This is a super simple Garlic Lemon Butter Sauce for fish, pasta, chicken, or even roasted veggies, helping you make restaurant-quality dishes like lemon butter salmon at home. Even better, it takes less than 5 minutes to make!
For another delicious sauce for fish, try my honey sriracha sauce or spicy mayo.
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✔️ Why This Recipe is Great
Easy Lemon Butter Sauce: while it won't be as thick as the restaurant-style sauces, when you're in a time crunch and need a fancy sauce, this is an easy lemon garlic butter sauce recipe to fall back on.
Freezer Friendly: without the cream, this sauce is freezer safe for up to 6 months.
Great on Everything: this is the best lemon butter sauce for salmon, chicken, broccoli, potatoes, roasted squash, and really anything else that could use a creamy tang!
🍋 Ingredients
Butter: this is the core ingredient and largely responsible for the richness of this classic sauce. I use unsalted butter in this recipe so as to have more control over the salt level, but it's forgiving enough that you could use any butter you enjoy.
Lemon Juice: this brings brightness and tang to the sauce. One batch calls for just the juice of about ½ a large lemon, so no need to go out and buy a whole bag, either.
Fresh Garlic: rounding out the flavor profile is fresh garlic, which you'll want to mince for the best flavor. You could swap it for swice as much jarred minced garlic in a pinch, but you really can't use garlic powder.
Salt & Pepper: use these ingredients to taste, but if serving this to guests or family, keep in mind that many people like to salt and pepper their own food.
Heavy Cream: this is an optional ingredient for a thicker sauce (use 1 tablespoon less butter), and will help form an emultion to make a creamy lemon butter sauce for chicken, veggies, and all types of seafood.
See recipe card for quantities.
📖 How to make garlic lemon butter sauce: step-by-step
Step 1) Prepare your fresh lemon juice and mince the garlic (or use 2 teaspoons of the stuff from the fridge; we won't tell) before you get started cooking. Then put a heavy-bottom pan over medium heat, and cut the butter into a few pieces and add it all to the pan (image 1).
Step 2) Once it's melted, lower the heat to low and add the garlic (image 2). Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes, until the garlic pieces are just starting to brown.
Step 3) Then turn off the heat and move the pan to a cool burner. If using heavy cream, add that to the mixture now and stir it until fully incorporated and the sauce is all the same temperature.
Slowly stir in the lemon juice, salt, and pepper (and then slowly drizzle in the cream, if using), then your sauce is ready to use (image 3). This is the perfect lemon butter sauce for pasta, chicken, or fish; we even drizzle it on top of asparagus and steamed broccoli.
💡 Pro-Tip: for a thick lemon butter sauce you'll want to use the heavy cream; otherwise your lemon butter will remain ruuny, especially when heated (surprisingly great for dipping and drizzling).
📝 Substitutions and variations
Lemon Juice: you really can't substitute the fresh lemon juice for anything else, but if you must use some amount of frozen lemon juice or squeeze bottle stuff, then consider also adding half a lemon worth of zest to brighten up the flavor.
Butter: I haven't yet tried it, but you could swap out the butter for vegan butter, though the recipe is really formulated to work with dairy.
Seasonings: you can omit salt and pepper entirely, but if you do so then I recommend you opt to use salted butter, as a bit of salt really helps highlight the richness of this sauce.
- Add Some Green - chopped parsley or chives for color and a bit of texture though dill is another delicious option that pairs particularly well with chicken.
- Brown the Butter - when you add the butter and let it melt, allow it to cook for 2-3 minutes before you add the garlic, giving it just enough time to start browning.
- Thin Lemon Butter Sauce - for a thinner sauce, add ⅓ to ½ cup of white wine or chicken stock to the butter-garlic mixture before pouring in the lemon juice.
🥘 Storage and freezing
Keep homemade lemon butter garlic sauce in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months (without cream). If you made garlic lemon butter with cream, you won't want to freeze it as that will break the emulsion. There's a bit of water in the sauce, but any ice crystals will melt when you reheat it.
You'll want to reheat lemon butter sauce separately from whatever you plan to pour on it, ideally on the stovetop over low heat. Water and fat defrost at different rates, so doing this gives the different ingredients in the sauce time to melt and then recombine evenly before they're drizzled or used as a dip.
👨🏻🍳 Expert Notes & Tips
Prevent Curdling: when making lemon butter sauce with cream, it's a good rule of thumb to add the cream first and let it reduce and thicken slightly before adding the lemon juice, helping to prevent the cream from curdling.
Batching: one batch of this recipe makes about a half cup of sauce, which is perfect for two servings of fish or chicken, or four servings of very rich roasted vegetables.
Lemon Juice: do NOT use bottled lemon juice in lemon butter sauce; it has added preservatives and flavorings that make it fine for lemonade but totally imbalanced when making a sauce like this.
❓ Other Sauce Recipes to Try
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently asked questions
Lemon butter sauce is typically made from butter, fresh lemon juice, and often shallots or garlic, with herbs and seasonings added for extra flavor. Some variations may also include white wine or cream for added richness.
When making a sauce with both lemon and cream, it's usually best to add the cream first and let it reduce and thicken slightly before adding the lemon juice. This helps prevent the cream from curdling, which can occur if lemon juice is added too early to hot cream.
If your lemon butter sauce isn't thickening, it could be due to insufficient cooking time, not enough butter, or the sauce may simply be too hot when the cream is added. Butter should be whisked in off the heat to emulsify and thicken the sauce.
Lemon butter sauce may separate if it's heated too quickly or to too high a temperature, as this can cause the butter to melt and the emulsion to break. To prevent this, keep the sauce on low heat and add the cream gradually while constantly whisking.
Yes, lemon butter sauce should be refrigerated if not used immediately, as it contains butter and potentially other perishable ingredients, like cream. Store it in an airtight container and use it within a few days for the best quality and food safety.
Have you tried this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Garlic Lemon Butter Sauce (in 5 Minutes)
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice ~½ large lemon
- 1 clove fresh garlic minced alt. 2 teaspoons jarred minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup heavy cream for a thicker sauce use 1 tablespoon less butter (optional) for a thicker sauce; use 1 tablespoon less butter
Instructions
- Prepare your fresh lemon juice and mince the garlic (or use 2 teaspoons of the stuff from the fridge; we won’t tell) before you get started cooking. Then put a heavy-bottom pan over medium heat, and cut the butter into a few pieces and add it all to the pan.
- Once it's melted, lower the heat to low and add the garlic. Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes, until the garlic pieces are just starting to brown.
- Then turn off the heat and move the pan to a cool burner. If using heavy cream, add that to the mixture now and stir it until fully incorporated and the sauce is all the same temperature. Slowly stir in the lemon juice, salt, and pepper (and then slowly drizzle in the cream, if using), then your sauce is ready to use.
- This is the perfect lemon butter sauce for pasta, chicken, or fish; we even drizzle it on top of asparagus and steamed broccoli.
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