I Tried Katie Couric’s Lemon Chicken, and It’s My New Favorite Dinner

Chicken is one of the proteins that I cooked a lot in my early 20s. There are so many delicious chicken recipes online, and because it’s cheap and easily accessible, I found myself cooking it a lot. Now I cook all different types of proteins and rarely find myself cooking chicken — unless I’m feeling ambitious and decide to roast a whole bird. But every now and then, I’ll come across a chicken recipe that will bring me back to my original protein of choice, and Katie Couric’s Lemon Chicken was one of them.

This recipe was originally published in the TODAY Show cookbook, which featured some of Katie’s favorite recipes. Intrigued by how tasty it looked and how easy it seemed to put together, I decided to give it a try.

Get the recipe: Katie Couric’s Lemon Chicken

How to Make Katie Couric’s Lemon Chicken

Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap and pound them down with a meat pounder until they are evenly thin. Dip the chicken in flour and shake slightly to remove the excess.

Heat butter and olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil and butter are hot, add the chicken breasts, letting them cook on each side until they are brown and crispy and cooked through. Remove the chicken and set aside on a plate. (You may have to cook the chicken in waves, depending on how flat it got.)

Whisk in some flour with the leftover oil and butter, then pour in some freshly squeezed lemon juice and chicken broth. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the chicken back in. Let the chicken simmer until the sauce becomes thick. Season everything with salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken over rice with fresh lemon wedges.

My Honest Review

Before even tasting the chicken, I was still marveling at how easy it was to make: Dredge in flour, cook in oil and butter, and simmer in a sauce that was also surprisingly straightforward to throw together. When it was time to plate this chicken and take a bite, I was overwhelmed at how delectable it smelled and found myself shoveling a bite in my mouth before even sitting down for dinner.

Needless to say, this chicken did not disappoint. It’s savory and tangy from the mix of broth, butter, and lemon, and the texture of the crispy edges as you bite into the juicy chicken is absolutely perfect. It reminded me of my family’s go-to chicken Francese recipe, and I instantly knew I would be making this dinner again (and again, and again). Especially given how the whole thing came together in less than a half hour!

My only note about this recipe was the sauce. While it thickened nicely with the flour, I found the lemon flavor to be so overpowering that it detracted from the rest of the taste. Next time around, I think I’ll use less lemon juice to balance it out.

Tips for Making Katie Couric’s Lemon Chicken

Use thin chicken breast: The chicken breasts I picked up were far too thick, so before pounding them down, I actually cut them in half lengthwise to make thinner cutlets and then pounded them down. This saved me on cooking time and made for better portions for dinner. Next time, I’ll just purchase thin-sliced chicken breast to make it easier for myself with less prep.
Go light on the lemon juice: While this recipe calls for juicing two lemons, I’m not sure it needed that much tart flavor. I would half the lemon juice in this recipe, and then give the sauce a taste to see if you want to add more later.
Garnish with parsley: I found the parsley was a fresh, herby touch to this savory chicken.