Go Back
+ servings
Print

Roasted Chicken Breasts with Lemon, Garlic and Rosemary

Who needs rotisserie chicken with these amazing, super simple roasted chicken breasts? I love to serve them for dinner but they're also wonderful to have stashed in the fridge for sandwiches, salads, pizzas, wraps, etc.
Course Main, Poultry
Keyword roasted chicken breasts
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4
Author Adapted by Chris Scheuer from Cook Think

Ingredients

  • 4 bone-in chicken breast halves 2 whole breasts
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 2 cloves garlic finely minced
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

  1. Early in the day (at least 4 hours in advance) mix the rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil together in a small bowl. Rinse the chicken breasts and pat them dry. Press the rosemary mixture into the flesh of the chicken on all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4-8 hours
  2. When ready to bake chicken, preheat the oven to 450˚F and put a rack in the middle position. I like to line my sheet pan with foil to make clean-up easy.

  3. Place the chicken breasts on a shallow roasting pan skin side down. Roast for 15 minutes, then turn the breasts skin side up. Continue roasting until the breasts reach 160˚F* in the thickest part, another 15-30 minutes. If breasts vary greatly in size you may need to remove the smaller ones 5 minutes before the larger ones. Cover chicken with foil and allow to rest, loosely covered with foil, for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

*I highly recommend using an instant read thermometer - they're very reasonable and will make a big difference in the quality of all your cooked meat. Overcooked meat, poultry, even seafood, is dry and tough and the difference can be just a few degrees. Meat, when cooked to the proper temperature, will be moist and tender. Meat, poultry and seafood is very expensive and it is well worth the small cost to ensure the perfect temperature!

 I love to throw some extra lemons, quartered, onto the pan along with the chicken during the last 15 minutes of roasting. Slightly caramelized, they make for a lovely presentation on a platter with the chicken and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.