Chicken

Crispy Chicken With Lemon Orzo From Ina Garten

by:
September 28, 2020
4.8
16 Ratings
Photo by Quentin Bacon
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

Note: European butters have lower water content and help the chicken sear better than domestic butters.

Recipe courtesy of MODERN COMFORT FOOD. Copyright © 2020 by Ina Garten. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Food52

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Crispy Chicken
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 boneless chicken breasts, skin-on (about 8 ounces each)
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 9 tablespoons good European-style unsalted butter (such as Plugrá), divided
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
  • Lemon Orzo With Feta (recipe below)
  • 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
  • Lemon Orzo With Feta
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup orzo
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons good olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
  • 1 cup small-diced feta, preferably Greek (4 ounces)
Directions
  1. Crispy Chicken
  2. Heat the oven to 450°F.
  3. Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a shallow bowl. Remove the tenders on the underside of the chicken breasts and save for another use. (This makes the chicken breasts an even thickness so they cook evenly.) Heat the canola oil and 4 tablespoons of the butter together in a large (12-inch) cast-iron skillet over medium heat until the butter has melted and begins to sizzle.
  4. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and shake off any excess. Place the chicken, skin side down, in the skillet and cook over medium heat without moving for 12 minutes. With the chicken still skin side down, place the skillet in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Return the skillet to the stovetop over medium heat (careful; the handle will be hot!). Turn the chicken skin side up, add the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter, and continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes, until the butter is a nutty brown color and the chicken breasts are just cooked through. Off the heat, sprinkle on the parsley.
  5. Divide the Lemon Orzo With Feta among four dinner plates. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and slice each breast crosswise in thick slices. Arrange one breast on each plate with the orzo. Spoon a few tablespoons of the brown butter over each chicken breast, squeeze on some lemon, and sprinkle with salt. Serve hot with a fresh wedge of lemon on each plate.
  1. Lemon Orzo With Feta
  2. In a large saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add 2 teaspoons salt and the orzo. Return the water to a boil and simmer uncovered for 9 to 11 minutes, until the orzo is al dente. Drain.
  3. Transfer the orzo to a bowl and stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, dill, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Fold in the feta and serve hot.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Lynn Womble Deatherage
    Lynn Womble Deatherage
  • FrugalCat
    FrugalCat
  • Ayesha
    Ayesha
  • Leslee Paul
    Leslee Paul

13 Reviews

Ayesha October 16, 2024
"Hey, I just tried your recipe, and it's absolutely awesome! Can't wait to make it again. For more amazing recipes, check out Albaik Menu Prices at https://albaikmenuprices.com/"
 
Leslee P. September 29, 2024
I’ve shopped in quite a few wonderful groceries in Atlanta, New York City and Kingston NY. Boneless SKIN ON chicken is not an item sold in modern America. Skin on, bone in chicken breast packaged in its own is rarely (actually, never) seen. To make this recipe you need a whole chicken which you butcher yourself. And don’t direct your readers to “ask your butcher to…”! What world would that be?
 
mauralindsay September 29, 2024
Buy bone-in and debone it.
 
brushjl January 22, 2024
Delicious! A real gem. I used Bosnian travnicki sir instead of feta and it was fantastic.
 
Judy H. December 7, 2021
Very easy recipe to prepare. Chicken was very moist and delicious. Will definitely make this again very soon. Thank you Ina.
 
christine W. November 9, 2020
Absolutely fantastic; now I finally now how to get crispy skin on chicken!
 
mlarson4411 October 19, 2020
We made the crispy chicken from the cookbook. We cooked the chicken longer. It mentioned instant read thermometer to register 130-140 degrees. We wandered if that was a typo. On your recipe those words have been eliminated. It was very good. The orzo was great but I agree with less salt. We used 1 tsp at the end. I think 1/2 tsp is about right. We enjoyed the meal. I enjoy Ina’s recipes.
 
Scbrady October 10, 2020
I made this tonight and it was really good. I also added peas to the orzo.
 
Kiyom October 9, 2020
There is an error in the orzo recipe. It notes 2 teaspoons of salt should be added to the orzo after it has cooked. This amount is for the original recipe that uses 3/4 pound of orzo. The recipe here uses just 1 cup. This amount of salt will ruin the orzo! You only need to use 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Please update the recipe for the rest of the readers. Mahalo!
 
Marge October 16, 2020
You are right! I made this from the published book and against my better judgment put in all the salt. Yikes. The chicken is great though and the orzo will be too ... next time :)
 
Lynn W. October 8, 2020
I made this recipe tonight because I saw Jennifer Garner's post on Instagram & thought it looked like something different than my usual. I didn't have dill so I used fresh parsley which worked fine. Also I do not have an iron skillet & think the chicken would be best cooked in one, so I could not do the 'transfer to oven' part of the recipe. This meal was still very delicious and will definitely do it again. Also, another note: it took me longer than I would have liked, so next time I plan on drinking a big glass of white wine & listening to some tunes whilst in the kitchen.
 
Margaret October 3, 2020
I made this last night. Another fantastic Ina dinner. I hate to make suggestions/changes to recipe reviews but, I added sauteed leek and fennel to the orzo --- perfect!!!
 
FrugalCat October 1, 2020
I made it with chicken thighs. Instead of the orzo (too small!) I used rotini pasta. With some spinach it was a perfect, complete meal.