This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This Meyer Lemon Chicken is rich and flavorful. The sauce highlights the sweet floral notes of Meyer lemons and is finished with just a touch of butter for a hint of decadence.
This Christmas, I was gifted a long-desired cast iron skillet. So, you can imagine my delight to find a recipe in Jan / Feb’s Cooking Light titled “Skillet Mains”. I knew it was time to try out their Meyer Lemon Chicken recipe! The skillet and the recipe exceeded my expectations!
There was some worry that 2 whole lemons would make the lemon flavor of the recipe too intense, but my worries were unnecessary! I substituted regular lemons plus 1 teaspoon of sugar since I couldn’t find Meyer Lemons for my Meyer Lemon Chicken. I recently tried Meyer Lemons at my Mom’s house, and I am convinced that this recipe would be even more amazing with them!
Cooking Light says this recipe takes 27 minutes of hands-on time and 39 minutes total. When I read this to my fiancé, he replied, “Better have a sous-chef at your disposal to get it done in that time!” It took me the better part of an hour and a half from prep to plating. It was most certainly worth it, but it will be a lazy Sunday meal in the future! (If you’ve started from a whole chicken, I made you this easy chicken deboning video to cut down on time!)
Be sure to add the butter at the end! I was tempted to skip it in consideration for my waistline (which is hilariously, ridiculous given my last post), but I am so glad I stuck to the recipe. It is Cooking Light after all!
Meyer Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breast bone-in or boneless
- 2 chicken thighs bone-in or boneless
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt divided
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper divided
- Cooking Spray
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 pound small red potatoes quartered
- 1 Meyer lemon cut into ¼ -inch-thick slices and seeded
- 1 cup shallots chopped
- 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced (or diced)
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ½ teaspoon thyme leaves
- 1 cup unsalted chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch or arrowroot
- 2 oz Castelvetrano olives pitted
- 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh parley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Rub ½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper and salt onto both sides of chicken.
- Add a small amount of canola oil or cooking spray to pan and heat over medium-high heat until just smoking.
- Add chicken to pan, skin side down; cook 6 minutes or until skin is crisp and golden brown. Since I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts, mine took only several minutes to brown. Turn chicken over.
- Place pan in oven. Bake at 400°F for 12 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion of chicken reads 165°F.
- Removed chicken from pan; loosely tent with foil to keep warm. .
- Discard pan drippings but do not wipe out pan. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan, then add potatoes and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Cook potatoes 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove potatoes from pan
- Add lemon slices to pan; cook 1 minute on each side or until browned. Remove lemon from pan.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, then add shallots and garlic; sauté 2 minutes, stirring so that the garlic doesn’t burn.
- Add wine and chopped fresh thyme; cook 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits.
- Return potatoes and lemon slices to the pan. Add 2/3 cup stock, remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper; cook 2 minutes until potatoes are tender.
- It took 25 minutes for my potatoes to cook, so I had to continue to add stock and there was no need to thicken my sauce with cornstarch or arrowroot. If your potatoes behave then combine the remaining 1/3 cup stock and cornstarch, stirring with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture and olives (if you choose) to the pain; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in lemon juice and butter, stirring until butter melts. Return chicken to pan, turning to coat; sprinkle with parsley. Enjoy!