Search

Eat Yourself Skinny

03.31.11

Lemon Basil Chicken

Thank you SO much to Little J over at Whisk It Good! for this recipe! I saw it the other day on her site and, since I had a ton of fresh basil on hand, I decided to try it. Well it will NOT disappoint, it’s amazing! The fresh basil and zest of lemon are such a great combination together and, best of all, it’s so healthy for you! At only 197 calories per serving of chicken, pair this with some fresh veggies and you’ve got a great light meal. I even learned a new technique too which I love! Hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did!

RECIPE

Lemon Basil Chicken

Yield: 5 servings 1x

Scale

Ingredients

5 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced or chopped fine
1/3 cup white wine (choose whatever wine you like to drink!)
2 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 large bunch of basil, julienned and chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Juice of one lemon (slice and reserve leftovers)

Instructions

To obtain more flavorful and jucier meat, always brine in advance. This is a technique I just tried for the first time and I noticed a HUGE difference. For boneless, skinless chicken breasts you only need to let the chicken brine for 30 to 60 minutes. In a large plastic bag (or glass bowl or dish), pour 1 quart of cold water, 1/2 cup kosher salt or 1/4 table salt and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix well, place chicken in bag and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add garlic and let cook for about 1 minute, you don’t want to burn the garlic. Remove from heat.
Stir in wine, lemon zest, basil, salt and pepper.
Arrange chicken breasts in a baking dish. Season breasts with salt and pepper. Pour lemon basil sauce over chicken and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
Keep covered and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

Serving Size: 1 chicken breast • Calories: 197 • Fat: 4 g • Carbs: 8 g • Fiber: 0.1 g • Protein: 24 g • WW Points+: 4 pts

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Nami @ Just One Cookbook says:

March 31, 2011 at 1:01 am

Hmmm Yum! I’d love to try this! You have a lot of recipes here and I have to come back to check more. Thanks for sharing and adding me in FoodBuzz!

Reply
Susi's Kochen und Backen says:

March 31, 2011 at 1:07 am

This sounds like a great, light meal! Love the combination of basil with lemon. Very spring-like :o)

Reply
Charissa says:

March 31, 2011 at 3:56 am

This looks so fantastic…what awesome pairings…basil and lemon and chicken. Love it!

Reply
Rebecca's Culinary Chronicles says:

March 31, 2011 at 1:30 pm

Kelly, I have this on my menu for next week! Sounds like the perfect spring dish!!

Reply
sweetpeaskitchen.com says:

March 31, 2011 at 1:50 pm

Such a perfect dish for spring! I love lemon chicken…I have to give this a try! Yummy! 🙂

Reply
Kristyn G. Raze says:

April 1, 2011 at 2:47 pm

I made this last night and it turned out GREAT. Even Brian liked it and he is the pickiest eater! Thanks for the recipe 🙂 It is especially delicious to drink the same wine in the recipe with dinner, very good!

Reply
Kelly says:

April 1, 2011 at 3:32 pm

Aw thanks Kristyn! Glad to hear you and Brian liked it and YES the wine goes perfect with dinner 🙂

Reply
little j @ whisk it good! says:

April 1, 2011 at 9:18 pm

YAY I’m glad it was a hit 😀

Reply
Wilde in the Kitchen says:

April 2, 2011 at 12:06 pm

This dish sounds like a perfect quick dinner. I love all the flavor and the fact that it looks so healthy!

Reply
Jenn says:

August 23, 2011 at 5:28 pm

I see that sugar is used in the brining process; has anyone used sugar substitutes vs sugar?

Reply
J Ciriello says:

November 10, 2012 at 4:58 am

just tried this recipe tonight and it was delicious and easy. next time, i would use a little less lemon for 1.4 lbs of chicken and i think it would help if the lemon zest part was based on how many lemons one should use as opposed to tbsp measurement !

http://www.not-going-out-like-that.com

Reply
Christy says:

January 3, 2013 at 4:53 pm

Two questions:
– where do you add the lemon juice? I am assuming in with the wine and other sauce ingredients.
– do you bake this covered, or cover it when you remove it from the oven and let it sit?
I’m new to all of this and don’t want to mess it up! 🙂

Reply
- Rebecca says:
  
  September 16, 2015 at 7:46 pm
  
  Thank you so much for asking those questions – just what I needed!
  
  Reply
Kelly | Eat Yourself Skinny says:

January 3, 2013 at 4:58 pm

Hi Christy! Sorry I wasn’t more clear 🙂 I added the lemon juice alone with the wine and zest then baked the chicken covered in the dish, then allow the chicken to sit 10 minutes after baking still covered 🙂 Hope that helps!!

