We’re back at it with keto versions of our favorite Asian recipes, and this time we have our Easy Lemon Chicken for you!
From breading the chicken, to making the lemon sauce coating, you’ll find this dish extremely easy to replicate in no time at all. It’s great for family dinner any night of the week, and classy enough to impressive friends at your next dinner party. No one will even know it’s low carb, sugar-free and keto-friendly.
Why Lemon Chicken?
I’m always in the market for Asian recipes to keto-fy and I had never had lemon chicken until this recipe. We’ve replicated Orange Chicken but I was up for something new. As soon as I had made the dish, even before trying it, I knew I had made the right choice. Matt agreed.
We took pictures, snaps, Instagram story pictures, and dug in. It hit the sweet, lemony, spot I had been needing to fill with something.
During the breading process, I was contemplating doing a double coating, but I’m glad I didn’t. I think it would have weighed down the chicken instead of producing this light, zesty recipe.
Breaded Chicken
For the breading, we did a light coating of coconut flour. No need for an egg wash or to add pork rinds or Parmesan cheese to the coconut flour. A simple, light layer of coconut flour creates the perfect fried, yet moist, chicken for this dish.
In my opinion, it even trumps almond flour. The taste of the coconut flour doesn’t come through too strong and it easily absorbs any sauce or flavoring you cover it in, which is essential for this recipe.
Easy Lemon Chicken
Usually a recipe like this would be served alongside some rice to soak up the lemon sauce, but we have something even better, our Cauliflower Fried Rice. It is the perfect bed for this chicken, replacing all your favorite take-out restaurants.
You could even do a family style Asian food night and cook up a big portion of our Easy Cashew Chicken for some variety! To make our Easy Lemon Chicken, you only need a few essential ingredients, so why not make it for dinner tonight?
Recipe can be quickly added to MyFitnessPal – Search “KetoConnect – Easy Lemon Chicken”

Low Carb Easy Lemon Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken
- 8 oz Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 6 tbsp Coconut flour
- 4 tbsp coconut oil
Sauce
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 lemon juice of lemon
- 2 tbsp swerve confectioner
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 tsp xanthan Gum
Instructions:
Chicken
- Cut you thighs into bite sized chunks and set aside.
- Add coconut flour to a bowl and in small batches add the chopped chicken pieces into the flour fully coating them.
- Add coconut oil to medium-high heat pan. Once it is hot add the chicken pieces in batches until all are fully cooked through.
Sauce
- Add lemon zest to a pan and turn it onto high heat.
- Add broth and swerve to a high heat sauce pan and combine until swerve is fully dissolved (erythritol may not full dissolve).
- Add the lemon juice and xanthan gum and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and allow to reduce until desired thickness.
- Once thickened to liking, add chicken into sauce and coat.
- Serve warm with cauliflower rice and enjoy!
Notes
Written by

Megha Barot
Megha has always been a passionate cook, but she took this to a new level after starting her keo journey in 2015. She loves creating new recipes and producing educational content for KetoConnect, which she co-founded in 2016 with Matt. Her passion for healthy eating and personal development continues to thrive. She's the proud mom of two awesome kids.
I tried this recipe today and it’s sooooo good!!! I followed the directions to a tee and it was quick and easy….now I’m getting ready to make a Keto fried rice recipe to eat with it. Thanks so much for the recipe!!
i made this tonight. not sure what happened but it was very bitter
So easy and delicious. It came out perfect. I did add some ginger to the sauce and topped the chicken with a pinch of red pepper flakes before serving. The boyfriend even loved it and requests it again soon.
I made this last night and it was delicious!! I did modify it slightly to my personal tastes. I reduced the coconut flour to just enough to give the chicken a light dusting. I prefer this over a thick coating, even before I was Keto. I didn’t skimp on the coconut oil and I made sure my pan was good and hot! I also added a little ginger, a dash of soy sauce, and garlic powder. The ginger with the coconut gave it a nice Thai flavor. Next time, I may reduce the Swerve slightly but that’s just my personal taste. Even my super picky husband enjoyed it! Thanks so much, Matt and Megha!!
Yay! We love winning over picky husbands!
What can I use instead of xantham gum?
No, you can omit it, the sauce just won’t thicken as well.
Does the nutrition facts provided include the nutrition for the cauliflower rice?
No, it does not!
I love this recipe! It’s quickly become a standard at my household! Only problem: Every time I fry the chicken, I get like a thick goop of oil and coconut flour. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong! I’m coating the chicken, then shaking off the excess, but I still end up with this kind of coconut flour sludge. I end up incorporating some of it into my sauce mix, but any tips on how to fry this better?
Make sure the oil is hot enough! You can use a thermometer to make sure it – when frying we like it be in the range of 330-350.
So I attempted to make this the other night, my chicken didn’t fry and I ended up with a big mess of coconut flour that came off the chicken and cooked in the oil.
It was awful to eat. I made sure my oil was hot, where did I go wrong?
Sorry to hear about the mess! The oil should be sizzling when anything is dropped into it. If it’s not hot enough (although very hot) it won’t fry up.
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it. I’ve tried the cauliflower hashbrown recipe and I loved it. I do have a question about this recipe. When I entered it into my fitness pal it generated the calories as 564 instead of the 345 you posted. Just wondering why there is such a huge discrepancy?
I’m actually not sure. Your numbers seem more correct. I think we only counter a portion of the coconut flour and coconut oil since not all of it was used but I’m going to have to double check. We should have made a note in the recipe.
Can the Xanthan Gum be omitted?
The xanthan gum makes for a great sauce thickener!
This tasted nice but I had trouble with the coconut flour crisping up. After the sauce was added, ithe breading turned soggy. I wonder if having a coating of egg would have helped? Any thoughts for a crisper texture?
We love your recipes!! Simple & with ingredients we Keto people keep on hand!
Thanks!
Dip in the sauce?
Say how long do you cook these chicken pieces for?
Thanks!
I’m going to try this for lunch this week with some zero pasta.
This looks great! However, I have a texture issue with chicken thighs, I think it’s because they are more fatty/greasy. I eat them, but sometimes prefer breast or tenders. Would white meat work? Should I adjust anything to make it more macro friendly? Thanks!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, going to try bite sized chicken breast instead.How did yours turn it?
Can i use xylitol or erythritol instead of confectioners swerve or would that mess something up? I dont have the swerve.
Yes Xylitol will work!
How do you get mfp to use the net carbs for your recipe? It only has it as 8.5g.
You can swap out either sugar or sodium for fiber in your settings and that will make it easier to count up net carbs when tracking!
I made this tonight and my husband gave it a thumbs up. I had to substitute bottled juice and Truvia…next time I will have the ingredients as written and double the sauce. It smelled so good when it was cooking!
I am assuming I would double everything if I wanted to serve four?
Yep!
I made this tonight.. I found the coconut flower to be a little mealy and it didn’t crisp up like a traditional flower breading (I used Bob’s red mill brand organic coconut flower) It looked good, but I didn’t love the texture. I’ll leave some margin of error for my cooking though. I also added too much xantham gum and gelled the sauce so that was a flop as well. Add that to a lot of dishes to cleanup and I wouldn’t probably make it again. Thanks KC for the inspiration and recipes.. You guys are awesome!
This looks really yummy! Definitely going on the list when I want to/need to cook dinner. Running on leftovers/prep right now. 🙂