Lemon Pepper Chicken Breast Recipe

[Music] hey there i'm Yankel and today I'm gonna show you exactly how to cook absolutely perfect juicy delicious chicken breasts every single time so we're gonna start with 1 package of our boneless skinless chicken breasts now I took them out of the freezer last night and put them in the fridge there's still a little bit frozen so I'm gonna run them under some cold water just to finish the defrosting process now when it comes to defrosting chicken breasts what you do want to do is make sure it's fully defrosted otherwise they tear when you pull them apart so we're just gonna run that under some cool water for just about 2 3 minutes to finish that defrosting process you can of course skip the overnight in the refrigerator and go straight from the freezer to the cool running water bath that'll save you the overnight in the fridge but it'll take a little bit longer to defrost probably 30 to 40 minutes so while we let that finish defrosting we're actually gonna go preheat our oven and we're looking at 325 going to a basic roast cycle bake roast doesn't really matter the goal here is 325 degrees and all we want to happen is the cooking to finish because we're actually going to start everything in the pan looks like our chicken breast is plenty defrosted we're gonna just put it on the tray and we're gonna head over to the counter and start cooking so the first thing we're gonna do is take it out of the package and we're gonna Pat it dry so we got a really good sear the Browning process is where the flavour happens and we want to make sure we maximize that any sort of moisture in the pan is gonna steam and slow down on our browning process so we're gonna get them nice and dry both sides I'm just gonna set that paper towel down just like that throw it one more on top time to preheat the pan we're looking for a medium-high heat and I'm using my trusty cast iron and the key here is having a pan that can go directly into the oven medium-high let's go with the 7.5 here but if you're working on a stove at home if it's a gas stove go all the way to high and then just turn it back a notch on your electric burners you want to go to about an 8 out of 10 so we're gonna season these really simply just a little bit of coarse ground salt and we'll add some pepper now but today we're gonna do a really basic lemon pepper so we're gonna add a little bit more ground pepper to the pan once we get liquid going as we let the pan heat up I'm going to add a little bit of cooking oil I'm using a high-temperature cooking oil something that's been refined in this case avocado oil that has been naturally refined that means the purities are gone and it's not gonna scorch as it heats up I'm using avocado oil but alternatives our coconut oil or ghee clarified butter any world that works really well with a high temperature any of the corn oil sunflower safflower oil those are really good for cooking too so as soon as that oil starts to move around the pan and we might see a little bit of steam on the edges we're gonna add the chicken breast to the pan and get the searing process started all right the oil has started to coat the whole bottom of the pan means it's hot enough to start searing so I'm gonna put those chicken breasts in the seasoning side down and once they're in the pan I'll season the other side nice and easy the problem with cooking chicken breasts is they tend to dry out really quickly so we're gonna combat that by adding a little bit of moisture to the pan in this case it's gonna be lemon juice a little bit of stock I have chicken stock and a splash of butter now you can use your favorite citrus you can use water instead of stock or any other type of liquid that you think would taste delicious a barbecue sauce of tomato sauce beer wine all of those will work really nicely the key is just adding a little bit of moisture once you're done searing if we have moisture before we're done searing we lower the temperature in the pan and then the searing process slows down so we're gonna let them steer nicely first now I'm just looking for a little bit of brown so take about a minute and a half on each side while we let the chickens here on one side I'll give you two quick tips about choosing lemons number one is I always look for a lemon with a smooth surface generally that means that lemon is gonna be a lot juicier than the bumpy surfaced ones and number two if it is stiff put a little weight on it roll it between your hands and the cutting board like so breaks up some of the connective fibers inside easier to squeeze and then I'm just going to slice it in half soft and supple all right our chicken breasts have seared about a minute and a half two minutes per side you can see there's a nice brown crust now it's time to start building our sauce so the first thing I'm gonna do is add a little bit of liquid in this case chicken stock and then on top of that we're gonna go lemon and you see