Complex flavor doesn’t have to come with complex steps. Here, this recipe for Creamy Lemon Chicken turns your average pack of chicken into a restaurant-worthy dish, building layers of flavor in the same pan and creating an out-of-this-world cream sauce.

Cream sauce is one of those things that can literally make or break a dish. Here, the cream sauce is developed in the pan after the dredged chicken is seared. Next, the garlic is sautéed for the briefest of moments before the stock and cream are whisked in.

Lemon and Parmesan cheese round out the sauce before the chicken jumps back into the pan to cook all the way through.

The end result is divine! Cutting the chicken breast in half and making them into thinner cutlets makes for quick cooking, but also chicken that absorbs all of the flavor of the sauce. The sauce flavors don’t sit on top of the chicken; instead, they get absorbed into the thinner cutlets, giving you great flavor through and through.

Garlic plays the strong side character, enhancing and developing the complexities of the sauce’s cheesy and citrusy notes.

Creamy Lemon Chicken is a great recipe for both busy weekdays and slow weekends. Depending on what you pair the chicken with, the dish can become fancy or casual in an instant. Served with quick-boil rice pilaf or angel hair gives this dish the satisfying carby comfort you need on a weeknight. Serving this over a bed of equally creamy risotto or crispy smashed baby potatoes gives this protein a fancy and decadent upgrade.