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This delicious Creamy Lemon Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms is prepared in a skillet and ready in less than 30 minutes. Full of flavor, but also dairy free using coconut milk as the cream base. Serve with rice, pasta, or zoodles for a complete healthy dinner that the whole family will enjoy! Paleo, Whole30, and Keto.
Reasons you will love this Skillet Creamy Lemon Chicken!
Easy, healthy, and delicious dinners are exactly what I love making on a busy weeknight. As a nutritionist who is super busy with kids in various activities, I need to be able to hit all of three of these on any given weeknight. I love tossing mushrooms into meals like this—they’re great at soaking up flavor and bringing that cozy, savory depth. This particular recipe is the perfect springtime recipe in every single way. Here are all the reasons why I love it:
- Loaded with asparagus; my favorite spring time vegetable!
- So decadent delicious with a lemon creamy sauce
- Made without dairy and a much healthier way of enjoying a comfort food recipe!
- One pan meal that comes together in less than 30 minutes
A light and hearty meal full of nutrients!
As mentioned above, this is a creamy dish. But instead of butter and cream, I used coconut milk and coconut oil. Coconut oil and milk are better alternatives to heavy cream and butter. Although they have high saturated fat content, they are much healthier source of fat than most saturated fat because they contain medium-chain triglycerides (also called MCT’s).
I don’t want to get too scienc-y on you, but let me just share with you the difference between MCT saturated fats and other common saturated fats (such as vegetable oils, animal fats, etc.) MCTs are sent directly to your liver and are quickly converted into energy as opposed to being stored as fat. This also creates less stress on the digestive system and does not require special enzymes to break down.
How to make Creamy Lemon Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms:
- Start off by heating up some coconut oil in a skillet. Sauté each chicken breast for a few minutes on each side (they will not be cooked through), set aside.
- You may need to add a bit more coconut oil, and add your mushrooms, garlic, and asparagus to the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the asparagus is nice and crispy, and the mushrooms are fragrant and soft.
- Now add the chicken back to the skillet. Place coconut milk, lemon juice, and lemon rind with the chicken. Heat up the pan to medium high heat, cover.
- After the mixture begins to bubble, turn the heat down to medium low. Simmer altogether until the chicken is cooked through (about 5-8 minutes).
Serving and Storing:
Serve immediately with zoodles, rice, or pasta. I loved it with zoodles, while my kids and husband preferred rice. For a simple side, you could pair it with Oven Roasted Potatoes, or keep things light and fresh with an Easy House Salad
Be sure to rate the recipe below and comment if you make it! Also, tag me on Instagram @wholesomelicious with your creations. I love to see them!
Creamy Lemon Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 3-4 large chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 8 medium sized asparagus spears, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 3/4 cup coconut milk, the canned stuff, you can use light or full fat
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Begin by heating up a large skillet to medium-medium high heat. Once hot, add 1 tbsp coconut oil.
- Place chicken in pan, heat about 3 minutes per side, and set aside (chicken will not be cooked through).
- Add remaining coconut oil if needed. Toss in crushed garlic, asparagus, and mushrooms.
- Saute until asparagus is crispy, and mushrooms are soft and fragrant (about 10 minutes)
- Return the chicken to the pan. Add in coconut milk, lemon juice, and lemon rind.
- With the skillet on medium high heat, cover. Wait until the mixture bubbles, then lower to medium low. Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Salt to taste and serve with rice, pasta, or zoodles.
This was really good, and easy to make! I put it over cauliflower rice. Definitely going on my make again list. Thank you!
Healthy and delicious. We enjoyed it. Thank you
I absolutely love this recipe! I have made it several times. I used light coconut milk and added a tsp of salt free lemon pepper seasoning in place of the salt and pepper. Followed the recipe and it was delicious! Definitely our dinner go to! Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome!! Thanks, Carey!
INITIAL REVIEW: 1/5.
This rating is based solely on the recipe with dairy substituted for the coconut milk (per the cook Amy’s suggestion in the comments), everything else as-is.
I’m seriously kicking myself because I KNOW lemon curdles dairy, but I figured if it was suggested by the person who made the recipe… maybe they had tried the substitution and gotten it to work.
Unfortunately it did indeed curdle, badly. Completely ruined dinner and I had to toss everything.
SECOND ATTEMPT, SANS LEMON: 3.5/5
I substituted evaporated milk for coconut milk, 1:1, and left out all lemon (juice and slices/zest). Sauce was a little too thin for my taste, so heavy cream would have done better. Overall taste is good, although chicken was also a little bland.
THIRD ATTEMPT, STILL SANS LEMON BUT +SPICES: 5/5
I melted 3 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan together, then added 1.5 tsp white wine, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and 1/4 tsp dried oregano. Cut chicken up into 1-2 inch cubes and cooked for 3 min each side. Removed from pan then cooked asparagus and mushrooms for ~10 min, added chicken back, and added 1 cup of heavy cream. Brought to simmer, reduced heat, and then cooked for approx. 5 min covered.
Served over rice or cauliflower rice and it was a hit in our house. I would have loved to try the original recipe with coconut oil & milk, but my husband cannot have either.
I was really disappointed. It was not creamy at all (I did use cocoanut milk out of a bottle). but even so, It could have used twice as many asparagus and mushrooms. And the chicken was not tender. Not cooked long enough. Disappointed.
You have to use the full fat coconut milk from the can to get that creamy texture and taste. Sorry it didn’t work out!
Made this tonight and it’s amazing!!!
Awesome recipe! We eat this dish once every couple weeks and it never gets old. It’s so fresh and flavorful!
I’m going to try this with tofu or just more veggies. I love lemon
Great idea!
Awesome recipe! We eat this dish once every couple weeks and it never gets old. It’s so fresh and flavorful!
I made this recipe (we’re doing the AIP paleo diet) a couple of times. This is amazing, love it!!
Thanks so much!!
Yay! Thank you, so glad you love it!
Made last night. Used light coconut milk and added mini sweet bell peppers. Turned out so yummy!!!
Thanks Britt! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
This was a really easy dish to make and very good!
Full of Flavor! Thank you for posting, we will make this again!
You are welcome! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I made this exactly per the recipe and both my hub and I thought it was very blahhhh. No spices no salt called for — will try again but chef it up.