into 3 pieces. Place the chicken pieces between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them to 1/4-inch thickness. Use your hands to rub 1 tbsp olive oil all over the chicken (divided between both sides), then dredge in flour mixture until evenly coated.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter in the skillet over medium-high. Add half the chicken pieces to the skillet and cook for 3–4 minutes on the first side until golden brown. Flip and cook for 1–2 minutes on the other side. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Repeat to cook remaining chicken, adding more oil if needed. Cover with foil.
- Thinly slice 1 lemon and add to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute until softened, then flip and cook another 30 seconds. Remove and set aside.
- Add remaining 1 tbsp butter to the skillet and increase heat to high. Add green beans, a pinch of salt, and pepper. Toss to coat, then let cook undisturbed for 3 minutes. Stir occasionally for another 1–3 minutes until beans are crisp-tender and charred.
- Remove pan from heat and add chicken and lemon slices back on top of the green beans. Drizzle with fresh lemon juice and sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired. Serve with the lemon butter sauce (optional) and enjoy!
Video
Recipe Notes
Lemon Butter Sauce
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice plus zest
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon finely minced parsley
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 450kcal | Carbohydrates: 20.4g | Protein: 29.8g | Fat: 29.5g | Cholesterol: 123.6mg | Sodium: 413.6mg | Fiber: 2.8g | Sugar: 5.6g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m glad I found this recipe – looking forward to trying it this week. Some feedback for this and any recipe you share. Please don’t encourage the use of paper plates, plastic throw aways etc. washing an extra plate or tossing it in the dishwasher is no big deal. we all need to think of the environment every time we reach for a plastic cup or paper plate. Thanks!
I was preparing this dish for a young man I take care of at his request when he found your recipe on line. First of all, in your list of ingredients, you forgot to list the large lemon and the fresh parsley (you only mention the dried parsley.) Also, you list needing 7 Tbsp of butter, but use 11 Tbsps in the process. You also mention 2 tsp of minced garlic, but use 2 1/2 during the cooking. I am now assuming that you maybe switched using Tbsp and tsp. during the writing of the recipe. Lastly, you should tell people to turn down the heat earlier than you do, because it takes time for the stove to lower the temp, especially if you have electric and not gas. I know this seems a bit too picky, but when I’m not in my own kitchen and getting ingredients ready from your list, it wasn’t accurate. Also, I only had your recipe on my phone and had to keep turning it back on to follow the recipe, because while I was cooking it, my phone kept shutting down. I just hope he enjoys it. 🤞
Hey Dianne, not sure what happened but you seem to be missing some of the recipe. All those amounts are listed under “lemon butter sauce” in the ingredients.
This was great! My wife called the sauce a flavor explosion 💥. And I loved the permission to use paper plates for the messy stuff. Made clean up easy!
So thrilled to hear this was a hit! 🙂 Thanks for the comment Michael!
If I only have King Arthur whole wheat flour, would that be okay to use instead of white flour?
Good recipe but definitely not one skillet. More like one skillet, saucepan, baking sheet, and 3 mixing bowls. Too much work during a weeknight for me.
Thanks for your feedback JD!
LOVE this recipe! I noticed for many of your recipes you use the pictured cast iron skillet and was wondering if you could recommend one? My current one is a hand me down and I wanted to invest in a good skillet to make all these great dishes! Thanks!
Thank you so much Olivia! 🙂 I have a Lodge Dutch oven cast iron skillet that I love and then my favorite is made by Staub; here’s a link if you want to check it out: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/staub-fry-pan/?pkey=e%7Cstaub%2Bskillet%7C141%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C11&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH
New to your site – made your lemon blueberry yogurt bread and loved it, so started searching around. Made this last night, and have to say, it’s the first time I’ve gotten my SO to willingly eat and finish his green beans (I know, it’s like feeding a child, right?).
I actually used the lemon butter sauce to dredge my chicken pieces, but other than that, followed it pretty precisely and was very happy where it ended up! Ate a leftover chicken breast for dinner tonight as well. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Thank you so much Katy! I’m so happy you enjoyed the blueberry yogurt bread. Hahahaha I know exactly what you mean with the green beans! They were a hit at my house too (which is rare for anything green?) Thanks again!
One pan meals are my favorite!
Hey girl- this looks so good! Y’all have a great weekend!