Say hello to your families new favorite dinner: Honey Lemon Chicken. We’re searing chicken breasts, sauteeing green beans and drizzling it all with a homemade honey lemon sauce. So easy and soo tasty!

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

Sweet summer loving.

Beautiful seared chicken breasts kissed with homemade honey lemon sauce and you’re all set to holler for dinner in around 30 minutes. And let me take a moment to tell you about that sauce! It’s bright and lemony with some natural sweetness from the honey, and you can almost hear that deep-voiced ‘oh yeahhhhhhhh’ as the honey lemon butter sauce slowly trickles down that lightly crispy chicken.

In the midst of sweltering Houston heat, I grudgingly make my way into the kitchen only before/after the sun has made its way towards the other end of the house and even then I’m only willing to spend 30 minutes preparing food. Luckily, this honey lemon chicken requires just ten simple ingredients and comes complete with one side and the main entree. Also: honey lemon sauce to drizzle alll over a little rice, quinoa, or dip some crusty bread.

It’s the first rule in the book: sauce makes a good meal, GREAT.

I don’t make the rules, ya know ??‍♀️??‍♀️??‍♀️

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

But before we talk about pan-seared chicken with honey lemon sauce, how was your weekend? What did you do?

If you follow my on Instagram, you probably saw that the hubby surprised me with a mini staycation about an hour outside of the city. It was the perfect little getaway to celebrate our five year anniversary and just to sit back and take a day OFF. No checking emails, mapping out schedules or constantly thinking about food (other than the stuff I wanted to consume, obvi, selfishly).

Looking back, I don’t think I’ve taken a proper day off in the ballpark of three months. Yikes! Don’t be like me. Rest and relax and also: eat honey lemon chicken for dinner every night this week.

It’s so good!

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

Let’s talk about this weeknight-friendly honey lemon chicken recipe. It starts with the chicken. We’re dusting boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs if that’s more your thing) in a little flour, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then into a hot skillet, it goes with a drizzle of oil. Let the chicken cook all the way through on both sides. You can prep the sauce while the chicken cooks.

The sauce consists of 5 ingredients. The obvious ones – honey and lemon juice. You’ll also need cold slices of butter, a clove of garlic, and a big pinch of cayenne pepper. It’s sweet, lemony with a little kick of heat in the end.

Have you made my garlic butter baked salmon in foil? If you have, the sauce uses that same little trick to thicken in up, and you don’t need flour or cornstarch or anything else! The key is to simmer the honey, lemon juice, and a smashed clove of garlic together until the sauce concentrates a bit. Then, we’ll slowly whisk in cold pats of butter a little bit at a time to help thicken the sauce. This will take a few minutes but what you get is a perfect restaurant quality sauce that has that ideal, pourable consistency. Remember, the key is to use COLD butter. The sauce just won’t thicken properly if your butter is at room temperature or melted.

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

Sauté the green beans with a few slices of lemons, a pinch of garlic powder, and a little salt and pepper. We like them crunchy, so I didn’t let them go for too long. You do you! Cook them all the way through if that’s your thing.

Honey Lemon Chicken is the kind of recipe that’s fancy enough to serve your dinner guests and easy enough to pull off on a weeknight!

Get at this!

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

Yield: 4 servings

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Say hello to your families new favorite dinner: Honey Lemon Chicken. We're searing chicken breasts, sauteeing green beans and drizzling it all with a homemade honey lemon sauce. So easy and soo tasty!

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, divided
  • 1 - 1 1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice + 1 lemon, sliced
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed into 4 pieces
  • 3/4 - 1 pound green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces*

Instructions

  1. Chicken: Add the flour, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to a shallow dish and whisk. Add each piece of chicken to the flour mixture and coat on both sides, dust off any excess flour. Heat a skillet over medium to medium-high heat and drizzle in the olive oil. Add the chicken to the skillet and let cook for 3-6 minutes per side depending on the thickeness. Prepare the sauce while the chicken cooks. Remove chicken to a plate when cooked through.
  2. Sauce: In a saucepan, combine the lemon juice, honey, and smashed garlic over medium heat. Let the sauce come to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for 1 minute. Fish out the clove of garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, remove the pan from heat and swirl, so the butter starts to melt. Place back on the heat for a few seconds, remove and continue to swirl until the butter completely melts. Repeat this process with the remaining 3 pieces. When the butter is completely melted, remove sauce from heat season with cayenne and adjust salt to taste.
  3. Assemble: Add a small drizzle of oil to the pan you cooked the chicken in if it needs it. Add the lemon slices and push them around the pan with tongs to pick up all the bits left behind by the chicken. Add the green beans and sauté them for 3-5 minutes or until done to preference. Season with salt, pepper, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder. Pile the chicken onto the skillet if you'd like or divide into personal servings. You can drizzle the sauce over the entire dish or serve it on the side. Personally, we like it on the side (drizzled over rice) so the chicken keeps that nice sear!

Notes

  • Broccoli or asparagus will make an excellent substitute if you don't care for green beans!
  • Serve with rice, quinoa, or crusty bread.

Have you made this recipe?

I’d LOVE it if you could take a second to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. You can also share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #LITTLESPICEJAR 🙂

is this a good choice for you?

Nutritional facts assume you use 1/4th of the sauce (about 2 tablespoons).

Honey Lemon Chicken with Sautéed Green Beans - simple seared chicken and sautéed green beans drizzled in homemade honey lemon butter sauce. This takes 30 minutes from start to finish and is weeknight friendly! #honeylemonchicken #lemonchicken #chickendinner | Littlespicejar.com

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