Try this: The Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Chicken

Yup, I'm on a Barefoot Contessa kick. You may recall my recent post about Ina's incredible coconut cake. Well, at the same dinner we served that cake, we also made her Lemon Chicken, which is so good and so easy, it's now on my list of "go-to" recipes.

I was so eager to eat this dish that I forgot to snap a photo, but I did grab one from the Barefoot's website.

Note #1: Because we had a bunch of people over for dinner, I tripled this recipe and it worked great.
Note #2: I also used bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts as well as boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Cooked them all together for the same amount of time.

Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Chicken

• 1/4 cup olive oil 

• 3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves) 

• 1/3 cup dry white wine 

• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons) 

• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 

• 1½ teaspoons dried oregano 

• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves 

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

• 4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on*
• 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 



Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute but don’t allow the garlic to turn brown.

Off the heat, add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt and pour into a 9 X 12-inch baking dish. 



Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper.

Cut the lemon in 8 wedges and tuck it among the pieces of chicken. 



Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, until the chicken is done and the skin is lightly browned. If the chicken isn’t browned enough, put it under the broiler for 2 minutes.

Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with the pan juices.