Lemon Butter Chicken with Whipped Cauliflower
Friday’s blog post came a day early and it’s a delicious one! I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and meal prep lately, which has been nice to spend time in the kitchen and eat better with spring around the corner. I also recently took on an Instagram partnership with ButcherBox, which has been a nice incentive to get creative with our dinners and experiment with new recipes. We’ve been subscribing for awhile now, and it has been a wonderful experience. Even though I shared snippets of the recipe on IG, of course I wanted to give this Lemon Butter Chicken with Whipped Cauliflower a permanent place to live here on the blog. Click through for the recipe or to save this one for later- it’s one of our go-to dinner recipes and is so good!
I’m not contractually obligated to share anything here on the blog (in regards to this partnership), but given we’ve had an excellent experience with our food delivery, I figured an honest review would be appreciated. Emmett & I care a lot about where our food (especially meat) comes from, because as many of you know- we both grew up on family farms. We were accustomed to raising our own meat and growing our own food. We started ButcherBox because they support local farmers, have extremely high quality standards, and most importantly- all of their meat comes from humanely raised livestock (or wild caught seafood). I was excited when they reached out to me because we already love it. Alright- onto the recipe!
The recipe I wanted to share is a chicken recipe we eat often. Over the past year or two, I’ve tweaked and adapted it from this Half Baked Harvest recipe. I eat far more fish & poultry than Emmett, but he loves this one. He’s also not big on cauliflower, and funny enough- the first time I made this, he thought it was mashed potatoes. Hah! I called that a win. A sneaky way to add in some lighter veggies.
Ok, start with high quality chicken and butterfly the breasts, creating four thin pieces. They cook fast and have a nice seared edge when they’re thin. That’s key! I’ll copy the full recipe below…
Lemon Butter Chicken with Whipped Cauliflower
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts butterflied and separated to create four pieces
- salt & pepper for seasoning
- 1/3 cup flour or flour substitute
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 lemon thinly sliced & seeds removed
- 12-15 fresh sage leaves
- 4 tbsp salted butter
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Whipped Cauliflower
- 2 large cauliflower heads washed and cut into florets
- 3 garlic cloves smashed
- 4-6 ounces whipped cream cheese at room temperature
- 4 tbsp salted butter
- salt & pepper for seasoning
Instructions
- Rinse, pat dry, and season the chicken with salt & pepper on both sides.
- Mix the flour and parmesan in a bowl and dredge the chicken in the flour mix, pressing it onto the meat.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and sear on both sides until golden & cooked throughout- about 3-5 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add the butter, sage, and lemon slices. Sear the sage until crisp, and the lemon slices until they're browned on each side, about 2 minutes. Remove the sage and lemon from the pan- set aside.
- Again in the same skillet, add the tomatoes, thyme leaves, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes begin to pop & crack, about 5-6 minutes. Pour in the wine and lemon juice, cook an additional 2-3 minutes, until it slightly thickens. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until warmed throughout.
- Make the whipped cauliflower. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add cauliflower florets and cook until tender, about 12 minutes.
- Drain the cauliflower and combine the florets, garlic, cream cheese, and butter in a food processor or high powered blender. Pulse until smooth and creamy- around 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
- Plate the food. Spoon the mashed cauliflower onto plates or shallow bowls. Add the chicken, sage, tomatoes, and lemon slices. Then spoon the pan sauce over the dish as preferred. Top with fresh thyme, salt, & pepper.
Notes
This dish is packed with flavor and amazing texture. From the acidic tomatoes to the buttery whipped cauliflower and savory chicken & sage, I hope you love this one as much as we do. It’s always a hit and heats up wonderfully for lunch leftovers. I will say- when it comes to mashed cauliflower, most of the time I don’t love the texture. They always end up too gritty or crunchy for my liking. Putting the cauliflower in a food processor or blender to whip it, has become my new go-to… it makes them perfectly smooth and the texture is so much better- soft, creamy, and rich!
ButcherBox offers 5 different box options (4 curated boxes and 1 custom)… we love the custom box because we can choose a variety of meats & seafoods or mix it up. Emmett enjoys the scallops, but I can’t have them thanks to my shellfish allergy, so we’ll occasionally order those or switch it up. The customization is nice! I do have an offer to share with you from my IG promo, if you’re interested… new members will receive grass fed ground beef for the lifetime of their membership. Two pounds of free beef in every box, just click here!
Please let me know if you try this recipe! It’s super delicious and one I always look forward to making and eating. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend ahead. We’ve been ordering our stair parts for the entryway renovation and have plans to nail down and order some of the last details for that space so we can get going in there… so it will be a little work and a little play for us. The perfect combination! See you on Monday!
