Lemon Basil Chicken
Several weeks ago, Ben and I mapped out a series of mini home renovation projects with the goal of having them completed by this weekend. Current completion count: zero. At least our dinners have been running on schedule, courtesy of easy, one-pan recipes like this Lemon Basil Chicken. It’s fresh, healthy, cooks in a single skillet, and is ready 20 minutes!
My sister—who is in the midst of some home projects that make ours look as invasive as reorganizing a coat closet—warned me that real life is “not HGTV.”
I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant…until I was driving to an IKEA in a different state to pick up several missing parts of the shelving units that the store forgot to ship.
Add the shelf snafu to our first round of curtains being too short (the right length is now back ordered until July), the guy installing our blinds leaving halfway through the job for another appointment (he still hasn’t been back), and the fact that the only concrete step we’ve taken towards repainting our kitchen cabinets is to narrow down the color options from 17 shades of “white” to 7, and you have a situation that is a far cry from the 48-hour flips as seen on HGTV.
We have made some progress. Over the weekend, we built and installed the aforementioned IKEA shelves, which I gleefully loaded with stacks of plates, serving bowls, glassware, my entire cookbook collection, and heavy cast-iron skillets. It took the better part of an afternoon, but in the end, every dish and spoon had its perfect place.
Then, two hours later, we realized the shelves needed to move three inches to the right. We had to pull every single item from the shelves, and a good number of them are still scattered around my office. I feel like this probably doesn’t happen on HGTV.
Because we’ve been dedicating the majority of our free time toward the house, I’ve been appreciating quick and easy dinners like this Lemon Basil Chicken even more so than usual. Chunks of juicy chicken stir-fried with garlic, fresh lemon, and basil, this recipe requires hardly 5 minutes of prep and can be on your plate in 20.
To make Lemon Basil Chicken a complete meal, I added several handfuls of fresh spinach. You can feel free to bulk it up further with any other sautéed veggies you enjoy or have on hand. We served our Lemon Basil Chicken over brown rice for dinner, and the next day, I tossed the leftovers with my salad for lunch.
When getting a healthy meal on the table feels like a project of its own, keep this simple Lemon Basil Chicken in mind. While it might not be reality TV-worthy, in the reality of NEED DINNER NOW, it’s a star!
Tools I used to make this Lemon Basil Chicken recipe:
- Cast-iron skillet (this is another excellent and budget-friendly option)
- Non-slip cutting board
Lemon Basil Chicken
One Pan Lemon Basil Chicken with Spinach—Ready in 20 minutes! Fresh, flavorful, and healthy. Serve with rice for an easy weeknight meal.
Yield: 4 servings (about 4 cups total)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 large yellow onion, finely chopped, about 1 cup
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 cups loosely packed baby spinach (about 5 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
- Prepared brown rice, for serving
Directions:
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium. Once hot, add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 additional seconds.
- Add the chicken, increase the heat to medium high, and let cook for 3 minutes, browning all sides. Stir in the soy sauce and black pepper. Let cook until the chicken is completely cooked through, about 3 minutes longer.
- Stir in the spinach a few handfuls at a time, letting the heat of the pan wilt it as you go. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and basil. Cook and stir just until the basil is wilted, about 1 additional minute. Taste and season with additional salt or pepper as desired. Serve warm with rice as desired.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size: 1 (of 4), with 1/2 cup brown rice
- Amount Per Serving:
- Calories: 349 Calories
- Total Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Cholesterol: 98mg
- Sodium: 534mg
- Carbohydrates: 29g
- Fiber: 4g
- Sugar: 3g
- Protein: 40g
Did you try this recipe? I want to see! Follow Well Plated on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag it #wellplated. I love to know what you are making!
About Erin Clarke
I’m fearlessly dedicated to making healthy food taste incredible. Wearer of plaid, travel enthusiast, and firmly convinced that sweets and veggies both deserve a place at the table. MORE ABOUT ERIN…
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I just took a cooking class at our local hospital called Sprouts of Spring and one of the things she had to sample was sorrel. It has a strong lemony flavor and I could picture using it in this dish in place of lemon – only if you wanted more greens along with the spinach. This recipe will be on my list to make for sure.
P.S. Those HGTV people really laugh it up for the camera, huh? NOTHING in a remodel ever goes smoothly for us…we’ve done our entire house except one bathroom so far and there’s always something to keep you “laughing” and not in a good way! Hang in there – it’ll be beautiful when it’s done.
Thanks so much, Chris! It sounds like sorrel would be delicious here. If you do give it a try, I’d love to know what you think!
Maybe you’re more Food Network and less HGTV. ;)
Haha, that could be. Thanks Rachel! :)
Made this tonight – excellent. Swapped out the spinach for local wild asparagus…mmmm. Thanks for another good one, Erin!
Asparagus sounds delicious! Thanks so much for leaving this great review, Alexandra!
This is a perfect recipe – simple and delicious ingredients and easy and fast to make. We’ll be adding this to our “favorites”! Thanks (again)
I am so glad to hear that Susan! Thank you so much for trying the recipe and letting me know how it came out for you!
29g Carbohydrates – yikes! Enough to scare many of the growing number of low-carb people off. However, if I am interpreting the Nutrition info correctly, and you kick the brown rice out it becomes a very healthy 6g carbohydrates, at least as I see it (23g carbs in 1/2 C brown rice). I am no nutritionist and have grown weary of sorting out carbs vs sugar – I just treat them the same and leave it at that. I love almost anything with lemon in it – The basic recipe sounds great – I will make this with cauliflower rice or zoodles
I’m sure it’d be good with cauliflower rice or zoodles too, Dale! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Made this and ate it over riced cauliflower -it was fantastic!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Wendy! Riced cauliflower is an excellent serving suggestion…thanks for sharing how it went!
I tried this recipe and it was great! Do you think this can be frozen after it is made? I am looking for great recipes my niece can reheat on her own.
Hi Karen, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! I’ve never tried freezing this, but I think that should be fine! It should be thawed overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
This was incredible! I used avocado oil instead of evoo and used half fresh basil and the other half fresh lemon basil. I pulled the chicken out at the end and tossed zoodles in to warm them up and soak up the flavor. Kids devoured it. Sadly, no leftovers :(
Lemon basil sounds amazing here, Kerri! Thanks so much for reporting back—I’m so happy to hear you loved it!
I made it with salmon and it was very well received. Thank you
PS:It is weirdly reassuring to know that the handyman issue is a global phenomenon. I hope it’s all good now
Nora, thanks for reporting back about how this works with salmon! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe.
I made this for me and my boyfriend and it was a hit! We served it with sweet potato cauliflower mash and the sauce paired perfectly with it. The leftovers were even better as the lemon mellowed a bit and the basil intensified.
Emily, I’m glad to hear this recipe was a winner! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this awesome review!