This lemon garlic butter sauce is zingy, savory, and perfect for dipping! It takes minutes to whip up with just 5 ingredients.

Looking for a tasty and easy dipping sauce? This lemon garlic butter sauce is just 5 ingredients and tastes like a dream! The sauce is punctuated with the zing of fresh lemon juice the irresistible savory notes of garlic. It’s the ideal sauce for fish or chicken, and it’s great for dipping or drizzling over grilled or roasted vegetables. Really anything tastes better with a little garlic lemon butter sauce (in our opinion, at least!).

Ingredients in lemon garlic butter sauce

Lemon garlic butter sauce is simple to whip up and uses only a handful of ingredients! As long as you have a lemon on hand, you’ll likely have the remaining items in your pantry and refrigerator. Here are the 5 ingredients you’ll need for this simple sauce:

Salted butter: Salted butter has the best flavor for savory dishes like this sauce! If you don’t have it, you can use unsalted butter and add ⅛ teaspoon extra kosher salt.
Garlic cloves: Use real fresh garlic! There’s no substitute here: the jarred version doesn’t hold up flavor-wise.
Lemon juice and zest: Again, use a real lemon! Bottled lemon juice doesn’t hold a candle to the real stuff, plus you’ll need lemon zest to really infuse that citrus flavor.
Parsley: Fresh parsley adds a nice color contrast; it’s optional if you don’t have it on hand.
Kosher salt: salt is crucial for the flavor here.

Best way to zest a lemon

The quickest and best way to zest a lemon is to use a microplane grater. A microplane is a handheld grater with sharp holes in it, which is quicker and more consistent than using a box grater or a zester. Here’s how to zest a lemon with a microplane:

Hold the microplane in one hand, place one end on a flat surface and hold it at an angle.
Hold the lemon in the other hand, and drag it down over the microplane holes (or the holes of the box grater). Important: make sure to remove the yellow part of the skin only; avoid the bitter white pith.
Gradually turn the lemon until all yellow parts of the peel have been removed.

Dietary swaps

This lemon garlic butter sauce is vegetarian and gluten-free. Want to make it dairy-free or vegan? Simply use vegan butter! This simple swap works well and still offers great flavor.

Ways to use garlic lemon butter sauce

There are endless ways to use lemon garlic butter sauce: it’s fantastic with fish, chicken, wings, vegetables, and more! It’s intended as a dipping sauce, though you could also use it with pasta as well. Here are some ways to use it:

With sauteed shrimp
Drizzled over roasted asparagus
As a sauce for grilled vegetables
On fried tilapia
Tossed with roasted sweet potatoes
With pan fried chicken
As a sauce for mahi mahi or swordfish
Tossed with roasted broccoli
On Chilean sea bass
As a sauce for green beans
Poured over grilled salmon

Variation: try it with pasta!

This lemon garlic butter sauce also works with pasta! Though it’s intended for dipping, it also works well to make a tasty and simple side dish. Combine this recipe with 8 ounces of spaghetti noodles: and if desired, top with grated Parmesan cheese! You can also double the garlic for an even more garlicky flavor. See Garlic Butter Noodles.

Storage info

Lemon garlic butter sauce is best the day of making, but it also stores well! Store leftovers refrigerated in a sealed container for up to 1 month. Keep in mind, the sauce solidifies when cold so re-heat on the stovetop before serving. Also, the parsley loses its bright green color during storage. If you’d like, add more fresh chopped parsley when serving.

More sauce recipes

Simple sauces take a meal from good to great! Here are a few more of our favorite easy sauce recipes:

Try Lemon Pepper Sauce, Lemon Butter Sauce or Lemon Caper Sauce
Go for Garlic Butter Sauce
Opt for creamy Tzatziki Sauce or Garlic Aioli
Make bright green Chimichurri Sauce or creamy red Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Make Peanut Sauce or Ponzu Sauce
Go for Homemade Tomato Sauce or Pizza Sauce

Lemon Pepper Sauce

Tzatziki Sauce

Garlic Aioli

Peanut Sauce Recipe

This lemon garlic butter sauce is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, use vegan butter.