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My Lemon Butter Sauce recipe is so delicious and easy to make, you’ll want to put it on everything from chicken to seafood. Lemon garlic butter sauce is tangy, buttery, and creamy. We dare you to try it and not lick the dish when you’re done!
Ready in just 10 minutes with simple ingredients, you’ll wonder where this incredible sauce recipe has been all your life. Plus, it’s keto-friendly!
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Best Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce
With the perfect sauce, you can take any ordinary dinner recipe and transform it into an over-the-top, restaurant-quality dish. My creamy butter sauce is that sauce.
What makes this sauce so special is the addition of a splash of heavy cream. The creaminess is this sauce is just magic! If you’ve ever had Carrabba’s lemon butter sauce, you’re going to want to give this recipe a try. This is not your average sauce recipe, and I guarantee you, you will want to use it for so many dishes!
The only thing that could make this meal even better would be ending it with the best strawberry shortcake recipe in the world!
I love this sauce. Made it many times now. I’m using it at my work now. I’m cooking for 60 people tonight.
Miriam
Lemon Butter Sauce Ingredients
- lemon
- butter
- garlic
- white wine or chicken broth
- heavy cream or half and half
- salt and pepper
The best thing about making lemon butter sauce from scratch is that it hardly uses any ingredients, but it tastes incredible. You can whip it up in no time and pair it with just about anything for an easy dinner.
Have a dry chicken recipe that just isn’t working out? Pour this sauce on it. Trust me, it will work!
You can even make this lemon butter sauce without wine. Simply use chicken broth instead!
How to Make Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt 4 Tbsp. of your butter and add minced garlic.
- Cook garlic down for 2-3 minutes, then squeeze in lemon juice.
- Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, before adding white wine (or chicken broth). Stir.
- Simmer down for 2-3 minutes, then add in the remaining butter and season with salt and pepper.
- Slowly stir in the heavy cream, and mix well. Serve, and enjoy!
Lemon Butter Cream Sauce Recipe Tips
- The trick to making a great creamy sauce recipe is to time it well. You want to give all of the flavors time to develop in the pan before mixing in the other ingredients.
- Most importantly, you want to pour in the heavy cream (or half-and-half) slowly while stirring so that it doesn’t curdle from the heat!
This sauce has great flavor! We had it over chicken mozzarella tortellini and it was delicious. I will definitely be making it again and again.
Debbie
Lemon Butter Sauce Recipe FAQs
You can substitute chicken broth for the wine in this recipe.
One lemon amounts to about 2 to 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice, but lemons vary in size. For this recipe, I recommend using 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice or approximately the juice of one lemon.
Yes! This sauce is perfect for a keto meal plan. Serve it with the protein of your choice and a low-carb side dish.
What to Serve with Lemon Butter Sauce
Creamy lemon garlic butter sauce goes with everything! Seriously! As I mentioned earlier, I love serving this delicious sauce recipe with everything from chicken to seafood to pasta.
Lemon Butter Sauce for Chicken
Chicken is a classic for serving with lemon butter sauce. You can kick up any chicken dish with this sauce! My favorite is making Lemon Butter Chicken. This recipe is simply amazing and it’s so easy to make this lemon butter chicken sauce.
Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce for Seafood
Seafood pairs so well with lemon garlic butter sauce! My favorites to serve it with are salmon, shrimp, and crab. Especially crab cakes or a seafood boil.
Try it with our Air Fryer Lobster Tail, we promise you will be hooked on this combination of flavors!
Garlic Lemon Butter Sauce for Crab Legs
Elevate your crab leg game by serving a side of this sauce! You will wow your guests and it is an amazingly delicious sauce to dip your crab legs in!
Whether you are preparing steamed crab leg or grilled crab leg, this is a must-try sauce to pair with them!
Lemon Butter Sauce for Salmon
If you know, you know! Lemon Butter Salmon is absolutely amazing! You can top it over grilled salmon, or even over sous-vide salmon. Talk about juicy and so flavorful!
Lemon Butter Sauce for Steak
One of my favorite pairings with this easy sauce recipe is steak. There’s nothing better than a creamy, lemony sauce with a beautifully cooked cut of steak! Try one of my favorite steak recipes to pair it with.
I have tried it on my steak bites recipe and it is amazing!
Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce for Pasta
This is the BEST sauce recipe for pasta! Whenever I feel like whipping up a quick and easy dinner I know everyone in the family will love, lemon butter sauce with pasta is near the top of my list.
Simply boil your favorite pasta, prepare this sauce, and mix the two together. It is also delicious with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese over the top.
It is amazing in this orzo risotto recipe or over shrimp and pasta.
Lemon Butter Sauce for Vegetables
- It is the perfect topping on grilled corn on the cop, corn riblets, or Mexican street corn
- air fried brussel sprouts
- air fryer asparagus
Best Sauce Recipes
Readers love my lemon butter sauce
Made Homemade Ravioli for the pasta but used the sauce recipe. Turned out amazing!
Shantell
Very delicious and simple.
Wendy
Very good. Made it over shrimp ravioli. 😋
Mary
We love this suggestion – why not try it over our Lobster Ravioli?
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Did you try our creamy lemon butter sauce recipe? Let us know in the comments below and with a rating! We love to hear from you.
📋 Recipe
Lemon Butter Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 6 Tbsp. butter divided into 4 Tbsp. and 2 Tbsp.
- 1 Tbsp. garlic minced
- 1 cup white wine or chicken broth
- ¼ cup heavy cream or half & half
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt 4 Tbsp. butter and add minced garlic.
- Cook garlic down for 2-3 minutes, then squeeze in lemon juice.
- Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, before adding white wine (or chicken broth). Stir.
- Simmer down for 2-3 minutes, then add in remaining butter and season with salt and pepper.
- Slowly stir in the heavy cream, and mix well. Serve, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Make sure to SLOWLY add the cream to the dish, or it will curdle. This is very important!
- You can make this recipe low sodium by using unsalted butter and leaving out the salt. 1 cup will have about 25 mg of sodium using unsalted butter.
- Try adding minced onions, capers, or fresh herbs to mix things up!
Carrie Robinson says
Oh yum! I bet this would be wonderful with shrimp or fish too. 🙂
Em Beitel says
It is SO good with both. Thank you, Carrie!
Jessica Formicola says
We made this sauce for dinner last night. It paired so well with our steak, and we will definitely be making it again!
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Jessica! We are so glad to hear it!
Marlynn says
This sauce is so easy, and perfect with fresh shrimp and crab!
Em Beitel says
Thank you, Marlynn! Totally agree!
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
What a tasty sounding sauce! I love that it is so quick and easy to make too.
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Bintu!
Dannii says
This sauce looks amazing. I bet it would be delicious on cod.
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Dannii! It’s easily one of our favorite sauce recipes and SO good with seafood.
Carole says
You mention (didn’t watch the video, just cooking as per instructions under each picture) to melt butter, then later you say add more butter…I melted all the butter in the first step since I didn’t know to leave any out. Was there more than the 6tbs of butter?
Em Beitel says
Carole, we apologize for the confusion and appreciate you pointing out the error. The butter is meant to be divided (melt 4 Tbsp., then the rest later). We have adjusted the recipe to reflect that. What did you make the sauce with? Thank you very much for your comment.
Linda says
Made this tonight for shrimp a d it’s delicious! Can’t wait to try it on other things!
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Linda! We’re so glad you enjoyed this sauce – it’s one of our favorites!
Miriam says
I love this sauce. Made it many times now. I’m using it at my work now. I’m cooking for 60 people tonight.
Isabel Laessig says
This makes me so happy! Thank you for letting me know. Let me know how your dinner for 60 goes!
Miriam says
It went great! People love the sauce!
Em Beitel says
That’s awesome, Miriam! We’re so glad it went well and that you enjoyed it!
Phil says
can you make a big batch and freeze it for later?
Em Beitel says
Hi Phil! I wouldn’t recommend it. Cream sauces like this lemon butter sauce tend to not freeze very well – they separate. Thank you for your question!
Rose says
How long will this store in the fridge?
Em Beitel says
Hi Rose! Lemon butter sauce should be good in the fridge for up to 1 week. Just reheat on low heat over the stovetop.
LemonLover says
Lemons vary size/juiciness Unfortunately there isn’t any measurement on the lemon juice.I love lemon but it overpowered the sauce.
Em Beitel says
You would want about 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice for this dish. Thank you for your question, we’ll be updating the post to reflect it!