how easily the juice just comes out of it rolling it on the counter best trick in the world and then we're gonna stir in just a little bit of butter it's gonna give the sauce a bit of creaminess and last but not least a whole bunch of fresh ground black pepper that's gonna give a nice fruity element a little bit of a bite let's give that a quick stir just to have it come together and I can tell you already it smells incredible there's lemony citrusy zest pouring out of it deep chicken flavor you get the roast from the brown searing all right we're gonna put those into the oven to let them finish cooking and while they're in there they're gonna absorb all that beautiful moisture all right cast-iron gets hot so be careful and now we're gonna head over to the oven which has been preheating 325 just the right temperature it's not gonna overcook the chicken it's not gonna break the sauce it's gonna make everything come together we're gonna give it about 10-15 minutes in the oven and then we're gonna take the temperature see you in a bit exactly 10 to 15 minutes have gone by exactly we're gonna take a look oh yeah smells incredible all right now we're just gonna double check that temperature make sure we're on point the invaluable tool of the protein chef is a good instant read digital thermometer and will you look at that perfectly cooked moist juicy we're gonna put those on the cutting board and let them rest for about three minutes before we get into slicing in the meantime what we're gonna do is reduce our sauce a little bit so we've got this beautiful pan sauce it's got the roasted chicken juice it's got lemon butter chicken stock lots of good black pepper we're gonna let that concentrate a little bit and then we're gonna serve that over the chicken breasts now if you wanted to add any other vegetables to your dish now while you reduce the sauce would be a great time to do that all right chicken breasts right onto the counter go three minutes of resting time is a good amount five minutes is better what we want are the juices inside to get reabsorbed into the protein fibers that's going to make sure every bite you take is as juicy as possible and we'll just let that sauce go it's going to evaporate it's gonna concentrate it's gonna be absolutely amazing I mean just look at that gorgeous while the sauce is reducing let's take a look at the chicken breast now there is a pretty distinct grain running along the breast and you can see it running in that direction for a super tender bite when we sliced the chicken breast we want to go against the grain like so and that means that each bite will have short grains be easier to chew won't be stringy and it'll be as tender as possible so we're just gonna give that a quick slice and you can see the juice coming out of it now means I didn't rest it long enough so a couple more minutes of resting time would be great but it's still gonna be super juicy super moist and tender I mean look how it just comes apart right there perfectly cooked a steam rising means there's still plenty of moisture in the chicken breast whenever you cook a chicken breast as long as you add a little bit of liquid you're guaranteed it's gonna be absolutely perfect and now the sauce is reducing beautifully smells incredible the Browning process that we did at the beginning that sear that makes sure everything is gonna be amazing I mean it gives it color it gives it flavor it smells magical this is gonna be the best chicken breast you ever had and I used ingredients that were just lying around a couple of lemons a little bit of chicken stock black pepper sauce is nearly done so we're gonna finish slicing up for her breasts and put it on the plate and drizzle some of that beautiful sauce on let's go right onto the plate beautiful now this sauce is basically caramelize the sugars in the lemon and the protein that's hooked into the pan absolutely beautiful the butter is browned is just gorgeous who's gonna add so much flavor so I'm just gonna drizzle that right on to our chicken breast I'm just gonna give that a quick taste just to make sure it's perfect wow that is incredible that is the best chicken breasts I've ever tasted so simple lemon butter chicken stock seared well cook gently it just comes together it is magical I'm telling you this is gonna be some of the best chicken breasts you've ever had so why don't you go cook some chicken breasts if I can do this without food coming out of my mouth I'll be real happy about it I'm miracle see you next time

Channel: ButcherBox

Views: 925,149

Rating: 4.8590722 out of 5

Keywords: chicken breast, chicken breast recipes, butcherbox, dinner recipes, recipes with chicken breast, baking chicken breast, chicken breast baked, lemon pepper, lemon, lemon pepper flavor, organic chicken, free range chicken, chicken recipes, how to bake chicken, how long to bake chicken breast

Id: 13whZbcY3gA

Length: 12min 41sec (761 seconds)

Published: Wed May 29 2019