★ Favorite · Dinner · Chicken

Chicken with Lemon

— Chicken Breasts With Lemon —

Yields

4 servings

Total Time

25 minutes

Source

Updated

2026-05-06

Meat

In this recipe, which Pierre Franey brought to The Times in 1992 in one of his 60-Minute Gourmet columns, two teaspoons of lemon zest are added to a simple sauce of lemon juice, thyme, garlic and shallots. It is, at once, lively and elegant. To round it out, it needs a sturdy accompaniment. Mr. Franey suggested mashed potatoes with garlic and basil, with just a little olive oil swirled in.

· · · Method · · ·

½ cup flour for dredging
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each
2 tbsp olive oil
4 sprigs fresh thyme (1 tsp dried)
2 tbsp finely chopped shallots
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
2 tsp grated lemon zest
3 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup chicken broth
2 tbsp butter

Season flour with salt and pepper, and dredge the chicken all over. Remove the excess flour.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet large enough to hold the chicken pieces in one layer. Add chicken and cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 5 minutes (longer for larger pieces) or until lightly browned.

Flip the chicken and cook for 5 minutes more, or until cooked through. Carefully remove the oil from the skillet, leaving the chicken. Discard the oil.

Add the thyme, shallots and garlic, and cook for about a minute. Do not burn the garlic. Add the lemon rind, the lemon juice and the broth.

Scrape the skillet to dissolve the brown particles that cling to the bottom. Add the butter, and cook for 3 minutes longer. Serve immediately.