Lemon & Butter Chicken with a Warm Green Bean Salad is a simple, delicious and light dinner.
We ate really well this past weekend.
It started with takeout lunch from Pizzeria Mozza with my cousins and an amazing dinner a few hours later at République with a friend who was visiting LA. She loves food as much as we do, so we always eat well when she’s here. 🙂 We shared a bunch of small plates, my favorites were the brandade (salted cod with potatoes, mashed together and spread on bread) and an insane pasta with mushrooms, foie gras and freshly shaved truffles. It was one of those dishes we just had to try. And then of course the steady stream of cheese and crackers – standard weekend fare at our house.
And then the weekend is over and it’s time for some lighter meals. This one is a new favorite dinner!
It couldn’t be easier to make, and it’s SO delicious. Let me tell you about it: chicken breasts are cooked in a packet so that they essentially poach in a broth of lemon, butter, garlic and parsley. They end up perfectly cooked and really flavorful. It’s everything you want in a chicken breast. (Which normally, I don’t even love.)
And then on the side, a lovely salad, featuring my favorite vegetable, green beans! The beans are lightly steamed and then sautéed together with green onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar and cherry tomatoes.
As much as I wish I could, I can’t take the credit for this recipe. The New Low-Carb Diet Cookbook: Groundbreaking recipes for healthy, long-term weight loss (affiliate link) by Laura Lamont was sent to me to review and I loved paging through the book for some ‘lighter meal’ inspiration. I don’t follow a low-carb diet, but I’m not against cutting back on carbs to make up for rich weekends – or dessert.
It’s not your typical low-carb cookbook, where absolutely no carbs are allowed. At breakfast, carbs are allowed (and encouraged)! The rest of the meals are full of fresh vegetables, plenty of protein and bright flavors. It’s the kind of food I like to eat! And I definitely don’t consider it ‘diet’ food.
Whether you’re looking for something a little lower in carbs or just looking for an easy weeknight dinner, I think you’ll love this version.
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Lemon & Butter Chicken with Warm Green Bean Salad
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Ingredients
- For the Chicken
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, each about 6 oz
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- freshly ground pepper
- For the Green Bean Salad
- 3 scallions, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 handfuls green beans
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put two 12-inch square pieces of aluminum foil on a baking sheet and turn up the edges to make bowl shapes to contain the ingredients.
- Put a chicken breast half in the middle of each piece of foil and top them with the garlic, butter and parsley. Squeeze the lemon juice over and season with a twist of pepper.
- Fold the foil loosely over the chicken, then seal the tops to form airtight packages. Roast the chicken packages 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
- Toward the end of the cooking time, put the beans in a steamer, cover with a lid and steam about 5 minutes until just tender. Immediately rinse them under cold running water to set the color.
- Meanwhile, to make the salad, put the scallions, garlic and balsamic vinegar in a nonstick saucepan over low heat, cover with a lid and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft. Add the green beans and halved tomatoes and cook 2 minutes longer to reheat the beans.
- Unwrap the chicken and put on top of the salad to serve, spooning over the buttery lemon juices.
Nutrition
- Calories: 363 calories
- Sugar: 10 grams
- Fat: 14 grams
- Carbohydrates: 22 grams
- Fiber: 6 grams
- Protein: 41 grams
Karla @ Foodologie
I’m dying to try Pizzeria Mozza! Is it as amazing as everyone says?
P.S. sold on the green beans!
Emily
The takeout pizza was amazing…really good crust and interesting twists on the standard pizza toppings.