Honey Lemon Pan-Fried Chicken

When you need a quick and delicious meal, look no further than this honey lemon pan-fried chicken. When I am stuck for meal ideas, I tend to go back to my trusted easy recipe to get golden pan-fried chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper and coated with flour.

Once you master this easy recipe for making batches and batches of golden pan-fried chicken, you just need a handful of easy and delicious sauce recipes to go along with it.

And trust me, this honey lemon sauce is easy. Even if you think you hate honey lemon sauce, give this recipe a try, and I guarantee you are going to be completely in love.

Ingredients to prepare this yummy chicken breast dish

There are two parts to this lovely chicken dish, the golden crispy pan-fried chicken breasts, and the super easy and utterly delicious honey lemon sauce.

For the pan-fried chicken breast, we will need:

• 1 pair (2) skinless, boneless chicken breast
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoon olive oil

Since chicken breasts are getting bigger and bigger, I have been cutting each piece up into two pieces. So with a pair of chicken breasts, you should end up with 4 pieces of chicken.

Thinner and more even thickness means faster cooking time, also the breasts will cook more evenly.

If the thickness of the chicken breast is still much more than 1/4", please pound it a little to make it thinner, or adjust cooking time accordingly.

For the honey lemon sauce, we will need:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced (~ 1 tablespoon)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup honey
• juice of 1 lemon (~ 1/4 cup)
• freshly grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• cornstarch slurry from 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch + 2 tablespoon water

Optional garnish

When you are feeling fancy, feel free to adorn your dish with thinly sliced scallions or roughly chopped parsley. :)

How to pan-fry chicken breasts

Frying up perfect golden pan-fried chicken breasts is one of a few cooking techniques that I think every cook should learn to master. Once you have this technique pat-down, the door is open to many other great chicken recipes.

First, prep the chicken breast like this:

1. Sprinkle each side of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
2. LIGHTLY dust the chicken with all-purpose flour. Trust me, the “lightly” part is super important if you want a crispy crust.

Next comes the frying technique.

1. Heat butter and olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
2. Once the butter melts, add chicken breasts to the hot pan. Cook each side until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.
3. Transfer cooked chicken breasts to a plate.

Perfect honey-lemon sauce with fried chicken bits

Now let’s walk through the steps to create the loveliest honey-lemon sauce you will ever taste.

1. Using the same frying pan (super important!), and again on medium-high heat, add minced garlic and cook until golden brown for about 30 seconds.
2. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Remember to scrape the stuck chicken bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula. This is the trick to make the sauce extremely flavorful.
3. Add honey, lemon juice, and lemon slices. Continue cooking until the sauce simmers, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Thicken the sauce by adding cornstarch slurry, and keep cooking for another 3 minutes until the sauce is thick.
5. Return the golden pan-fried chicken breasts into the frying pan to coat with the sauce. It really shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds, or you may risk overcooking the chicken.

Garnish with thinly sliced scallions and reserved grated lemon zest, and it’s done! The most flavorful and juiciest honey lemon pan-fried chicken you will ever taste.

You can serve this with some steamed rice, or perfectly boiled al-dente pasta of your choice. This is also very good with some mashed potatoes. Or perhaps, some bread to mop up the sauce. Either way, we want some carb to soak up all that lovely sauce!