This lemon garlic butter chicken thighs dish is going to become one of your favorite meals! It's easy to make, hearty, flavorful, and cooked in one pan! It's a total winner winner chicken dinner!

Brown chicken pieces with yellow wedges and chopped green onions and sauce in a pan, the words skillet lemon garlic chicken thighs on the bottom.

Have I got a super simple and delicious one-pan meal that you're going to love!

This dish is deliciously suitable for low-carb diets and is all cooked up in one-pan simply and easily! It's a tasty chicken dish you're going to definitely want to add to your weekly menu!

Let's get on with it!

The Chicken Thighs

A major key to this dish cooking up quickly is the thighs being boneless, so be sure to either buy the boneless chicken thighs or grab yourself a couple kitchen shears and debone them yourself.

Why skin-on?

Four raw chicken pieces on a white paper towel.

By using skin-on chicken thighs, no extra oil is needed and the chicken cooks in its own rendered fat from the skin. If you use skinless chicken thighs, you will have to add oil to the pan.

Can I use chicken breasts?

I have not tried cooking this dish with chicken breasts since I find chicken thighs are more juicy and flavorful. They are also more forgiving to cooking and do not dry out as easily as chicken breasts.

Cooking the Chicken Thighs

You want to start with a cold pan...can't get any easier than that!

Starting the chicken thighs skin down in a cold pan helps to render the fat out of the chicken skin, requiring no additional oil. The skin also turns golden and crisp as it is searing in the pan. This is a common way to cook duck breast and chicken thighs benefit from the same method.

Use a skillet that is large enough to hold the chicken thighs without crowding. Once you lay the chicken in the cold skillet, turn the heat up to medium high and let the chicken cook for about 10 minutes without moving them.

Four raw chicken thighs being cooked in a grey skillet.

Flip the chicken over and you are going to see that the chicken skin is beautifully golden!

As the chicken continues cooking, it's time to add the rest of the flavorings...garlic, chicken broth, lemon juice, and fresh ground black pepper.

The finishing touches comes at the end when you add green onions to the pan and pat of butter which will give the sauce a rich and silky texture.

What if I am dairy-free?

Simply omit the butter to keep the dish dairy-free...and the dish becomes suitable for paleo diets!

If you still want to give the sauce some creamy body without the dairy, try adding some coconut cream to the pan.

Four cooked chicken pieces with sliced garlic, green onions, and butter in a skillet.

If you want a bit of heat in the dish, add some chopped red chili peppers to the pan. They add a nice kick to each bite.

And that's it! Switch off the heat and transfer the pan from stove directly to table! Dinner is ready!

What is the best way to serve this chicken?

To keep the meal low-carb or carb-free, serve the chicken with a salad, roasted vegetables, or a side of boiled leafy greens.

A dark dish containing green broccoli, a yellow lemon wedge, and a brown piece of chicken topped with garlic slices and chopped green onion.

If carbs aren't an issue, some rice or bread to help soak up the delicious sauce is a great option. You can't waste any of that sauce!

The flavors from my Savory Ginger Garlic Coconut Rice would be a tasty partner to the lemon garlic chicken thighs.

If you are gluten-free and want to enjoy bread with your meal, consider making my Parmesan Sage Focaccia or Parmesan Garlic Breadsticks...both gluten-free options that don't make you miss the gluten!

A cut piece of chicken with golden brown skin and topped with garlic slices and chopped green onions.

Looking for more one-pan recipes?

We can never have too many one-pan meal recipes for those nights when we just want something quick to throw on the table without sacrificing flavor! Take a look at Garlic Shrimp & Spinach One-Pan Pasta or One-Pan Saucy Beef Pasta, both delicious and hearty.

One-Pan Roast Chicken and Kale and Curry Chicken Rice Bake are baked in the oven, but they still use just one roasting pan, so I'd say they qualify as one-pan recipes! One-pan, whether it's a skillet or roasting dish still means an easy meal and easy clean-up!

Close-up of a cut piece of chicken on a fork.

These lemon garlic chicken thighs are a big hit in my house and I'm sure they're going to become a favorite in your house, too! Tender chicken in a delicious sauce and cooked up in no time with easy clean-up...it's a total winner of a chicken dinner any night of the week!

~ Lisa.