0140002This crispy skinned lemon chicken breast is seared in a flavored oil then finished in the oven. When it’s served it’s sprinkled with a homemade finishing salt of lemon zest, crispy garlic, and wonderful rosemary. Surprise the family with this one tonight!
As if it weren’t apparent already this OCD Kitchen kicks out a lot of chicken. In fact, some of my most popular recipes revolve around it, including these two favorites:
Crispy Herbed Chicken Wings
Whole Roast Chicken
Honestly, I probably use the term “Crispy” too often. *Goes to google synonyms for crispy*. But it is most definitely true with these lemon chicken breasts. While I work on expanding my vocabulary, you work on making this chicken. Okay?
I’ve been a little lemon crazy lately. I finally got to trial lemon for my elimination diet, which you can out more about here, and came out relatively unscathed. So now “I’m a lemon girl, in a lemon world”. That lyrical piece of excellence is for you Megan from A Dash of Megnut, (check her out, great gluten free recipes!) that was sung to the tune of “Barbie Girl” just to clear up any confusion.
Chicken is one of those meats that will take on any type of flavor your throw its way. If you can start adding flavor before you even start cooking the chicken the better off you’ll be. That’s exactly what this recipe does.
First a flavored oil is made with lemon zest, thinly sliced garlic, and fresh rosemary. Then once the oil has been imparted with all of those flavors we sear the chicken in that delicious-ness and move it all to the oven to finish cooking. Then we take all those great things we just fried in that oil and turn it into a flavor packed finishing salt for serving.
My boyfriend is the king commander of salt and this recipe is dedicated to him. He salts things before he even tastes them, much to my dismay. So I figured it he was going to salt it anyway, might as well make it part of the process. He immediately raved about the finishing salt. So much so, that I’ve been trying to come up with more homemade salt ideas just for him. Hopefully those will be gracing these pages soon.
He used quite a bit on his chicken. If you’re like me you’ll probably only need a pinch or two. It’s a very strongly flavored salt and remember a lot of that flavor is already in the chicken. You can see how little I used in he pictures above. The good news. This recipe makes quite a bit of salt. We will be using it for days to come every way we can imagine!
What would you serve with this chicken? We had a spinach salad drizzled with roasted lemons from the recipe. Comment below with your ideas. Don’t forget to follow my social channels and subscribe below for content just for you!
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, peel half the lemon with a pairing knife for large pieces of zest, zest other half with zester for a fine zest, and slice remaining lemon in half, keep all items separate
- 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves only
- 1/2 - 1 tbsp salt, plus more for seasoning (1/2 tbsp will be a less strong salt vs 1 tbsp for a stronger salt, your choice! I did 1 tbsp because we like salt.)
- 4 chicken breasts (on rib, skin on)
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- In large fry pan place grapeseed oil, heat over medium heat.
- Once oil is hot, add garlic, large pieces of lemon zest and rosemary. Cook until garlic is golden brown and fragrant, stirring constantly, about 6 minutes.
- Keep oil in the pan but remove garlic, lemon, and rosemary from oil. Large lemon zest can be discarded. Separate the garlic from the rosemary for finishing salt.
- Mince cooked garlic and rosemary. In small bowl place salt, fine lemon zest, 2 tsp of the minced garlic, and 1 tsp of the minced rosemary. Mix well and set aside.
- Pat chicken breasts dry with paper towel and lightly salt each side. Heat flavored oil over Medium-High heat. Working in batches place chicken skin side down into pan and sear 5-7 minutes (or until skin is golden brown).
- Transfer seared chicken and oil to oven safe dish (skin side up) place lemon halves flesh side down into dish as well and bake for 40-45 minutes (or until internal temperature reaches 165 F).
- To serve squeeze some of the roasted lemon over chicken and sprinkle with the finishing salt.
- *The finishing salt can be very strong, use sparingly. If you end up having extra it's great over salads, in dressings, in deviled eggs, etc.
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yay for lemon! So glad it went well! Also.. my post yesterday was to the tune of an M83 song haha I have issues
Issues? I think not. You’re just brimming with Awesomeness. That’s all 🙂
Thank you for the delicious recipe! Tried it tonight and it turned out very tasty! I did mine in a cast iron pan, so after searing I just stuck it right in the oven. And then used the finishing salt for the side potatoes and green beans 🙂 Yum yum!
Hey Tash! I’m so glad you liked this recipe 🙂 Using the salt on your sides sounds like a bomb.com idea! I love that salt and we used it on just about everything we could think of since the recipe made so much extra. Thanks again for giving one of mine a try!
Made this tonight. Yummy! I used 2 teaspoons of Baleine sea salt. Would lower the amount or use a milder salt, like Celtic Sea Salt, next time. Used extra finishing salt in sautéed yellow squash, served with the chicken.
Hey Mary. I’m so glad you like it! I agree the salt does have quite a punch in the mouth flavor. Using a milder salt to allow for more of the extra flavors to come through is a great idea! So glad you enjoyed! Thanks for giving one of mine a try!
You’ve got it in one. Conu’ldt have put it better.
Incnlligeete and simplicity – easy to understand how you think.
Thanks for the comment and I am so glad you enjoyed the article. Based on all of the comments, you are a part of something truly special. Hope I get to come back in the fall! Thanks for taking the time to read my post.