Reply
- Susan Caldes says:
  
  April 15, 2016 at 9:35 pm
  
  Why don’t you rewrite the directions a little more clearly. I had this in the oven, uncovered, bc your directions said cover after baking, but read the reviews where you cleared up the directions. It is baking right now and smells delicious. Can’t wait to try it!
  
  Reply
  - Kelly says:
    
    April 18, 2016 at 7:29 pm
    
    Thanks for the reminder! It’s an old recipe so I will definitely update the directions 🙂
    
    Reply
Anonymous says:

January 9, 2013 at 12:48 am

Was delicious! Note the recipe page says 2 Tbsp of olive oil but the printable version says 1/2 cup! I’m assuming using 2 Tbsp. olive oil is used for the 4 points.

Reply
JLC says:

March 11, 2013 at 12:43 am

I am just loving your blog! My family and I just started our journey to eating healthier and becoming the best we can be as a family unit. I have never tried to brine chicken before, honestly, I thought there was more to it- laughably now knowing how simple it was. I am so glad that you posted the information on how to do so because I could certainly tell a difference in our chicken breast- and that is practically all we ever eat- what a difference! Even my almost two year old gobbled quite a bit of it up. We paired it with a small side of whole grain angel hair pasta in a lemon garlic “sauce” with baby spinach. Very light meal but smiles all around! Thank you so much for sharing all of these recipes. They are certainly making their way into our monthly rotation and we don’t feel like we are missing our old comfort foods while dieting as we are very satisfied so far. Again, thank you! You are saved in my favorites.

Reply
Bobbie Jo Griffiths says:

April 20, 2013 at 6:17 pm

Going to make this tonight. I love your blog!! I will be coming back here for all my healthy recipes!! Thanks 🙂

Reply
Janna Lea says:

April 14, 2014 at 1:07 am

I’m putting my hubby on a diet! His only request is flavor! This sounds awesome! I’ve made it way more fattening before! I’ve brined turkey but not chicken, can’t wait to try it!

Reply
Carson Matthews says:

May 21, 2014 at 2:23 pm

Kelly
I made this chicken last night, but did it on the Big Green Egg. It was fabulous. I should have read through the comments because I had the same questions as Christy above. I cooked it uncovered in the BGE and covered for 10 minutes to sit… either way, great recipe, thanks. Here’s a link to how it turned out http://carsonmatthewsblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/lemon-basil-chicken-on-the-big-green-egg/

Reply
Elaine Williams says:

August 5, 2014 at 8:11 pm

I have a TON of fresh basil. Trying this tonight. I tried brining once before and it didn’t work out so well but am going to try your brine and see what happens. Thanks!

Reply
- Kelly says:
  
  August 5, 2014 at 8:28 pm
  
  Good luck with the brine and hope you enjoy it!! I can never get enough of fresh basil! 🙂
  
  Reply
Sharon says:

August 7, 2014 at 7:57 am

I had family coming to visit and a lot of fresh basil to use. I came across this recipe but never served the meal After the family left I still had to cook the chicken but 5 breast of chicken was a lot for just my husband and I .i thought I’d freeze some but it was SOOOO GOOD that we ate it all up as leftovers.
Thanks! this a keeper recipe.!!!

Reply
colleen says:

October 4, 2014 at 6:23 pm

Just made this last night and it turned out amazing! The flavors are fresh and different, so good! My husband said to definitely put it in our “active file” 😉 Thanks for a great recipe!

Reply
Amy says:

November 17, 2014 at 1:08 am

This was amazing and so easy to make! Thanks so much for posting this, it was perfect!

Reply
Amber Delligatti says:

January 30, 2015 at 9:25 pm

Will this be good if I don’t have white wine on hand?

Reply
- Kelly says:
  
  February 1, 2015 at 7:12 pm
  
  Absolutely! 🙂
  
  Reply
Erika says:

July 20, 2015 at 7:31 pm

I will be trying this recipe tonight as I have company coming over and I also have a lot of basil on hand (planted a little too much… Oops)! Thank you for posting. It looks delicious! Random question, but I LOVE the look of your blog. Do you have any idea what the font is called that you used? Specifically for “eat” and “skinny.” I don’t blog, I’m just curious because I’ve been seeing it (or similar ones) around and I’ve been dying to know what it is!

Reply
Diane says:

January 24, 2016 at 1:44 pm

I made this last night for a dinner party. I only bought one lemon so didn’t have the full two tablespoons of zest nor enough to have whole slices to serve as a garnish. Luckily I noticed the missing instructions on when to add the lemon juice before I baked it. Otherwise, it was easy and delicious! I served it with a broccoli and almond risotto. I will definitely be making this again and will come back to your site for future meals. Thank you.

Reply