Quick & easy chicken thighs cooked in lemon
This recipe for quick and easy lemon chicken is packed with vibrant flavour, and comes together in minutes. I have used skinless boneless chicken thighs because this is the juiciest cut of chicken, but use skin on if you prefer.
I ran two tests with this recipe. One in an initial small quantity to test out the flavours and then the second time to make this version. The bigger quantities work better because there is more liquid to make a proper sauce, which emulsifies quickly.
This really is so ridiculously simple and in a true Italian style, talks about the integrity of the ingredients. I used skinless, boneless free-range chicken thighs, which are just so much more delicious than chicken breasts. If you can get boneless thighs with skin on that would be even better. I really urge you not to use any other cut of meat with this recipe. The fact that they are boneless means they cook super quickly.
Measure out all the ingredients and have everything standing by before you start making this. It goes so quickly you will want to have it right on hand. This really is the best recipe to make if you want to cook something almost instantly.
The side dish will take much longer and I would suggest new potatoes roasted or fried, or any potato dish really. I made a simple brown and wild rice, which I stir-fried with a few vegetables and it was perfect. I’m also a sucker for chicken and rice in general. I also had it with some of my leftover barley from my recipe on Monday for barley bowls with hummus, halloumi, and avo and tossed a few salad things in that. Another great option.
A few of my best chicken recipes on DrizzleandDip
Roast chicken with orange and ginger
Chicken breasts stuffed with pork, sage & apple
Roast chicken in white wine, herbs & garlic
Quick & easy lemony chicken
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 – 600gms boneless free-range chicken thighs skin on or off
- flour for dusting with salt and pepper
- A splash of olive oil about 2 – 3 tablespoons
- 3 garlic cloves smashed
- 3 – 4 small sprigs of rosemary
- ½ cup 125ml dry white wine
- ¼ cup water
- juice from one lemon 24 – 30gms butter
- A few extra slices of lemon to garnish
Instructions
- Season the chicken thighs well with salt and pepper and then put them in a small plastic bag with a handful of flour. Toss this about to evenly coat the chicken in the flour.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and when hot, fry the chicken pieces on each side until they start to get golden. If you are using chicken with the skin on, remove them from the pan and drain off some of the fat before putting it back on the heat to carry on making the dish.
- Add the white wine and let it reduce a little before adding the garlic, rosemary, water and lemon juice.
- Let this bubble away and Cook the thighs through. You could add the squeezed lemon halves to the sauce if there is space or a few extra slices that you can use for garnish. This will take a just a couple of minutes.
- Add the butter and stir this around to emulsify with the sauce and cook for a minute or so. It thickens up almost instantly. You should now have a silky sauce that would coat the back of a spoon.
- Serve immediately with some of the sauce drizzled over.
Find me on Instagram
Sam, I want to thank you for bring all of us your wonderful recipes, many of which I have really enjoyed. As I imagine your blog is enjoyed worldwide, many of us do not use and are not familiar with the metric system. I see where you sometimes add an equivalency but not always such is the case in this recipe concerning the weight of the chicken thighs. If you could be mindful of this, it would be helpful so the reader does not have to stop and look for a conversion table. Again, thank you for your wonderful blog and I hope you and yours enjoy the holiday seasons..
Sam- Thank you for this recipe! We used it when we celebrated our first lemon from our tree. It was delicious! The rosemary infused, lemony goodness was just what we were hoping for with our lemon. Keep the goodness coming! Can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
HI Tara, this totally made my day. I’m so happy that your lemon found a lovely home with my chicken dish.
HI Cary thank you for the kind words on my blog and I’m so pleased to hear you enjoy my recipes. ON the conversion thing, it can be tricky to convert things exactly but Google has some amazing sites where you literally just type it in and voila you get your conversion. I have looked into various recipe apps to do this but havent found anything suitable.I do work with a lot of cup measurements though.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for the lovely recipes. I’m trying this one today! Quick question about the white wine – is it okay to use a regular Pinot Grigio wine that’s about 3 – 4 weeks old?
HI Sasha – pinto Grigio will work. My rule of thumb is if its ok to drink then its ok to cook with. Taste your older wine and if you would drink it then cook with it.