Lemon Greek Chicken

Lately, I've been wanting to try new recipes. A friend of mine lent me her Pampered Chef Stoneware Inspirations cookbook, so I tried the recipe for Lemon Greek Chicken. I made a few adjustments from the beginning according to our family's likes and dislikes. The changes are noted at the bottom.



Lemon Greek Chicken

Prep time: 20 minutes Bake time: 1 hour

2 lemons, divided
1/4 c olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2-3 tsp dried oregano leaves
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
4 split (bone-in) chicken breast halves (2 1/2-3 pounds)
8 petite red potatoes (about 12 ounces)
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch strips
1 medium red onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
8 ounces whole mushrooms

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Zest one lemon to measure 1 1/2 tbsp zest. Juice lemon to measure 2 tbsp juice. In a mixing bowl, combine lemon zest, juice, oil, minced garlic, oregano, salt and black pepper; mix well.

2. Place chicken on center of pan. Using a pastry brush, brush chicken with a portion of the lemon juice mixture.

3. Cut potatoes in half. Cut bell pepper into 1-inch strips; cut in half. Cut onion into 1-inch wedges. Thinly slice remaining lemon. Combine potatoes, bell pepper, onion, lemon slices and mushrooms with remaining lemon juice mixture in mixing bowl; toss to coat.


4. Arrange vegetables around chicken on pan. Bake 1 hour or until chicken is no longer pink in center, brushing chicken and vegetables with pan juices after 30 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings


Notes: I know my family doesn't like too much lemon on their food especially fresh lemon zest (from a experiment gone bad a few weeks ago), so I added the lemon juice but substituted orange slices with the veggies. None of us like mushrooms, but I was sure they would add a good flavor. So I added them and put them in the leftovers for my MIL to try -- she loves them! Rick is the only one that likes onion, but again, I thought I needed them for the flavor. Guessing I could have used the ones he didn't eat in a soup or something . . . anyone have any ideas?? I also sprayed everything with spray butter that I had in the frig. There didn't seem to be enough lemon juice mixture for everything. Wish there was more liquid for basting, but not sure what to do about that since I didn't want to add more oil??


This was a hit with our family. I'll definitely be making this again. Next time I won't buy a whole chicken just because it was $.89/lb!! I almost became a vegetarian cutting up a raw chicken -- yeck! I'll try legs and thighs since my kids love drumsticks or split chicken breasts if they go one sale.