Garlic Lemon Chicken – Mustard Herb Sauce – Easy 30 Minute Recipe

Looking for a 30 minute meal that is special enough to serve guests? This delicious garlic lemon chicken has a tangy and tart lemon mustard sauce that tastes as though you spent hours making it.

This saucy chicken recipe is easy, full of flavor and sure to become a family favorite.

Recipes just don’t get much easier than this tasty meal. It takes about 5 minutes on the stove top and then finishes up in the oven to make meal prep super easy.

I love a tangy lemon sauce on just about anything. It is bright and fresh and helps to make a really flavorful sauce.

Be sure to check out my chicken piccata recipe. It combines lemons with capers and artichokes for a sauce that is amazing.

Today it is the fresh herbs that add to the flavor. I grow fresh herbs for cooking all year round and the flavor they add to dishes is so much more intense than dried herbs. Fresh basil and thyme combine with a coarse grain mustard and lemons for a really great taste.

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Time to make this garlic lemon chicken

The first step in this recipe is to make the lemon mustard rub for the chicken. It is made with the coarse grain mustard, some lemon zest, sea salt, half the olive oil and the fresh herbs.  

Just combine it all and then spread it over both sides of the chicken pieces. I used boneless, skinless chicken and cut each breast in half to give me four portions.

The garlic is cooked in the oil and butter for a few minutes until the edges of it start to brown, and then the chicken pieces are added and cooked for a couple of minutes until they brown nicely.

Now let’s make the sauce for the garlic lemon chicken

The sauce is so easy to make. Just combine the chicken stock with lemon juice and lemon zest in a bowl and pour it over the browned chicken pieces.

Next, I combined a bit of water with a tablespoon of flour and then poured some of the lemon mixture into the flour paste. It gets stirred back into the sauce and the heat is turned up to let it boil for a few minutes to let the sauce reduce a bit and thicken slightly.

The final step is to transfer the chicken pieces to an oven proof baking dish, pour over the mustard lemon sauce and bake in a preheated 400 º F oven for about 25 minutes.

Tasting the lemon garlic chicken

This chicken has a bright fresh taste that is just amazing. The whole grain mustard gives both sauce and the chicken pieces a nice tang and the the lemon adds a great burst of freshness to it, too. It tastes a lot like a white wine sauce but has no alcohol in it.  

Serve the chicken pieces with some herbed crusty garlic bread (to sop up those juices) or over a plate of noodles to allow the sauce to coat them.  The main thing is to be sure to have a way to use up all the sauce. It is THAT good!

There are so many layers of flavor to this dish. The herbs give a freshness to the dish and combine so well with the tart lemon flavor. Coarse mustard adds a savory tang that compliments the garlic and the tender chicken pieces sit under a sauce that makes you want to have a spoon to eat it all!

The garlic lemon chicken recipe is easy enough for a busy week night, but sophisticated enough to serve to guests for any special occasion. It is one of my husband’s favorite meals.

The recipe serves 4 with 239 calories each. It is low carb, high protein and can be adjusted to a  gluten free by using gluten free flour in place of normal flour to thicken the sauce.

For another tasty dish with a lemon mustard sauce, try my oven baked cod and shrimp with lemon mustard.

Yield: 4

Garlic Lemon Chicken

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This garlic lemon chicken is easy to make and ready in less than 30 minutes

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
• 1 tbsp coarse whole grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (1 tsp for rub and 2 tsp for sauce)
• 1 tbsp fresh basil
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (1 tbsp for rub, 1 tbsp for cooking)
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Pre-Heat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Combine the whole grain mustard, 1 tsp of the lemon zest, basil, thyme, sea salt and 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a small bowl. Use fingers or a pasty brush to coat chicken on both sides with the mustard rub.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining lemon zest, lemon juice and the chicken stock. Set aside.
4. Heat the remaining tbsp of oil with the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook about 1 minute or until you can smell toasted garlic and the garlic has browned around the edges.
5. Add the chicken into the hot oil and cook 2 to 3 minutes on one side
6. Turn over the chicken then add the reserved lemon juice mixture.
7. Combine the water with the flour and stir in a bit of the lemon juice mixture. Add back to the pan and stir to combine.by about a third.
8. Transfer the chicken to an oven proof dish, pour over the sauce and bake 25 to 30 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 239Total Fat: 13.6gSaturated Fat: 4.2gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 72.8mgSodium: 338.4mgCarbohydrates: 3.2gFiber: 0.2gSugar: .3gProtein: 25.7g

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