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This Lemon Pepper Chicken takes only 40 minutes to make from start to finish (including baking time!). It's a perfect recipe for a busy weeknight that a whole family will love. Skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs are seasoned with lemon-pepper seasoning, baked to perfection, and served with the delicious Creamy Garlic-Lemon Sauce.
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Lemon Pepper Chicken is a simple weeknight meal that uses basic ingredients and takes only 40 minutes. The skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs are coated with lemon pepper seasoning and flour, and then pan-seared until golden brown. Next, the chicken is baked in the oven to perfection. For a final touch, serve the lemon pepper chicken together with creamy Parmesan sauce. This restaurant-quality dinner might become your new favorite chicken dinner that both kids and adults will love!
Why you'll love this recipe
- Lemon pepper chicken is a comfort food meal that combines protein (chicken) with delicious creamy sauce.
- It's quick and easy and comes together in just 40 minutes!
- This delicious recipe looks fancy on a plate - perfect for an everyday dinner and also for entertaining company.
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- Make it from scratch. Lemon pepper seasoning is super easy to make! Just combine finely diced lemon peel, freshly ground black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt.
- Use store-bought seasoning. Alternatively, you can use a store-bought lemon pepper seasoning and save yourself some time.
How to make lemon pepper chicken
1) Mix 3 teaspoons of lemon pepper seasoning with flour. Pat the tops (skin side) of chicken thighs with this seasoning mixture.
2) Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on high-medium heat in a large skillet.
3) Add chicken thighs skin side down and cook for about 4 minutes on high-medium heat until browned, uncovered.
4) Sprinkle the other side of the chicken with 1 teaspoon more lemon pepper seasoning.
5) Flip the chicken thighs over and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. The skin side of chicken thighs should be nicely browned like this:
6) Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil.
7) Place chicken thighs skin side up (crispy side up) on the baking sheet and bake at 375 F for about 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked, the juices run clear and the chicken is no longer pink in the center:
8) In the meantime, while the chicken is baking, make the sauce with garlic, chicken stock, heavy cream, lemon pepper seasoning, and shredded cheese (Parmesan, Mozzarella, or both).
9) Add 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice and top with chopped green onions:
10) Add cooked lemon pepper chicken thighs to the skillet on top of the sauce.
11) Top with chopped parsley and decorate with a few slices of lemon:
Substitutions
- You can use shredded Mozzarella cheese in place of shredded Parmesan cheese.
- To make this recipe gluten-free, use gluten-free flour.
- You can use chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken thighs. Just be sure to watch the baking times - depending on the thickness of the chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs, the baking time might have to be reduced.
Recipe tips and recommendations
- To save time, while the chicken bakes, make the cream sauce. This way, the whole recipe will take only 40 minutes from start to finish, including a baking time of 20 minutes.
- Tips for making the creamy sauce. To make the cream sauce, bring all the liquids (chicken broth and heavy cream) to a brief boil, and add shredded Parmesan cheese. Immediately, reduce the heat to simmer and continue stirring the sauce on low simmer heat until all the cheese is completely melted and the creamy sauce forms.
What to serve with lemon pepper chicken
- Greens. Cook some spinach, or other greens, such as Swiss chard, or kale. Here is a recipe for a simple sautéed spinach - you can cook pretty much any leaves using this recipe.
- Green beans. Simple cooked green beans will do. If you want something a bit more interesting, try bacon and garlic green beans, sautéed in olive oil and butter in a skillet on the stovetop.
- Potatoes: Serve mashed potatoes, and roasted potatoes, or try this refreshing cilantro-lime potato salad.
- Rice: Serve rice pilaf or any kind of flavored rice that you can buy in the store in a package. You can also serve this with wild rice, delicious with this lemon pepper chicken.
More chicken recipes you might like
If you like chicken thighs in a creamy sauce, here are more recipes in a similar style:
- Chicken Thighs with Creamy Bacon Mushroom Thyme Sauce- high-fat, low-carb, gluten-free chicken recipe. Fantastic for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs!
- Pan-fried chicken thighs in a creamy bacon sauce with a touch of lemon.
