Buttered Lemon Chicken Parmesan

This speedy recipe for buttered lemon chicken parmesan swaps the tomato sauce for a buttery lemon sauce that works perfectly with the cheese!

I do love messing around with classic recipes. Take chicken parmesan for example…it involves chicken that is pan-fried with a tomato sauce, parmesan cheese and usually a generous amount of mozzarella cheese as well.

We do like a good chicken parm in this house, but the Southern husband also adores anything that involves lemon, so it got me to thinking.

What if I swapped out the tomato sauce for a buttery lemon sauce?

What if I ditched the mozzarella cheese entirely and just stuck with the Parmesan part?

TECHNICALLY this is still chicken parm, because I hung on to both the chicken and parm parts. It’s actually closer to chicken piccata, which is also made with lemon but doesn’t have the bread crumb coating or the parmesan.

Whatever it is, we love it! So grab a lemon and some cheese and let’s make it!

How do I get lemon zest?

Lemon zest is an important part of this dish, because it provides the bright little zing that makes this chicken so tasty. Zest comes from the lemon peel, and you want it in nice little feathery grated form so it fits right into the chicken breading.

And for that, I love the wonder that is my microplane zester. You simply run the lemon up and down the zester, and voila! A heap of perfectly grated lemon zest.

The microplane zester is also perfect for the grated parmesan you are going to need. Win-win!

Here’s how you make buttered lemon chicken parmesan!

Take that lemon zest and mix it up with some panko breadcrumbs, some grated Parmesan, some fresh parsley and a little sea salt and pepper and put it in a pie plate.

Put some beaten egg in another pie plate, and line them up together next to your stovetop.

Next! Melt some butter in a large skillet (I love Kerrygold butter for this recipe) and then dunk boneless chicken breasts in the egg and then the lemony bread crumbs.

Cook it up until it is nice and deep golden brown on both sides, and then set your chicken aside while you finish the sauce.

Add a little more butter and the juice from that lemon that you zested and stir it up.

Now divide the chicken among plates and drizzle that heavenly buttery lemony sauce on top, and then cover the whole thing with a generous handful of grated Parmesan cheese.

When we are feeling virtuous we have spinach on the side, but if you want to be extra decadent, cook up some cacio e pepe (otherwise known as pasta with black pepper and Parmesan cheese) and I promise you will be in Parmesan Cheese Heaven.

And if all this has also given you a yearning for traditional chicken parm, here’s a version that includes the mozzarella and here’s one that sticks to just the Parmesan.

I think my chicken parm work is done here!

Love, Kate xo

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