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Chicken & Asparagus Skillet
One pan, lemon, garlic, cream. The weeknight standard.
Ingredients
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Instructions
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- Pound chicken to even 3/4-inch thickness. Season both sides with 1 tsp of the salt, the pepper, and garlic powder.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Sear chicken per side until golden - pull at 160°F internal (carryover finishes it at 165°F). Rest on a plate, tented.
- Same skillet, medium heat: add butter and asparagus with the remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Cook , stirring, until bright green and just crisp-tender. Add garlic for the last 30 seconds.
- Push asparagus aside, pour in broth, and scrape up the browned bits. Simmer to reduce by half.
- Lower heat. Stir in cream, lemon zest, and parmesan; simmer gently until the sauce coats a spoon. Do not boil hard - cream plus lemon plus high heat curdles.
- Kill the heat, stir in the lemon juice, taste for salt.
- Return chicken and any resting juices to the pan, spoon sauce over, and serve - over rice, pasta, or as-is.
Notes
- Thin asparagus cooks in 2 minutes, thick in 5 - judge by bend, not clock.
- Lemon juice goes in off the heat; zest can simmer, juice breaks cream if boiled.
- Got a family version of this? They're all cousins - the searing temps and the off-heat lemon rule carry over to any of them.
When it goes wrong
- Curdled sauce → boiled after the lemon went in; keep it at a bare simmer and add juice off heat.
- Army-green mushy asparagus → cooked too long or covered; hot pan, few minutes, uncovered.
- Pale chicken, watery pan → crowded skillet; sear in two batches.
- Bland → underseasoned chicken, not underseasoned sauce; season the meat itself, both sides.
rcpbx original