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This light and easy pasta dish is made with tender strips of boneless chicken, thin spaghetti, sweet grape tomatoes, and a fresh lemon and garlic pan sauce.
This recipe combines tender white meat chicken, cherry tomatoes, and spaghetti tossed with a light and tangy sauce infused with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. It only takes about a half hour to prepare and its simple, vibrant flavors are sure to make it a favorite for an easy weeknight meal.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Here are the key ingredients you’ll need to make this dish.
- Chicken: We generally use boneless chicken breasts, lightly pounded and cut into strips for this recipe, but tenderloins will work as well. Just be sure to trim off the white tendons and cut them in half lengthwise.
- Pasta: Thin spaghetti is our pasta of choice for this dish because the sauce coats it so nicely and you get the full flavor of the dish in every bite. Other good options include linguine, rotini, and penne.
- Fresh lemon: Fresh-squeezed lemon juice and zest are essential to the flavor of this recipe. One good-sized lemon should be plenty unless you’d like to garnish your plates with lemon wedges.
- Tomatoes: Either grape or cherry tomatoes will work in this dish. Their sweetness is the perfect contrast to the tanginess of the lemon sauce.
How to Make Lemon Pasta with Chicken
This is an overview of how this dish is made. You’ll find detailed measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version of the recipe below.
- Place the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound them gently to an even thickness of 1/2 inch, then slice them on the bias into strips.
- Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a food storage bag and add the chicken strips. Shake the bag to coat the chicken and set it aside.
- Cook and drain the pasta according to the package directions. Drizzle with a little olive oil, toss, and set it aside.
- Add more olive oil to a large frying pan and heat on medium-high. Add the butter and as soon as it begins to foam, add the chicken a few pieces at a time, shaking off the excess flour as you do.
- Sauté the chicken until barely golden on the outside. It will not be cooked through at this point. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Add the onion to the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and sauté until softened. Add the garlic and continue cooking until fragrant (do not brown).
- Add the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pan and cook, stirring often, until the broth has thickened slightly.
- Add the tomatoes and continue cooking until they’re soft and slightly wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and some chopped parsley. Cook for another minute or so, then combine the chicken mixture with the spaghetti.
- To serve, plate individual portions and top with grated Parmesan cheese, a sprinkling of chopped parsley, and a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Tips for Success
The key to success with this recipe is to work quickly and avoid overcooking the chicken while making the pan sauce. Here are some tips for success:
- Pound the chicken: It’s important that your chicken pieces are cut to a relatively similar size for quick, even cooking. Pounding chicken breasts to a uniform thickness (in this case 1/2-inch) is an important step to achieving this. When pounding boneless chicken you want to be sure to use the flat side of your mallet and a lighter touch than you would with beef or pork.
- Prepare all ingredients in advance: It’s always a good idea to prep ingredients ahead, and with this dish, it’s a must. Chop the onion, mince the garlic, halve the tomatoes, juice, and zest the lemon, and chop the parsley before you begin cooking the chicken.
- Be careful not to overcook the chicken: In this recipe, the chicken is cooked in two separate steps in order to keep it moist and tender. The first step is to sauté it in a combination of butter and olive oil just long enough for the flour to develop a little bit of color. It’s important to remember that the chicken will not be fully cooked at this point. It finishes cooking when you return it to the pan to simmer for a couple of minutes in the chicken broth and lemon juice that make up the sauce. The total cooking time for the chicken should only be about 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice and zest at the end of cooking: In order to keep the citrus flavor in this dish fresh and bright, leave the addition of the lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley to the last minutes of cooking. This is a rule you can follow whenever you want the flavor of fresh herbs or citrus to stand out in a dish.
More Fresh Tomato Pasta Recipes
Using fresh tomatoes instead of canned is an easy way to make a variety of creative pasta dishes. We’ve used cherry (or grape) tomatoes to add a burst of sweet flavor to Mediterranean-style pasta salad with shrimp, an updated twist on chicken Marsala, and a simple vegetarian dinner of cheese tortellini and zucchini.
Diced, garden-ripe tomatoes have a still-fresh, but slightly different flavor profile. A favorite dish of ours for summer is to toss them together with linguine, fragrant basil, and fresh mozzarella to make a mouthwatering Caprese-style pasta.
Lemon Pasta with Chicken
This light and easy pasta dish is made with tender strips of boneless chicken, thin spaghetti, sweet grape tomatoes, and a fresh lemon and garlic pan sauce.
Ingredients
- 3/4 to 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 8 ounces thin spaghetti
- 1/4 cup flour
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh-squeezed
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- Parmesan cheese for grating
Instructions
- If your chicken breasts have tenderloins attached, remove and reserve them for another use. Place the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound gently to an even thickness of 1/2 inch, then slice them on the bias into 1/2-inch wide strips.
- Combine the flour, 3/4 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of black pepper in a 1-quart food storage bag and add the chicken strips. Shake the bag to coat the chicken with the flour mixture and set aside.
- Cook and drain the pasta according to package directions. Return it to the pan and drizzle with 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss and set aside.
- Add another tablespoon or two of olive oil to a large frying pan and place over medium-high heat. Add the butter and as soon as it begins to foam, add the chicken a few pieces at a time, shaking off the excess flour as you do.
- Sauté the chicken for 1-1/2 minutes, or until it's barely golden on the outside. It will not be cooked through at this point. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Add the onion to the pan, reduce the heat to medium and sauté until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes longer (do not brown).
- Add the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pan and cook, stirring often, until the broth has thickened slightly, 1-1/2 to 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and continue cooking until softened, 2 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley. Cook 1 minute longer, then add the chicken mixture to the spaghetti and toss to combine.
- To serve, plate individual portions and top with grated Parmesan and a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Notes
The key to success with this recipe is to work quickly and avoid overcooking the chicken while making the pan sauce. Here are some tips for success:
- Pound the chicken carefully: When pounding boneless chicken you want to be sure to use the flat side of your mallet and a lighter touch than you would with beef or pork to avoid shredding the meat.
- Prep all the ingredients in advance: Chop the onion, mince the garlic, halve the tomatoes, juice and zest the lemon, and chop the parsley before you begin cooking the chicken.
- Be careful not to overcook the chicken: In this recipe, the chicken is cooked in two separate steps in order to keep it moist and tender. The first step is to sauté it in a combination of butter and olive oil just long enough for the flour coating to develop a little bit of color. It’s important to remember that the chicken will not be fully cooked at this point. It finishes cooking when you return it to the pan to simmer for a couple of minutes in the chicken broth and lemon juice that make up the sauce. Total cooking time for the chicken should only be about 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice and zest at the end of cooking: In order to keep the citrus flavor in this dish fresh and bright, leave the addition of the lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley to the last minutes of cooking.
Nutrition
Calories: 521, Total Fat: 17g, Cholesterol: 88mg, Sodium: 198mg, Carbohydrates: 57g, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 6g, Protein: 34g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!
Pretty good :). Used almond flour instead of normal flour and quinoa pasta, worked together really well!:)
Hi Susan,
Thanks for sharing your gluten-free variation. I’m glad it turned out well.