Lemon Pepper Chicken

Serve this dish over easy Garlic Butter Rice or mashed potatoes for the perfect meal!

This Lemon Pepper Chicken recipe is sponsored by McCormick and inspired by my behind-the-scenes experience with the flavor experts at McCormick.

How to Make Lemon Pepper Chicken

I love chicken – it always makes for an easy meal and everyone loves it! Here’s the thing about chicken: it can be delicious, juicy and flavorful, or just ho-hum.

The great thing is that you don’t need a lot of fancy or weird, unusual ingredients to make a great dish! This recipe uses a simple blend of lemon, McCormick Ground Black Pepper, salt, and a few spices to create an easy meal so flavorful, it’s restaurant-worthy!

In early October, I was fortunate enough to spend time with the McCormick flavor experts (and their most amazing chef Kevan) and learn a ton about the spices I know and love.

McCormick spices are what I grew up with and what is in my cupboard now, so I was excited to get great tips and learn even more to really become a flavor expert.

McCormick spices are truly top notch (spoiler: the care and details put into everything they produce is second to none). The best part is that I can take what I’ve learned and pass it on to you, so you can easily create crazy good food in your own kitchen!

I’m obsessed with good flavor just as much as McCormick is! We learned so much but my favorite (of course) was the tasting we got to do! The first thing we learned was the physiology of flavors … and how our bodies process flavor (plug your nose and eat a jelly bean, there will be no flavor)!!

My fave was learning why McCormick’s spices have so much flavor (it’s the commitment to where and how they’re sourced plus the care of the spices until they’re bottled). While we did taste a lot of comparison/competitor products, the black pepper (and taco seasoning) truly was the most amazing difference to me!

Use High Quality Spices

Black pepper is black pepper right? Sorry, wrong! Dollar store pepper is the same ol’ thing anyhow right? Wrong again!

This was shocking to me! The two piles of pepper on our spice cutting paper (above) look so similar to me but the flavor wasn’t even close. The McCormick Black Pepper had such a huge difference in the depth of flavor and spice that it wasn’t even comparable.

When cooking, we’re adding pennies worth of spices to each meal so making sure those spices really have all of the flavor we’re looking for is essential. On average, a bottle of spices lasts me anywhere from 6 months to 2 years… so spending the extra dollar or so for a quality product is one place I splurge.

For a dollar or so extra, you’re adding HUGE flavor to countless meals.

How to Make Lemon Pepper Seasoning

I have to admit this is my favorite part of this recipe! I love the flavor of lemon pepper but usually find it quite salty. Making it homemade with high-quality ingredients means that I get the most delicious seasoning while being able to control the sodium!

Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning

2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick Black Pepper
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon McCormick Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon McCormick Garlic Powder

Combine all ingredients for use in this lemon pepper chicken recipe. Leftover lemon pepper seasoning can be left on a plate to dry at room temperature for about 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Once dried, store in a cool airtight container.

DIY Lemon Pepper Seasoning is great for chicken, fish, shrimp or pasta. The possibilities are endless!

How to Cook Lemon Pepper Chicken

Recipes like this Lemon Pepper Chicken start with the simplest of ingredients but create the most amazing meal! Adding high-quality spices and a fragrant ground black pepper means that, for only pennies per meal, you’re getting the best flavors with everyday ingredients. This lemon pepper chicken recipe is crazy easy to make at home.

Mix homemade lemon pepper seasoning.
Dredge chicken and brown on each side.
Place over sliced zucchini (or mushrooms) in a casserole dish.
Create a quick lemon sauce to spoon over top.
Bake until tender.

What Goes with Lemon Pepper Chicken

Lemon Pepper Chicken is a great meal on its own. I add veggies under the chicken and it all cooks in one dish! When serving, spoon the lemon sauce over top of the chicken for a deliciously zingy flavor!

This lemon pepper chicken can be served with:

Mashed Potatoes
Pasta or Egg Noodles
Homemade Biscuits or bread
Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes
Mashed Cauliflower Potatoes
Caesar Salad

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