Katie Couric’s 5-Ingredient, 1-Pan Chicken Is the Easy Dinner You Need To Know

For three years now, I’ve found a Katie Couric recipe that has easily become a hyper-fixation. First, it was her Southern tomato sandwich, then it was her signature bacon and peanut butter sandwich, and now, it’s her five-ingredient lemon chicken.

What do these three recipes have in common? They have you in and out of the kitchen with a delicious meal in no time—and I think that’s why I relate to the journalist so much. When it’s meal time, I’m not trying to spend hours prepping—and I’m certainly not looking for a lot of dishes to wash. So, I’m more than happy to eat one of Couric’s three-ingredient sandwiches for lunch and round it out with her simple, zesty chicken for dinner.

Many Couric fans have likely heard of this recipe before, as it dates back to Couric’s days on “Today.”The “Today” site shared her recipe back in 2005 after she made it on-air on the NBC morning show. 

Since then, it’s continued to make its rounds as an easy dinner recipe every year—and in every season, thanks to the year-round availability of lemons.

How To Make Katie Couric's Lemon Chicken

In 2021, Couric shared the recipe on her personal site, Katie Couric Media, writing, “I can’t stop telling people about this chicken. It’s devilishly simple.”

That it is. All you need for the recipe is chicken breast, flour, butter, olive oil, chicken broth, and lemon juice.

To make Couric’s chicken, you lightly dredge “as many chicken breasts as you’d like” (I used two) in flour and pan-fry them in butter and olive oil until cooked through and lightly crispy. Then, you remove the chicken from the pan and add two cups of chicken broth and the juice of one lemon—plus some flour to thicken the sauce. Cook the sauce down until it’s a gravy-like consistency, then add the chicken back just to heat it up.

Couric serves her “lip-smacking lemon chicken” over basmati rice or pasta.

In the words of Dean Martin: wham, bam, thank you, ma’am—can it get any easier? I don't think so.

I Tried Katie Couric's Lemon Chicken

I gave Couric’s lemon chicken a go recently, and I already know it will be joining the weeknight meal rotation. It truly is so easy to make with its minimal ingredients and one-pan cooking method.

I had dinner on the table in under 30 minutes, which is all I can ask for on a busy weeknight. Plus, I had delicious leftovers for the next few days of lunches—I used half the lemon chicken in a salad the next day for a zesty kick, then had the rest over the leftover basmati rice the following.

With three stellar recipe successes, I think it’s safe to say that I’ll enjoy almost anything that comes out of Couric’s kitchen.