This sauce is a must-have for those of us who are busy and need to come up with something different for dinner each night. Creamy Lemon Sauce can be used with chicken breast, chicken thighs, shrimp, steak, or vegetables!
You can use this recipe with our Chicken Breast in Lemon Butter Sauce or Crispy Italian Chicken Cutlets.
A Quick Look at The Recipe
- ✅Recipe Name: Creamy Lemon Sauce
- ⏲️Ready in: 30 minutes
- 👪Makes: 8 servings
- 📋Main ingredients: Lemon, Heavy cream, Butter.
- ⭐Why You'll Love This Recipe: This is the perfect lemon cream sauce recipe that you can add to your weekly meal prep, which can pair with any protein or veggie!
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Why You Need This Lemon Cream Sauce on Hand
If you're anything like us, we rotate through a lot of the same weeknight meals every week... cue the Monday night Italian Chicken Cutlets. And honestly, the challenge isn't finding something new to cook. It's figuring out how to make the same meals feel different.
This is one of the first pan sauces I learned to make, and once I understood how wine, cream, butter, and lemon balance each other, it completely changed the way I cooked weeknight dinners.
Over the years, I've learned that cooking for your family isn't about learning 100 different recipes; it's about nailing down a few cooking techniques that can transform the ingredients you already have in your house. That's why I keep recipess like the creamy lemon sauce in my back pocket. It's not just a sauce recipe. I can make the same chicken cutlets, pork chops, shrimp, or even crispy chickpeas, then finish them with this sauce, and suddenly dinner feels like a new meal.
It is particularly great to serve over a Classic Pork Chop Milanese or Italian Sausage Stuffing, because of the way these proteins soak up the sauce!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- White Wine. When we're talking about a dry white wine, I like to use a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio in dishes like this or Restaurant-Style Chicken Francese. I only use wines that I would enjoy drinking. If you're not a wine drinker, you can stick to something like Josh, Decoy, or Sea Salt brands.
- Capers. I notice people have a real problem with capers. I can't get enough of the salty goodness they provide to my dishes. If you despise capers, you can leave them out, and it won't affect the recipe.
- Butter. Always use cold, unsalted butter. This will help the milk fats separate slowly into the sauce without breaking the sauce.
*Please see more notes about ingredients below in the recipe card.
Best Uses for Creamy Lemon Sauce
My favorite part about this white wine lemon cream sauce is that you can use it with so many different proteins or vegetables. We use it in our Chicken Breast in Lemon Butter Sauce.
Some options you may want to add lemon cream sauce to are:
- For chicken: Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs or Italian Chicken Cutlets, or serve it over Cast Iron Lemon Basil Orzo with Chicken Thighs
- For pork: Cast Iron Boneless Pork Chops, Italian Cast Iron Pork Tenderloin, or Classic Pork Chop Milanese.
- For Beef: Seared Flank Steak or Grilled Beef Spiedini
- For vegetables: Cauliflower Steaks, grilled asparagus, or Fried Cauliflower Cakes
- For seafood: Mussels and clams! I love our Steamed Mussels in White Wine, but you could use this sauce to steam your mussels for a delicious flavor or pour it over your seared scallops!
How to Make Lemon Cream Sauce
This recipe is only for the creamy lemon sauce. Whenever using this recipe, you can cook whatever your protein or vegetable is in the same pan right before you start the sauce.
Step 1: Add olive oil to the pan over medium heat. Stir in the shallots and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add in the garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes. Season with salt.
Step 2: Squeeze in the juice from the lemon and combine. Add the crushed red pepper. Let the lemon juice simmer for 15-30 seconds while stirring.
Step 3: Pour in the wine and some lemon slices and capers. Bring the wine to a simmer for 5 minutes.
Step 4: Reduce the heat and slowly add the heavy cream while stirring. Add in the butter once the mixture is heated through and combine.
Step 5: Stir in the parsley, basil, and black pepper. Let the mixture come to a low bubbling simmer.
Step 6: The sauce is complete, and you can add whatever you want into it, whether it be chicken, shrimp, cauliflower, or another fish or vegetable.
I like to add whatever I'm adding to the sauce, whether it's chicken or fish, to the sauce while it's still simmering. If it's chicken and it needs to finish cooking, I add it to the sauce and simmer until it's 165 degrees.
Simmering your protein or vegetable in the sauce for a few moments helps to thicken the sauce. It will appear a little watery when it's just finished, but as it cools slightly, it will thicken.
