Weeknight Tangy Lemon Chicken

EASIER

GLUTEN-FREE

Makes 6 servings

Although there’s no sugar in this basting sauce, it’s still a sweet/sour mix. Lemon juice, despite being tart, carries lots of natural sugar—which will reduce and caramelize to add intense flavor to the chicken. Serve this one alongside roasted potatoes (here) or long-grain white or brown rice.

¼ cup olive oil

Six 8-ounce frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

4 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano leaves

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon table salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Position the rack in the center of the oven; heat the oven to 350°F.

2. Pour half the oil into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Tip it this way and that to coat the bottom.

3. Place the frozen chicken breasts in one layer in the baking dish. Drizzle the remainder of the oil evenly over the breasts, as well as the lemon juice and red wine vinegar. Sprinkle the garlic, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper evenly over the chicken.

4. Cover with parchment paper, then aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes.

5. Uncover and continue baking, basting the meat occasionally with the juices in the dish, until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a couple of the breasts registers 165°F, about 20 minutes longer. Cool the chicken in the baking dish for 10 minutes before serving.

Test Kitchen Notes

• The fresh herbs won’t burn because a) they’re cooked covered, and b) there’s so much liquid in the dish.

• Don’t stint on basting. You want to glaze the chicken, not let the juices burn in the baking dish.

• Don’t worry if the herbs come off as the chicken is basted. They’ll get picked back up as part of the sauce with the basting.

image

Voilà! Throughout the recipes in this book the assumption is that you’ll be using store-bought minced garlic and ginger, available in little jars from the produce section. These are not lasts-forever ingredients. At the store, they should not be brown or even a dark beige. Minced garlic should be pale, creamy white; ginger should have a slightly pink luster. There should be some liquid in the jar but not a lot. At home, store the jars in the fridge but plan on using them before tossing them out after a couple of months. And if you’re chopping your own garlic, 1 small clove will give you about 1 teaspoon minced.