Easy, healthy lemon chicken

May 5, 2014

lemon-tree

Walking Riley the other day, I caught a glimpse of one of our lemon trees, heavy with fruit. Oh, the taste of a lemon right off the tree!  I asked M to pick a few and decided to make a healthy lemon chicken. And it was scrumptious.  So here you go: try it!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Find a rectangular baking dish that will hold four chicken breasts. Spray with with cooking spray. I like to line it with aluminum foil, first.

basan-fire-breathing-chicken-smallThis here picture of a fire-breathing chicken appears because raw chicken breasts are ugly and photos of live chickens make me want to turn vegetarian. So get out four chicken breasts, not frozen of course. Thaw them. Or, if you live on a farm, slaughter a few chickens. I’ll leave the rest of the dead chicken prep to you.

 

2181085776_29cf1f6cc3Get out a small frying pan. Add a couple Tablespoons of oregano to 1/4 cup of olive oil in the pan. Don’t turn it on yet! It’s the oregano that makes this dish so tasty, so don’t skimp! I used dried, but fresh is great.

herbs-thyme-2Add maybe a teaspoon of thyme. I mean, I made all this up, so season to taste. I did not salt or pepper; no need.

Garlic3-4 garlic cloves, minced. Or the equivalent. Yep, into the pan they go!

How about some white wine?

white+wine+glass_2No? Then chicken broth.

moneyshotStart with half a cup of either. Or even both.

And wait–didn’t I say it was LEMON chicken?  Squeeze two lemons and pour their juice into the pan. Without their seeds. Stir and heat all up in the pan for a bit. Till it’s nice and warm and the garlic aromatic.  Stir it well.

Pour the heated lemon-herb etc. mixture over the chicken.

Pop the baking dish of chicken in the 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. The breasts should be tender and juicy. If not, cook a couple more minutes till they are done.  You’ve made chicken a zillion times, you can do this.

Oh, this dish is yummy!  I served it with brussels sprouts, corn and cauliflower.  My husband gave it a 4.5 on a 5 point scale. He’s a strict grader, though.  He says that he’s had very perfect 5 meals in his life.

33 comments on “Easy, healthy lemon chicken
  1. Doreen McGettigan says:

    Would it be wrong to make that for breakfast? It looks so good. I love the lemons photo!
    Have a great week.

  2. Ryder Ziebarth says:

    That’ a nice fresh recipe-nd since I am SO bloated from all the junk I ate this weekend with my daughter, I’ll make it tonight. Bought lemon thyme I haven’t even planted yet. Thanks. Yum.

  3. Jealous that you have a lemon tree!! This dish sounds so good. Think I’ll be making it later this week. But my lemons will have to come from the grocery store!

  4. I would love to have a lemon tree and you are so right about limes…price has skyrocketed. The chicken sounds delish!

  5. I love lemon-flavored foods, and it was 102 in Kansas yesterday, which always puts me in a citrus mood. Thanks! (Love your fire-breathing chicken!)

  6. This sounds delicious. I’m always looking for good chicken dishes.

  7. Linda Roy says:

    I love lemon chicken and I have all these ingredients! I’m making this tonight. Thanks for the suggestion and the recipe!

  8. PatU says:

    That’s on my to do list: Plant a Meyer lemon tree.

    • admin says:

      We have a small one in our courtyard that fruited last year but doesn’t look like it will this year.

  9. Julie Phelps says:

    Lovely reminder of how simple ingredients can taste like a masterpiece. Thanks 🙂

  10. Yum Yucky says:

    I need to make me some lemon chicken! Been wanting once of those indoor lemon trees, too. I need to git on it.

  11. This sounds delicious! I love lemon and chicken together. And the picture of your lemon tree is making me a bit envious!! Lol!

  12. I deeply appreciate you saving us from having to look at tight close-ups of raw chicken.

    When are you inviting me over for dinner?

  13. Puneet Kumar says:

    Oh! I am pure veg. but the cooking method is simple. I think.

  14. Robyn Wright says:

    ROFL – I so love that you put the fire-breathing chicken pic in instead of raw chicken. You are right, it is now overly appealing. I have a chicken recipe on my blog that shows the raw chicken and some other ingredients in the pot – it’s not awful, but well, you know. Well guess what picture on that recipe post people pin fairly often – yep the raw one! Eww! Go figure!

  15. Lemon chicken is one of my favorites. I love it with capers in the mix.

  16. I’m just coming across this recipe now and I love it. I might have to try to make it sometime soon.

    And we’re kindred chicken spirits, so I’m glad you used the picture you did. I think the same thing and recently saw baby chicks and wanted to cry and not eat chicken anymore. EEK!

  17. Amy Tong says:

    love lemon an chicken together! I just got some Meyer Lemons from my in-law’s place. can’t wait to try this.

  18. oh my gosh…thank you so very much!

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