Lemon Chicken Gnocchi with Creamy Parmesan Sauce

For a weeknight dinner, Lemon Chicken Gnocchi brings pan-fried chicken cutlets and shelf-stable potato gnocchi together in one skillet. Fresh lemon juice brightens a creamy Parmesan sauce, while spinach wilts into the thickened sauce for a complete, comforting plate.

Chicken breasts are sliced into four cutlets, then seasoned with garlic powder and lemon pepper before searing in olive oil and butter. After the chicken leaves the skillet, garlic, chicken broth, and freshly squeezed lemon juice loosen the browned bits. Heavy cream, uncooked potato gnocchi, freshly grated Parmesan, and baby spinach build the finished skillet meal. Shelf-stable gnocchi is used for this one-pan method.

As the gnocchi bubbles gently, it releases starch and the sauce shifts from loose to thick enough to coat it; the spinach should merely start to wilt after the pan leaves the heat. The common mistake is pre-cooking the gnocchi or reducing the sauce too far. It thickens further as it cools, so add a splash of broth if it becomes too dense.

Fold in Parmesan and spinach off the heat, then return the chicken and any plate juices before spooning sauce over the cutlets. The browned bits left after searing matter: scraping them into the broth and lemon juice gives the sauce more depth and a slightly darker color.