My son loves chicken and so I am on a mission to find easy and healthy recipes for him. This is one of them.
This healthy way to cook chicken will surprised you with its delicious blend of flavors. You can have it hot with veggies or cold with a salad on a summer day.
If you are really worried about your fat intake you can eliminate the butter. The recipe will still work. It will just loose a bit of flavor.
Important: You will need a baking dish big enough to accommodate the chicken fillets in a single layer without leaving spaces between the pieces. Empty spaces will make the juices evaporate quickly and the chicken will be dry without any juice left to drizzle over it when it's ready.
Always check if the chicken is done cause overcooked chicken gets too hard. Check cooking times below. On the other hand you don't want it raw. You can get sick as raw chicken might carry Salmonella, but this is not as common as people advertise on the internet.
What could go wrong with this recipe?
- The chicken can get too hard if stays too long in the oven, as I said before.
- The chicken can get dry if the baking dish is too big. The juices in contact with the surface of the baking dish will evaporate quickly. That actually happened to me the first time I did this recipe.
- You might put too much salt on the chicken or not enough. When I say "lightly salt the chicken" below I mean a thin layer of salt. Remember that it's easy to add salt to a ready dish but impossible to remove.
Serve 3 - 4
Serve 3 - 4
What You
Need
- 1 lb chicken breast fillets (no skin and no bones)
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- butter - enough to coat a baking dish
- 2 teaspoons garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried chives
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper (depends on how spicy you like)
- salt to season the chicken
What To Do
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Rinse chicken under running water and dry with paper towel.
If the breasts are too thick cut in half lengthwise.
Coat the bottom of a baking dish with butter or olive oil.
If you're reaction is 'yuck' put your hand inside a clean plastic bag and then spread the butter on the baking dish. Or use latex gloves.
Place the chicken in a single layer.
Lightly salt only one side of the chicken.
Add the lemon juice and turn the pieces to coat them with the juice.
Combine oregano, chives, paprika, garlic salt and lemon pepper and crush them in a bowl with a wooden spoon,
OR with a mortar and pestle.
Rub this mix on both sides of the chicken.
Bake for 15 – 35 minutes.
IMPORTANT: Baking time will depend on how thick the chicken fillets are. The fillets that I used for this post were very thin and they cooked in 15 minutes. Check if the chicken is cooked through by cutting the thickest part of the thickest fillet to see if there is still pink meat inside. If you have a meat thermometer it should read 165 degrees Fahrenheit when inserted on the thickest part of the thickest fillet.
IMPORTANT: Baking time will depend on how thick the chicken fillets are. The fillets that I used for this post were very thin and they cooked in 15 minutes. Check if the chicken is cooked through by cutting the thickest part of the thickest fillet to see if there is still pink meat inside. If you have a meat thermometer it should read 165 degrees Fahrenheit when inserted on the thickest part of the thickest fillet.
After you put the chicken on a plate spoon some juice over it.
Bon Appétit!
