Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce (2024)

08/17/20 | Chicken, Easy Weeknight Meals, Main Courses, Pasta, Recipes

Quick and easy Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce is a restaurant-quality meal you can have on your table in 20 minutes.

After I posted my Chicken Francaise recipe, I got a little addicted to the buttery, lemony chicken pasta, but I wanted a quicker, easier version for weeknights. So this Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce was born.

This recipe takes next to zero prep time, cooks from start to finish in just 20 minutes, and is a perfect midweek meal when you’re craving some comfort food but don’t feel like putting a ton of effort into cooking.

Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce Ingredients

• Small chicken breasts: I call for small, 6-to-8-ounce chicken breasts for this recipe so that you can fit them all in your pan at once and so that they cook quickly while your pan sauce simmers. If you want to use larger chicken breasts here, use just two and cut them in half horizontally (place one hand on top of each chicken breast and slice the top and bottom into two even pieces).
• Butter and garlic: Garlic browned in butter until golden gives the sauce a delicious buttery, garlic-y flavor base.
• Low-sodium chicken broth: Regular chicken broth will work okay, but if you have it, go with low-sodium since the chicken broth will be reduced down in the pan sauce and full-sodium broth can make things a little too salty. Feel free to use Homemade Chicken Stock if you have it.
• Dry white wine: Use your favorite dry white wine (or whatever you have on hand) here. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio are great options.
• Fresh lemon juice: I call for 2 to 4 tablespoons of lemon juice in the recipe (the juice from about 1 to 1 1/2 lemons). 4 tablespoons gives you a very intense lemon flavor and 2 a more mild brightness. If making for kids, I’d go with 2 tablespoons the first time and see how it goes.
• Pasta: Egg noodles are my preferred pasta for this dish, but almost any pasta shape will work. Fettuccine and farfalle would be particularly good alternative options.

How to Make Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce (Tips and Tricks)

1. Brown the chicken well. Browning the chicken in a little oil at the start of the recipe adds a ton of flavor to the chicken breasts and creates a delicious fond in the pan that will help flavor the pan sauce.
2. Cool the pan slightly before cooking the butter and garlic. Once your chicken is browned, transfer it to a plate and give the pan just a minute to cool down before you add the butter and garlic. If your pan is too hot, the butter and garlic can burn. After the pan is cooled, you can melt the butter and toast the garlic until it is golden and smells delicious.
3. Immediately add liquid ingredients once the garlic is golden. Garlic can go from golden to burned quite quickly. Have your liquid ingredients ready to add to the pan as soon as the garlic is ready to go.
4. Return chicken to the pan and simmer until chicken is cooked through and pan sauce reduced. Then give the chicken a quick rest before slicing and serving over pasta with pan sauce drizzled over the top.

Recipe Variations

To make White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce on its own to serve over fish, seafood, or rotisserie chicken: Just skip browning the chicken and follow the rest of the recipe as written. Simmer until the sauce is reduced by about half and then spoon over whatever you desire.

For Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce: Add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of whipping cream to the sauce after you’ve removed the cooked chicken breasts for slicing. If needed, gently heat the sauce over medium heat until re-warmed. Be sure to adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

Make it a Meal

Serve the Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce with a loaf of crusty bread or rolls and simple sides like Roasted Broccoli, Roasted Zucchini or Roasted Green Beans. Maybe make a Small Batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert. 😉

More Easy Chicken Recipes

• Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
• Pesto Chicken Pasta
• Salsa Chicken
• Easy Chicken Parm Soup

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