This baked lemon chicken is coated in a butter and herb sauce, then roasted to perfection. A super easy dinner option that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy!
Chicken breasts baked in the oven can sometimes come out dry, but this recipe will never let you down! These baked lemon chicken breasts come out juicy and delicious every time, and the delicious sauce will have you licking your plate. When I want juicy baked chicken, I make bacon wrapped chicken, baked chicken parmesan or this delicious chicken.
Sometimes I just need a quick and easy protein option to get dinner on the table in a hurry! I love the convenience of baked chicken, but I find that sometimes the end result can be disappointing with bland, rubbery chicken. This baked lemon chicken comes out perfectly delicious every time, and my whole family adores it!
This chicken is delicious with side dishes like fried corn, cauliflower casserole or mashed red potatoes. Pick your favorite side dishes and make your favorite meal!
How to make baked lemon chicken
For this recipe, you’ll need boneless skinless chicken breasts. I brown the breasts before I put them in the oven, it takes a few extra minutes but I feel like the added flavor is so worth it.
After the chicken is golden brown and crispy, it goes into a baking dish with some lemon juice, butter, garlic, herbs and chicken broth. If you have an oven proof skillet, you can simply brown the chicken breasts, pour the sauce over the top and bake directly in the skillet instead of transferring the chicken to a baking dish.
What I love about this recipe is that it’s so easy to bake as few or as many chicken breasts as you need. You can bake 2 or 20 chicken breasts, same process!
The final step is to add a little chopped fresh parsley and lemon slices. This baked lemon chicken is best served over rice, mashed potatoes or pasta. Be sure to spoon all that extra sauce at the bottom of the baking dish over the chicken when you serve it; the sauce is the best part!
I often make extra chicken to chop up and use in other recipes during the week. It’s a great basic chicken that works in so many dishes like casseroles, soups and pasta.
More chicken recipes
- Firecracker Chicken
- Lemon Pepper Chicken
- Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry
- Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Baked Fried Chicken
Baked Lemon Chicken Video
Baked Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- lemon slices for serving optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper and the Italian seasoning.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until browned.
- Transfer the chicken to a baking dish.
- In a small bowl, mix together the butter, garlic, chicken broth and lemon juice. Pour the butter mixture over the chicken.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Bake time may vary depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts.
- Spoon the sauce on the bottom of the baking dish over the chicken, then sprinkle with parsley and serve. Garnish with lemon slices if desired.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Creme de la Crumb.
- When I make this recipe I use chicken breasts that are about 1 inch thick. If you use thinner chicken breasts, be sure to decrease the bake time accordingly.
Can you brown chicken in advance and make sauce in advance
You can make the sauce in advance but I wouldn’t recommend browning the chicken in advance, as the chicken will not be fully cooked through at this point.
Made it for dinner, I was looking for something different to do with chicken. Excellent flavor, tender chicken, easy to make. I tweaked it slightly, I browned in a cast iron skillet, which allowed me to bake in the same pan I browned it in. Overall I will be making this again and again.
So happy to hear that, thank you for reporting back!!
Made this tonight and it was absolutely fantastic. Nice rich sauce and had just the right amount of lemon. Definitely making again! Thank you for sharing.
So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for reporting back!
Could we put potatoes or vegetables in with the chicken to bake together ? Will it be enough time ?
Yes you could, you’d need to cut the potatoes small into 1 inch pieces or use a quicker cooking vegetable like zucchini or carrots.
That so so amazing. Thanks for your sharring
This was delicious! Followed recipe exactly. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is awesome. The only thing that I did differently is zest the lemon and added the zest to the chicken stock (and other ingredients) before I put it in the oven. And when the chicken was done, I put chicken on a plate and I mixed a little cornstarch with chicken stock and added it to sauce and whisked it for a minute. This thickened the sauce and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe! It’s a keeper.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
How would you change the recipe to cook a leg/thigh quarter chicken?
You can do it the same way, you’ll just need to add additional bake time because bone in chicken takes longer to cook than boneless skinless chicken breasts.
I loved this! I happened to use 1 tsp italian dressing mix (homemade) because I accidentally thought thats what it called for. It came out amazing. I assume just italian seasoning is great also but I may stick with my accidental change. The chicken came out flavorful and tender. I will definitely make this again.
So happy to hear you liked it!
I made this tonight. My husband & I really liked it & it’s a pretty easy recipe. Thank you for sharing it with all of us.
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
This recipe was VERY delicious!!!! Unfortunately, I was out of butter so I used olive oil instead. It was still wonderful. I like that the lemon flavor was subtle and not tart. Adding to my menu rotation! Thank you for sharing!
So glad you liked it, thanks for reporting back!
Just made this dish for my family. Including a picky kid who doesn’t like lemon. He asked for seconds! Thank you for sharing!
I made this recipe for dinner last night with a few tweaks. I dusted the skin side of the deboned breasts with 1 tbsp flour, salt and pepper, browned it in a hot pan with 1 tbsp of evoo as suggested. After the first flip and a pause of 2 minutes, added 1 finely sliced onion and 1 finely sliced lemon under the chicken breasts, salt and pepper to the onions. Back to the recipe for liquids, cover and into the oven for 30 minutes. At that point, I removed pan from the oven and the lid added 1/2 matchstiçk slices of red pepper, rosemary, parsley, thyme, and tiny button cremenie mushrooms and back to the recipe for basting and roasting 30 more minutes. Served over rice, the sauce was beautifully thickened and the lemons were edible too. Yum so delish.
Can you put this on the grill?
I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you tried using the sauce as a marinade and then grilled the chicken from there?
Does it matter if I put a lid on the baking dish? Does that speed up the cooking process?
I don’t recommend putting a lid on the baking dish as the chicken will steam instead of roast.
I tried the recipe turned out great. I used Mccormick roasted garlic chicken seasoning. Had to make my broth out of base.
Lemon chicken perfection. Easy to make, simple ingredients, and oh so tasty.
This is one of the best things I’ve made in months. Thanks so much!
Would this work in a slow cooker?
Yes it would, but I would add the lemon juice at the very end, because it may get bitter over a long cook time.
Made it last night and it was a hit. Hubby said to put this recipe in the book lol