Chicken with Mint
Submitted by anniew
Flour-dredged chicken browned in butter, then baked in a lemon-mint sauce with brown sugar and paper-thin lemon slices on top. A bright, herbaceous Greek-inspired casserole with a sweet citrus kick.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
READY
Fresh mint and lemon are a pairing that Greeks have understood for centuries, and this baked chicken puts them front and center.
Chicken pieces get a paprika-spiced flour coating and a quick brown in butter and oil. Then you build a sauce right in the pan with chicken broth, lemon juice, lemon zest, brown sugar, and a full cup of chopped fresh mint.
The chicken goes back in, gets blanketed with paper-thin lemon slices, and bakes covered until the meat is fall-apart tender and the sauce has thickened into something glossy and fragrant.
The brown sugar rounds out the lemon’s sharpness, and that mint is doing so much more than garnish duty here. It infuses every spoonful of sauce with a cool, herbal brightness.
Kitchen Tips
- Use fresh mint only: Dried mint cannot touch what a full cup of fresh leaves does in this sauce. It is the star of the show, so give it the spotlight.
- Slice the lemon paper-thin: Thin slices soften during baking and become almost candied in the sauce. Thick slices stay tough and bitter.
- Do not skip the paprika in the flour: It gives the chicken a warm color and a subtle smokiness that plays beautifully with the bright lemon and mint.
Ingredients
Directions
Dredge chicken in seasoned flour.
In casserole dish, heat butter and oil; brown chicken.
Remove.
Stir 3 tablespoons seasoned flour into remaining fat; add broth and cook, stirring, until sauce thickens.
Blend rind, juice, and sugar; add to sauce along with mint and stir.
Replace chicken and spoon sauce over, top with layer of lemon slices.
Bake, covered, at 350℉ (180℃) for 1 hour, or until chicken is tender.
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