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 ⅔ 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 ⅓ 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!
Notes
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