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This butter lemon sauce is so delicious. It’s rich and citrus-forward. You can seriously put it on anything. It’s great on fish, chicken, a side of veggies, or meatballs and rice. You’re going to love it.
Why You’ll Love Butter Lemon Sauce
- Quick: You can make this delicious butter lemon sauce in only 15 minutes and believe me, you’ll want to put it on everything
- Delicious: This sauce is so damn delicious. I love how simple it is to make but how it’s bursting with flavor
- 10-Ingredients: This recipe uses only 10 simple ingredients to make, and they’re all easy ones that you probably have in your kitchen right now
Ingredients
Lemon Juice – Use freshly squeezed lemons for the best and freshest flavors vs. the fake stuff that comes in a bottle in the grocery store.
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
White Wine – The white wine adds so much body to this sauce and I would not skip out on it. The alcohol content will reduce as you cook this sauce, so don’t worry, this sauce is still okay to serve to those of all ages.
How to Make Butter Lemon Sauce
- If you’re starting to make this sauce after cooking our chicken meatballs, use the same frying pan and leave it on medium heat. If starting this recipe from scratch, use a medium frying pan and turn to medium heat.
- Add the butter and once melted add the minced shallot. Cook for a few minutes to soften.
- Add the white wine to deglaze the pan; cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly reduced.
- Whisk in the cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon juice and water or chicken broth until combined and turn to medium-low heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring often until slightly thickened. If you’ve made the chicken meatballs this is the time to add them back to the sauce. If not, remove the sauce from the oven and serve with your desired protein.
Tips and Tricks
- Thicken: If your sauce isn’t thick enough, you can make a slurry with flour and water, or you can add cornstarch to the sauce until it reaches the desired consistency
- Low & Slow: To get the best, most flavorful sauce without burning it, make sure to cook it on low and slowly. Don’t rush!
Substitutions
You can make this recipe vegetarian by using vegetable broth vs. chicken broth. You can also make this vegan by substituting the butter and cream for a plant-based version and swapping the broth for veggie broth.
Best served with
- Shrimp Cakes
- Pastina Risotto (with shrimp on the side with this delicious sauce)
- BBQ Salmon (use this sauce as a dipping sauce)
How to Store Leftovers
I’d recommend making this sauce fresh vs. storing it or freezing it for the best consistency. Plus, it’ll only take you 15 minutes to whip up.
Common Questions
Many butter sauces use cornstarch and flour to thicken up, however, with this butter sauce, it’s just important to use a heavy cream vs. milk. If you opt for something lighter, you’ll need to add flour or cornstarch to get a thicker sauce.
There are so many things you can put this delicious sauce on. You can put it on fish, you can stir fry chicken with veggies and add this sauce, or you can eat it with meatballs and rice, the options are endless.
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Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 shallot, minced
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp chicken broth or water
Instructions
Start Cooking- If you’re starting to make this sauce after cooking our chicken meatballs, use the same frying pan and leave it on medium heat. If starting this recipe from scratch, use a medium frying pan and turn to medium heat.
- Add the butter and once melted add the minced shallot. Cook for a few minutes to soften.
- Add the white wine to deglaze the pan; cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly reduced.
- Whisk in the cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon juice and water or chicken broth until combined and turn to medium-low heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring often until slightly thickened. If you’ve made the chicken meatballs this is the time to add them back to the sauce. If not, remove the sauce from the oven and serve with your desired protein.
Notes
- This sauce is delicious with our chicken meatballs recipe but also with other favourite proteins.
- If making this sauce with another protein, cook the protein in the frying pan first. Remove the protein and follow the recipe to make the butter lemon sauce; then, add back the protein to the sauce at the end OR serve the sauce over the protein.
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This sauce is DELICIOUS! Huge hit with my family!
Thank you so much, Sherri!!!!
This sauce and the chicken meatballs were to die for!! 1000/10 will make again
thank you so much, michelle!
This sauce and the chicken meatballs were delicious!!
thank you so much for the love, Maureen!