Chicken is coated with a lemon garlic butter sauce and served with zucchini noodles. This is a low carb, keto friendly meal that can be made ahead of time for your weekly meal prep.
This meal is easy and flavorful. I wanted to create a lighter version of my garlic butter steak bites with zucchini noodles so I replaced the steak with chicken and added lemon juice to lighten up the sauce. It is still a super flavorful meal.
GARLIC BUTTER SAUCE
The sauce is made with lemon juice, fresh garlic, melted butter, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt or soy sauce. Normally you won’t find soy sauce in garlic butter sauce but I like adding soy sauce because it caramelizes over the chicken and gives the chicken a nice brown color.
If you do not wish to use soy sauce, you can simply add salt to your sauce, adding just enough to season the sauce to your liking.
How to Cook the Lemon Garlic Butter Chicken
- For this recipe, I used chicken tenders. You can also use breast meat or thigh meat.
- Chicken does not take that long to cook. Allow the chicken to cook a few minutes on each side until it develops a golden sear.
- When chicken is almost done, pour on the lemon garlic butter sauce and cook a few minutes until chicken is fully cooked and coated in sauce.
Additional Meal Prep Tips
- Zucchini noodles will release water when they are reheated. To help prevent too much water from being released, heat your meal prep at a reduced cooking power (around 60% for microwave) so that it only just heats up the food. This also prevents the chicken from drying out when reheated.
- I recommend that these meal preps are stored in the fridge and not the freezer because freezing the zucchini will change its texture and will also make them very watery when reheated.
- I use these Meal Prep Containers* and this spiralizer.*
*Some of the product links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Love zucchini noodles? You might like my Garlic Beef Zucchini Noodles Meal Prep and Keto Bang Bang Zucchini Noodles, too. Or try my healthy bang bang chicken meal prep recipe.
Lemon Garlic Chicken with Zucchini Noodles Meal Prep
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp lemon juice fresh squeezed (about half a lemon)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb chicken tenders cut into bite-sized pieces
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp parsley finely chopped
- 4 large zucchini spiralized
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, and butter and garlic. Cook over low medium heat until butter is melted and garlic starts to brown and the flavor of the garlic is infused with the butter. Stir in the garlic powder, onion powder, soy sauce and lemon juice. Taste and adjust as needed. Set aside.
- In a large nonstick skillet, add oil and bring the skillet to medium-high heat. Add in chicken pieces. Sear chicken on both sides until they are golden brown.
- Add 2 1/2 tbsp lemon garlic butter sauce over chicken. Cook a few minutes until chicken is completely cooked, the sauce has thickened and is evenly coated over chicken. Season with salt if needed. Sprinkle half of the parsley over chicken.
- Remove chicken from skillet and divide into meal prep containers.
- Using the same skillet, add in the zucchini noodles and bring to medium-high heat. Add in remaining lemon garlic butter sauce. Sautee zucchini noodles until they are fully cooked. Season with salt as needed. Sprinkle remaining parsley over zucchini.
- Drain water from zucchini noodles and then add to meal prep containers. If desired, squeeze fresh lemon juice over food before eating.
Notes
- If you do not wish to use soy sauce, you can omit it and season the sauce with salt. Do not substitute with 1 tbsp of salt. Add only enough as needed to season the sauce.
- Zucchini noodles will release water when they are reheated. To help prevent too much water from being released, reheat your meal prep at a reduced cooking power (around 60% for microwave) so that it only just heats up the food. This also prevents the chicken from drying out when reheated.
- I recommend that these meal preps are stored in the fridge and not the freezer because freezing the zucchini will change its texture and will also make them very watery when reheated.
- I use these Meal Prep Containers* and this spiralizer.*
- *Some of the product links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
This was good except it was way too garlicky. We were burping all night.
Garlic is definitely a subjective taste – we’re glad you enjoyed it, though!
We tried this recipe as written, but found we needed to balance the sour taste of the lemon with a little bit of honey, We served the chicken with some yummy steamed vegetables. My fussy eaters ate it all.
We’re happy it worked for you!