Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites
These easy, low carb Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites make a quick and tasty weeknight dinner! I love making chicken bites in different flavor combinations (I have Blackened, Greek, Nashville Hot, and Everything seasoned varieties on my blog already), because they’re so fast to throw together and they taste so good. This lemon pepper version combines bright, fresh lemon with cracked black pepper, garlic, and herbs for bold flavor in every bite! I love cooking these chicken bites on the stovetop because they brown up nicely on the outside while staying nice and juicy. They pair really well with all types of side dishes, but my favorite way to keep the meal quick and easy is to serve them with roasted vegetables and seasoned rice (or my daughter’s favorite, rice-a-roni). Each satisfying (3 ounce) serving of Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites is just 175 calories, 2 grams of carbs, or 1 WW Point! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Equipment you’ll need for this recipe:
- Citrus Zester: to zest a lemon you’ll just lightly scrape the yellow off the outside of the lemon peel with a zester. You’ll do this all around the outside of the lemon. The yellow you’ve scraped off is the lemon zest! The zest from one lemon should be at least a tablespoon worth. The zester I use is from Pampered Chef, but this one is very well rated on Amazon (affiliate link) if you need one.
- Citrus Reamer or Squeezer: either one will work! You just need a way to juice the lemon once you’ve removed the zest from the outside. I use this citrus reamer (affiliate link).
- Pepper Grinder: used to make freshly cracked black pepper from peppercorns. These are easy to find in the spice section of most supermarkets. McCormick makes one. I use this one from Wegmans.
Cutting up the chicken
I often buy a big pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at the store and then use kitchen shears to trim them down to make 5-6 oz cutlets to use in recipes. Everything I cut off to make the cutlets gets cut into chunks to make chicken bites! It’s easy to weigh out 1 lb or 1.5 lb of chicken chunks and freeze them for later in a quart size freezer bag. That way, I always have some on hand! Buying the bulk packs of chicken breasts is cost-effective, and cutting them into cutlets and bites ensured I have what I need on hand when I go to make a recipe. I find that kitchen shears make this task go quicker and easier than using a knife, so I highly recommend using shears like these (affiliate link).
Looking for more tasty, lightened up, Chicken recipes? Check out my Blackened Chicken Bites, Cheesy Broccoli Stuffed Chicken, Nashville Hot Chicken Bites, Apple and Brie Stuffed Chicken, Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing, Crispy Onion Dip Chicken, Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Bake, Lemon Garlic Chicken and Beans Skillet, Cream Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken, Tuscan Olive Chicken, Crispy Cheddar Chicken with Cream Sauce, Baked Chicken Tenders, Pimento Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Cream Cheese Stuffed Everything Chicken, and so many more in the Chicken category of my recipe index!
Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- The zest from one lemon, (should be at least a tablespoon of lemon zest)
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons freshly coarse-ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ lbs raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small bite-sized pieces
Instructions
- In a small dish, stir together the lemon zest, flour, black pepper, parsley, salt, garlic powder, paprika, oregano, and basil. Place the cut up chicken pieces into a gallon zip-seal plastic bag and add the lemon juice. Toss to coat the chicken pieces in the lemon juice. Add the spice mix to the bag. Seal the bag and shake/massage the contents until the chicken pieces are coated with the spices.
- Add the oil to a large sauté pan/walled skillet and bring over med-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces (you don’t want to overcrowd the pan, so depending on the size of your skillet you may want to work in two batches instead of one) and stir to break them up and coat them in the oil. Cook the chicken for 7-10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes (you don’t want to stir super frequently because the chicken needs time to brown and get a “crust” on each side). Once the chicken is cooked through and browned on the outside, remove from heat and serve.
Notes
4 per (3 ounce) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below)
I made this last night and it is delicious!! The flavor is amazing. I love a good strong lemony taste and this delivers. It is simple and really good with brown rice and a green veggie. This will be a go to in my WW adventure and beyond.
Such a yummy meal, It has a well-balanced diet with high quantity of proteins, for me, I would always take a detox beverage after the meal to flush out any toxins in the meal and also it boosts the rate of metabolism to ensure more calories are burnt.
I made these for dinner and they were EXCEPTIONAL! Wowowow, this recipe will definitely be on repeat in my house. Thanks for sharing!
Made this today for lunch – first, appreciated how quickly it came together and how common the ingredients were (had everything on hand without needing special ingredients). Second, it is DELICIOUS. I tossed in some green beans to saute with the chicken, soaking up that tasty seasoning, and had some cucumbers on side which were a nice cool down to the snappy, peppery tang. Finished perfectly with a sliced pear with a shake of cinnamon, building a very satisfying meal for 1 SP on blue!
These lemon pepper chicken bites were hit a in my family. It tasted so good and I had use so few ingredients and all so readily available. My daughter wants this again for tomorrow night. She is usually the most difficult to satisfy. So, this is a big vote for this recipe.
We made this for dinner tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to trying some of the other flavors. Thank you so much for including the sodium content. My husband must limit his sodium intake and having that information included makes life so much easier.
Hello!
Just wanted to let you know that my wife and I tried this recipe the other night. It so happens that my inlaws were there too. They like the recipe so much that they ask for the leftovers to go!
Anyways, thanks a lot for sharing this. Excited to send the next recipe here to my wife.
Have a great day!
What a wonderful lunch!
It has a well-balanced diet with a high protein content; for me, I would always drink a detox beverage after the meal to flush out any toxins in the food and also to speed up metabolism so that more calories are burnt.
Loved it. Excellent dinner with rice and a veg. Even good cold leftovers!