- Skillet Chicken Thighs with Creamy Tomato Basil Spinach Sauce - made with boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Lemon Pepper Chicken with Creamy Garlic-Lemon Sauce
Ingredients
Lemon Pepper Chicken:
- 6 chicken thighs , skin-on, bone-in
- 4 teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning , divided
- ¼ cup flour (use gluten free flour for gluten free version)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Creamy Sauce:
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 5 garlic cloves , minced
- ¾ cup chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup Parmesan , shredded
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice , freshly squeezed
- 3 green onions , chopped (use only green parts)
Garnish:
- freshly parsley chopped
- lemon slices
Instructions
Lemon Pepper Chicken:
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Mix 3 teaspoons of lemon pepper seasoning with flour. Pat the tops (skin side) of chicken thighs with this seasoning mixture.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on high-medium heat in a large skillet.
- Add chicken thighs skin side down and cook for about 4 minutes on high-medium heat until browned, uncovered. Sprinkle the other side of chicken with 1 teaspoon more of lemon pepper seasoning.
- Flip the chicken thighs over and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. Remove from heat.
- Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place chicken thighs skin side up (crispy side up) on the baking sheet and bake at 375 F for about 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked, the juices run clear and the chicken is no longer pink in the center.
Creamy Sauce:
- In the meantime, while the chicken is baking, make the sauce. Thoroughly clean and dry the skillet you used for cooking chicken thighs.
- Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil and ½ tablespoon butter on medium heat in this cleaned skillet.
- Add minced garlic and cook, constantly stirring, for about 30 seconds.
- Add chicken stock and 1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning to the skillet and bring to boil.
- Add heavy cream and bring to boil.
- Add shredded cheese and stir until melted. Reduce heat to simmer and keep stirring until the sauce is smooth. Remove from heat.
- Add 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice and stir in. Top with chopped green onions (chop up only green portion of green onions and don't use white portion). Keep the sauce covered.
- The lemon pepper chicken should be cooked by now. Check it for doneness and if chicken is completely cooked through, add it to the skillet on top of the sauce and on top of green onions.
- Top with chopped parsley and decorate with a few slices of lemon.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
The recipe was originally published on January 6, 2016 and republished with cooking tips and updates in June 2018.
Great recipe! My picky 2 & 4 year Olds even liked it!
This is my favorite meal we make this all the time I wouldn't change anything about it and we are having it again tonight. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Sounds great. I can't wait to try it. For the sauce you ask for lemon seasoning, did you mean lemon pepper? I am not quite sure what you mean for lemon seasoning if not. Thank you
I made this for my family and they loved it. I am always looking for great chicken recipes that are "saucy". Thanks for sharing. I will be adding this to my regular dinner rotation!
Unbelievably good!!
What is the calorie count on this dish?
Amy, I think you can use coconut milk in this recipe - heat it up until really hot before adding cheese. Also, since the recipe calls for 3/4 cup chicken stock, use half the amount of chicken stock to start with, and then, after the shredded cheese is melted and the sauce gets creamy, you can add more of chicken stock or coconut milk.
Do you think I can substitute the heavy cream for coconut milk ?
It wasn't bad, but chicken thighs were too fatty for our taste. Believe it or not, we felt there wasn't a lot of taste to the meal either. I think next time, i’ll cook with more lemon pepper, chicken breasts, and I'll use half and half instead of cream.
Thanks, Sheila, yes, you can always add more lemon pepper or maybe even a tablespoon of lemon juice to give it more flavor.
Will this recipe turn our just as nicely using chicken breasts? My family doesn't care for dark meat. Thanks. It looks absolutely delicious.
Cheryl, I think this recipe will absolutely work with chicken breasts! Just don't cook them for as long as I would cook chicken thighs obviously. I would skip the baking step, cook the chicken breasts on stove top for 4 minutes on each side and then let them finish cooking in the sauce.
I made some it look good
Thank you!
I made this tonight for my husband- He LOVED it. The sauce was what made the dish! This is for sure on our list of favorite meals!
Michelle, so glad you and your husband liked it! Comments like that make my day!
I don't have or like green onions. Do you think I could use sweet onion instead?
Amanda, I used green onions only for garnish, so you can skip them altogether. On the other hand, I love all raw onions (and they are good for you!) so yes, do use sweet onions as garnish, if you like!
Hi , can you please tell me are lemon pepper seasoning & lemon seasoning two
Different types of seasoning , I live in the uk .
Kind regards Jules
Lemon Pepper Seasoning here in the US has lemon, black pepper, onion and garlic - so you can compare to what you have. The seasoning is definitely very peppery and you can see black peppers as dots on chicken skins in my photos.
Is lemon seasoning different from lemon pepper?
No. They are the same.
Oh boy im hungry now
They are yummy!