If you're looking for more lemon-flavored dishes, try serving this with Lemon Pasta with Spinach or enjoy a creamy lemony breakfast with Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes.
Pro-Tips
- Keep the heat very low when you add the heavy cream. You may even want to take it off the heat for a minute if you can't get the sauce low enough to stop simmering. Whisk continuously as you pour it in. Don't let it come to a boil once the heavy cream is added. A very low simmer is perfect.
- This sauce is great for all kinds of proteins and vegetables. It's a great base recipe to learn so that you can mix it up with different meals for your family. We use it with shrimp, chicken, steak, and cauliflower!
- If your sauce breaks, you'll see the fats and liquids separate, and the sauce will appear grainy or oily. Immediately remove it from the heat because it's usually caused by aggressive heating. Add in a tablespoon or two of cold heavy cream and whisk together.
Lemon Cream Sauce FAQs
Cold butter will dissolve more slowly than room-temperature butter. This will help the milkfats slowly combine with the sauce while you mix it in, whereas room temperature butter is more likely to dissolve quickly and break (or separate) the sauce.
Pour slowly on low heat and whisk continuously as you pour to combine the mixture and not curdle it. This will keep it evenly distributed so that the acidity doesn't curdle the cream.
You can use a flour or cornstarch slurry, which is just mixed with water, but I wouldn't use that in this recipe. I would just let it cool slightly for 3-5 minutes, and it will thicken. If you must, whisk together a cornstarch slurry and whisk it into the sauce. Just keep in mind that the sauce will be like gelatin if you have any leftovers.
Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. Because of the cream, it doesn't freeze well and tends to separate. Reheat in a pan over medium-low heat and add your protein to the sauce to heat.
When heated too quickly or reduced too much, creamy lemon sauce can break or separate. Butter and cream hold the sauce together. When they're heated too aggressively, the emulsion can break, leaving you with butter fats on top of a watery sauce, which makes it appear grainy.
Recipes to Pair with Lemon Cream Sauce
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Creamy Lemon Sauce
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon capers
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold
- 2 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoon basil, julliened
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Add olive oil to the pan over medium heat. Stir in the shallots and saute for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add in the garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes. Season with salt.
- Squeeze in the juice from the lemon and combine. Add the crushed red pepper. Once the lemon is simmering about 15-30 seconds, pour in the wine. Bring the wine to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add in some slices of lemon and the capers.
- Reduce the heat and slowly add the heavy cream while stirring. Add in the butter once the mixture is heated through and combine. Stir in the parsley, basil, and black pepper. Let the mixture come to a low bubbling simmer for 5-10 minutes or until thickened.
- The sauce is complete and you can add whatever you want into the sauce now whether it be chicken, shrimp, cauliflower, or another fish or vegetable.
Video
Notes
- Keep the heat very low when you add the heavy cream. You may even want to take it off the heat for a minute if you can't get the sauce low enough to stop simmering. Whisk continuously as you pour it in. Don't let it come to a boil once the heavy cream is added. A very low simmer is perfect.
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- If your sauce breaks, you'll see the fats and liquids separate, and the sauce will appear grainy or oily. Immediately remove it from the heat because it's usually caused by aggressive heating. Add in a tablespoon or two of cold heavy cream and whisk together.
Brooke says
So good! I had this drizzled over chicken sausage and sautéed veggies. Amazing sauce recipe! 🤌🏼
barbara harrison says
can you use milk instead of heavy cream?
Vinny says
I would not recommend.
Gina C says
Sooo good, very yummy sauce! I'm making it two nights in a row, right now! It's very delicious. I followed the directions almost exactly, only adding two extra cloves of garlic. I served it as a sauce on top of my beef kabobs with peppers and onions. Sharp, lemony, zesty. Highly recommend!
Vinny says
That sounds so delicious! I gotta try it with beef kabobs!
Bonnie hennessey says
Way too runny?? I hate to boil cream too much . Whatcweng wrong?
Vinny says
I wouldn't boil the cream, but a low simmer for 5-10 minutes would get you there.
Caroline says
Yummy! I was looking for a fun sauce to jazz up some simple seared chicken breast with roast veggies, and this definitely did the trick!! Thanks!
Leandro Cabico says
You never mentioned shallots in the ingredients btw, but I’m sure one shallot should do 😉
Vinny says
Hey, it says 1 shallot, minced lol.
Vinny says
I love that this sauce is versatile and can be used for chicken or shrimp. I've had it over pasta and over potatoes. It's so easy to make and definitely a staple. Let me know what you think!