Baked Lemon Chicken

Baked lemon chicken is an easy, healthy dinner that is full of flavour! The baked chicken breast is infused with the simple flavours of lemon, garlic, capers and fresh herbs.

This easy baked lemon chicken is Paleo, Keto, Whole30 and Gluten-Free.

This is such an easy healthy and versatile chicken dinner. It is simple enough to make on a weeknight and pair with some baked or steamed veggies and equally tastes good enough to serve when entertaining.

The baked chicken stays lovely and tender cooking in the lemon, garlic and olive oil marinade -  it also makes for tasty leftovers! You will have plenty of marinade leftover so make sure to pour extra over the chicken when serving or any sides you cook.

What's so good about this recipe?

• It is quick and easy to prepare.
• This baked lemon chicken recipe only requires a few simple ingredients.
• The chicken easily pairs well with a variety of sides, salads and vegetables.
• The simple flavours work really well together.
• It can easily be popped in the oven while you quickly prepare a salad, steam some veggies or add some extra vegetables to roast in the oven while it is cooking.

How to make baked lemon chicken step by step:

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/4oof.

2. In a medium sized bowl mix together the ingredients for the marinade. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, crushed garlic, herbs and salt.

3. Add the olive oil or butter into a medium sized pan or skillet and bring to a medium-high heat.

4. Season the chicken with dried oregano or Italian herbs and salt and pepper on each side. Place into the pan and cook the chicken breasts for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

5. Transfer the chicken to a baking dish or if you have an oven proof skillet for searing the chicken you may just like to use that. Add some slices of lemon or lemon wedges in between each breast. Sprinkle some capers over the chicken. Pour the marinade over the chicken.

6. Place the dish in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes then add some fresh thyme sprigs to the top and spoon out some of the marinade and pour it over the chicken. (As thyme often burns easily I like to add it in nearer the end.)

7. Cook for another 10-15 minutes. Your total cook time in the oven will be approx 25 minutes in total if you are using smaller chicken breasts or 30 minutes in total for larger ones. The chicken will be cooked when the juices run clear. If you are using a meat thermometer then the internal temperature of the chicken should be 75c/165f.

8. Serve piping hot, spoon the marinade over the chicken before serving. You will have lots of the lovely marinade left in the dish so this can be nice poured over any vegetables or hot sides.

What to serve with this dinner?

• A simple side salad
• Chop up some broccoli, cauliflower and or asparagus (if in season) and roast on a sheet pan in the oven while the chicken is cooking.
• A side of rice, couscous, quinoa or cauliflower rice if you are looking for a low carb or Keto option.
• Roasted potatoes with some fresh steamed greens

Additional Recipe Tips

You can use 3-4 chicken breasts in this recipe depending on the size you use. I used three large chicken breasts in this dish which easily serves four. However if you would like each person to have a chicken breast each then I would recommend using four smaller ones.

I chose dried oregano and fresh thyme as herbs in this recipe. Dried Italian herbs and fresh parsley or oregano would also work well.

Other chicken dinner recipes:

One Pan Chicken with Chorizo and Veggies
Thai Chicken Skewers
Chicken Mango Salad
Spanish Chicken Stew
One Dish Mediterranean Chicken

I hope you enjoyed this baked lemon chicken recipe, let me know how you get on in the comments below and or leave a star rating – I love hearing from you!

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If you decide to make this recipe tag me #lovefoodnourish on Instagram – I love seeing your creations!

Hope

This recipe was adapted from Creme De La Crumb