Garlic Lemon Chicken Recipe

January 15, 2021 by Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CN

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It’s difficult to find a more popular poultry than chicken, but how do you make chicken more flavorful? My garlic lemon chicken recipe is a good place to start.

Lemons and garlic have great nutritional properties on their own, but when you combine them with organic, free-range chicken, the results are both nutrient-packed and delicious. Garlic lemon chicken makes a perfect main dish for any time of the year, especially as you’re gearing up for cold and flu season.

Key Ingredients

This healthy lemon garlic chicken recipe has three main ingredients: chicken, garlic and lemon. The garlic lemon chicken marinade also uses melted butter — make sure to choose grass-fed butter — and it’s topped off with a little white wine, which is optional.

Free-range chicken is a lean protein powerhouse that not only avoids the unhealthy hormones so many meat products contain today, but often actually tastes better too. In addition to protein, chicken provides a good amount of vitamin A and iron, supporting many aspects of health.

Lemons are a great source of vitamin C, potassium and folate, all of which help strengthen immunity and prevent colds and flu. You’ve probably heard about the benefits of drinking lemon water, such as helping with digestion and detoxifying your body.

Now you can add those benefits to your dinner plate, too.

The roasted garlic in this dish adds amazing flavor and health benefits. Garlic offers natural ways to lower blood pressure, fight heart disease and boost your immune system. It has natural antiviral and antifungal properties, making it a perfect food to eat when you’re being exposed to extra germs and viruses.

Plus, when you roast it, it takes on a sweet, caramelized flavor akin to garlic candy.

Go ahead and roast a whole head of garlic since this recipe calls for about nine cloves. You won’t be sorry if you have a little of that sweet, golden goodness left over. (It’s great spread on just about anything.)

Garlic lemon chicken ingredients - Dr. Axe

How to Make Garlic Lemon Chicken

How to do you make lemon chicken from scratch? Follow this recipe for garlic lemon chicken baked to perfection.

Start by preheating the oven. Rinse off the chicken, and pat it nice and dry.

You’re going to treat this chicken to a little lemon garlic massage with the paste you make by combining the garlic, lemon zest, half of the lemon juice, melted butter, and salt and pepper.

Using your fingers, gently pull the chicken skin away from the breast. Take a quarter of the lemon garlic paste and spread it under the skin of each breast. Then pop those puppies into a baking dish, skin side up.

Even if you stopped now and put this chicken in the oven, it would be delectable, but we’re going to turn the flavor up a few more notches.

Slice up a lemon, and arrange the slices on top of the chicken breasts. These are going to release even more lemon juice and flavor as the chicken bakes.

Lastly, pour a cup of nice white wine into the bottom of the dish, along with the rest of the lemon juice. (The rule in cooking with wine is to use whatever quality you would drink.) You could substitute chicken or vegetable stock here if you prefer not to use wine.

Cover the dish with foil, and bake it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then, because we want that chicken skin to get nice and golden and crispy, uncover the dish and turn the oven up to 425 F. Bake it for another 15 to 20 minutes until it’s nicely browned.

After you let the chicken rest for a few minutes, it’s ready to enjoy hot with the juices from the pan, or you can allow it to cool completely and keep it in the refrigerator for yummy sandwiches later on. If you love your protein packed with flavor, you’re going to love this garlic lemon chicken recipe!

Similar Recipes

This recipe for chicken is far from the only one out there. Here are some more chicken recipes to try: