Chicken is affordable and versatile, which is why it’s a staple in many people’s weekly shops. Many chefs argue that chicken thigh meat is best for use in dishes that have lots of flavour, like a curry or stew, but breast is the prime cut when grilling or pan-frying chicken. However, injecting flavour into a sliced cutlet can prove more difficult, notes the food experts at Food52.
Sharing a recipe for a “simple by satisfying” pan-fried lemon chicken, they noted: “When it comes to simplicity, the details matter. You want some colour on the cutlets, but too much cooking will dry them out, so the thickness of the pieces is important.” The answer is simple: all it takes is a few seconds of preparation.
In this recipe, chicken cutlets are lightly coated in dry ingredients and then lightly pan-fried. For flavour, they are then smothered with a lemon butter pan sauce.
To make the cutlets, you can use chicken breasts. Slice the breasts in half horizontally and then pound them thinner to create a more uniform and quicker-cooking piece of meat.
This is where the key to delicious, juicy chicken is, says the Food52 team. Prepare the chicken to a “sweet spot” of about three to four inches thick.
The food experts warned: “Too thin and they’ll cook too fast. Too thick and they won’t cook evenly.”
Pan-fried lemon chicken recipe
Ingredients
- One large boneless, skinless chicken breast
- Three tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- One cup of flour
- Sea salt
- Olive oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- Half a cup of low-salt chicken broth
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- One tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- Lemon slices to garnish
Method
Start by cutting the chicken breast in half crosswise, dividing the thicker rounded end from the thinner pointed end. Divide each half into cutlets roughly three to four inches thick, then season the cutlets with salt.
Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, being careful not to burn it.
Measure the flour into a wide, shallow bowl. Season the flour with salt, then dredge the chicken cutlets in the flour.
Next, add a few dashes of olive oil to the melted butter.
Lay the chicken cutlets in the pan and fry them for two minutes on each side, until lightly browned and almost cooked through.
Remove the chicken to a warm platter until you’re ready to serve them.
Add lemon juice to the pan and cook until it becomes gravy-like. Add the chicken broth and stir until slightly thickened.
Turn off the heat and stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter.
Dip chicken pieces into the pan sauce, then return them to a warm platter. Pour the remaining sauce over the chicken.
Season with fresh ground black pepper and fragrant fresh parsley, chopped. You can add some sliced lemon to serve.
