In all my years and all the lemon chicken I’ve made surprisingly its never crossed my mind to just straight marinade in citrus like oranges, grapefruit, lemons. To really bring that lemony chicken taste home. I really always stuck to brines and added wine to it. Now this is my official ultimate chicken go-to.
A few things I wanna add if you cant find bitter orange juice. You can combine 2 cups of orange juice with 1/2 cup lemon and 1/2 cup lime juice. Some people add vinegar some don’t so that all optional. Also, the parsley topping can be made in food processor.
Ingredients
- 3c Bitter orange juice
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 10 cloves garlic, smashed
- 6 chicken breast
- 1 lemon, sectioned peel left on
- 1Tb paprika
- 1Tb garlic powder
- Salt
- 1Tb black pepper
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1/4c capers, chopped
- 10 Calabrian chilis, stemmed and chopped
- 5 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
Directions
- Combine bitter orange juice, yellow onions, lemon, smashed garlic, and chicken in a storage bag and marinate overnight.
- Once marinated, remove chicken from marinade. Dump entire contents of bag into baking pan and place into 375 degree oven to start cooking while you brown chicken.
- Season chicken on both sides generously with garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Place chicken in hot cast iron allowing to sear on both sides for a couple minutes and set to the side till all chicken is complete. (This step is not meant to cook chicken just to form a crust, Chicken is still raw at this point.)
- Place chicken into pan with your now heated marinade. Cook for 30 minutes.
- To make the topping for the chicken start chopping capers, Calabrian chilis and garlic. Once chopping now include the parsley and chop everything very fine.
- Once chicken is cooked all the way through, Scoop chicken ( don’t forget the sauce in the pan) and top with that incredible garlic parsley topping. Serve over rice or your favorite starch.