Meyer Lemon Chicken

This Christmas, my fiancé gifted me 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 met (and 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

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• Author: Adapted from Cooking Light January/February 2013 (only slightly modified by Lindsey)
• Prep Time: 30
• Cook Time: 45
• Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4 1x

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Description

This Meyer Lemon Chicken recipe from Cooking Light cooks beautifully in a cast iron skillet! A perfect use of lemons, this dish is To Die For!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 Skin-on, bone in chicken breast halves, halved crosswise (I used boneless skinless)
• 2 Skin-on, bone in chicken thighs (if you’re starting from a whole chicken, this video will help)
• 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 finely chopped shallots
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (or diced)
• ½ cup dry white wine
• ½ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 cup unsalted chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch or arrowroot
• (2 ounces pitted Castelvetrano olives) * I left these out
• 2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice or regular + 1t sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400° / Get really excited to use your new pan!
2. Rub ½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper and salt onto both sides of chicken.
3. Add a small amount of canola oil or cooking spray to pan and heat over medium-high heat until just smoking.
4. 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.
5. Place pan in oven. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion of chicken reads 165°.
6. Remove chicken from pan; loosely tent with foil to keep warm. Discard pan drippings but do not wipe out pan.
7. 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.
8. Add lemon slices to pan; cook 1 minute on each side or until browned. Remove lemon from pan.
9. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, then add shallots and garlic; sauté 2 minutes, stirring so that the garlic doesn’t burn.
10. Add wine and chopped fresh thyme; cook 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits.
11. 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.
12. 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 pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
13. Stir in lemon juice and butter, stirring until butter melts.
14. Return chicken to pan, turning to coat; sprinkle with parsley.  Enjoy!