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Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Chicken is an easy recipe for tasty chicken breasts or thighs. Flavored with lots of lemon and garlic, with some herbs & spices, in a creamy gravy. This pressure cooker Creamy Lemon Chicken can be served over pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes.
Originally published 10/2017
Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Chicken
Lemon and chicken go very well together. This tasty recipe doesn’t need much more, but I added a few other seasonings and some cream to make a nice sauce for it.
This is not a heavy meal, even though it does have some cream in it. The lemon and onion balances it out nicely.
Can I use chicken Thighs?
Yes you can. They come out very tender and delicious! You can also use drumsticks.
My favorite way to enjoy this pressure cooker lemon chicken dish is over linguine pasta.
You can also serve pressure cooker creamy lemon chicken over rice (I made sure the recipe makes enough sauce!).
A low carb option is to serve this creamy, lemony goodness over broccoli or cauliflower rice.
Can I cook potatoes with this?
Sure! I do sometimes. You just ned the potatoes to be the right side to cook in the amount of time that the chicken cooks in.
My son likes it over mashed potatoes, so when I cook this and he’s home, I cube up a couple of potatoes and toss them in to cook with it. Then fish them out and mash them up for him.
The chicken cooks in about 17 minutes, including the natural release time. The potatoes would need to be halved or quartered to be done in this amount of time.
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Pin This Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Chicken Recipe
If you make this delicious Instant Pot Lemon Chicken recipe, please leave me a comment below. I’d like to know how you liked it!
Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-4 Chicken Breasts (or boneless thighs)
- ½ tsp Salt (to season chicken)
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 4 Tbsp Butter
- 1 sm Onion, diced
- 4 cloves Garlic (minced or pressed)
- 1 tsp Fresh Thyme Leaves
- 1 cup Chicken Broth, low sodium
- 2 Lemons, zested and juiced
- ½ tsp Salt (or to taste)
To Thicken
- 1-2 Tbsp Corn Starch
- 1-2 Tbsp Cold Water
To Finish
- ¾ cup Heavy Cream
Serve With Any of These
- 8-10 oz Cooked Pasta
- Mashed Potatoes
- Cooked Rice
- Steamed Broccoli
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken by seasoning both sides of each breast with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Turn the pot on Sauté setting. When the display reads "Hot" add the olive oil, then the chicken. You may need to brown the chicken in two batches.
- Cook chicken for about 2 minutes per side (to get some color), then remove to a plate.
- Add the butter and onion to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Use a little of the broth if it's hard to get the bits up.
- Add the garlic and thyme. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
- Add the broth, lemon juice, and salt. Stir well.
- Cancel the Sauté setting.
- Place the chicken in the pot and close the lid. Set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Press the Pressure Cook (or Manual) button and then the + or - button to choose 7 minutes. When cook cycle ends, let the pot naturally release pressure for 7 minutes. Then manually release the remaining pressure by turning the steam release knob to Venting.
- When the pin in the lid drops, open the lid and using tongs, remove the chicken to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
Thicken the Sauce
- Turn on the Sauté setting again. Mix the corn starch and water together and when the sauce starts to simmer, stir into the sauce. Stir the sauce as it thickens.
Finish
- Turn off the Sauté setting and stir in the lemon zest and the heavy cream.
- Slice the chicken breasts and add the chicken back into the pot.
- If you want to, transfer to a serving dish. Then serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
RESOURCES TO MAKE Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Chicken
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THIS was amazing!! The only thing I did differently was shred the chicken and put in w/ the sauce and then put it over rice. I had also accidently defrosted chicken tenders and a package of chicken breasts (reading is hard). I think next time instead of breasts, tenders would be a good option too! LOVED this, thank you for the yummy recipe!!
When I served this, my husband said, “Where has this recipe been all our lives?”! We loved it! I did reduce the cream to 1/2 cup and may reduce it more next time, for the sake of lowering calories.
Easy to make and absolutely delicious! This was my first attempt at cooking something other than soups in the Instant Pot and the instructions were easy to follow.
It was easy to make, and tastes delicious. Definitely will be making this again
This was so good. My husband was impressed that he could actually taste the lemon. He really liked it.