Easy Lemon Chicken - Juicy and tender chicken breasts baked in a lemon-herb sauce brimming with delicious lemony flavor!
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email below & we'll send it to your inbox. Plus get great new recipes from us every week!
This post may include affiliate links. Please see my disclosure.
I've always had a curiosity about lemon chicken. How many of you used to watch Everybody Loves Raymond on TV? I remember that lemon chicken was the one dish that Debra (Raymond's wife) was good at making. Otherwise, everyone saw her as a horrible cook. Poor Debra.
There's just something about lemon chicken that has always appealed to me. The lemon+chicken combo is light, fresh and flavorful. A perfect spring recipe.
This Easy Lemon Chicken recipe that I'm sharing today calls for chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken or chicken parts. I don't know about you, but when I cook chicken during the week, it's normally chicken breasts. I save roasting a whole chicken for the weekend when I have a little more time.
If I want a whole chicken during the week, I buy a rotisserie chicken from our local grocery store's deli. Not to go off on a tangent here about chicken, but rotisserie chicken can be used for so many yummy and quick casseroles, like this one. Chicken. Chicken. Chicken. There, I feel so much better.
There's also something about surrounding chicken with lemons that's really appealing, too. Have you ever seen raw chicken look this pretty?
Notice the halved lemons in the corners of the pan? The recipe calls for some lemon zest. For zesting, I use a Microplane grater. If you're anything like me, you may need one of these, too. Safety first, right?
When you zest a lemon you only want to remove the yellow part of the rind. The white part is going to be bitter. If there is one mistake readers may make in this recipe it's the lemon zesting. ONLY zest the yellow part and everything will be fine. Moving on. . .
Once baked, the color of the chicken will still be pretty light. If you want to brown it a bit more, you can always brush the top of the chicken with some olive oil and put it in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes.
How pretty is that? One of the things I really love about this lemon chicken recipe is that the chicken comes out really flavorful. Have you ever baked a chicken breast in the oven with lackluster results? Like you thought you really seasoned it well, but when you taste it, the only flavor that comes out is from the very top of the chicken. It's really quite flavorless throughout the rest of the breast?
Well, you won't have to worry about that with this chicken. The lemon and herbs really DO infuse the meat and after you drizzle some of the sauce in the pan over the chicken, the result is "WOW!"
Such a nice change from your ordinary, flavorless chicken breast. For sure. I hope you try the recipe and I can't wait to hear your thoughts. What a perfect way to welcome in spring!
Easy Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 lemons (divided)
- Salt and garlic pepper
- 4 boneless (skinless chicken breasts)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Remove pan from burner and add the white wine, oregano, thyme and teaspoon of salt.
- Add the zest of two lemons to the pan and mix.
- Transfer the sauce to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
- Place the chicken breasts over the sauce.
- Season them with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cut the two zested lemons in half and place in corners of pan next to chicken.
- Cut the last lemon into 8 wedges and tuck them around the chicken breasts.
- Bake for 40 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked.
- For extra browning, brush chicken with some olive oil and place under broiler for 3-4 minutes.
- Drizzle the sauce over the chicken breasts and serve.
Notes
- Lemon Zest Tip: When zesting the lemons, be careful to avoid grating the bitter white pith beneath the yellow skin. Only the outermost layer of the lemon peel contains the aromatic oils that impart the lemon flavor without bitterness. Use a microplane grater or a zester for fine, flavorful zest.
- Even Cooking: To ensure that the chicken cooks evenly, consider pounding the chicken breasts to an even thickness before baking. This helps prevent thinner parts from drying out while thicker parts cook through, resulting in juicy, tender chicken breasts.
- Broiling Technique: If you desire a crispy, golden-brown exterior on the chicken, finish it under the broiler for a few minutes after baking. Keep a close eye on the chicken to prevent burning, as broilers can quickly char the surface. Brushing the chicken with olive oil before broiling helps achieve a beautiful, caramelized finish.
Jo-Anne the cray lady
Nice indeed
Sarah @ Sarah's Bake Studio
This lemon chicken is mouth watering. I love lemon chicken, although we usually buy it already marinated. We'll definitely have to try this recipe! Pinned! Shoot...now I am hungry for chicken! 🙂
Sara
Sarah, you'll be surprised at how flavorful it is even with no marinating!