Lemon and Roasted Garlic Chicken
Learn how to make a juicy lemon chicken using the sous vide of cooking. Preserved lemons and roasted garlic add so much flavor to chicken breasts and sous vide ensures they be extra moist. Make the chicken ahead and then grill or pan sear right before you plan to serve dinner. A great make ahead recipe for entertaining or meal planning!
Servings 4
Equipment
- immersion circulator
- freezer bags or sous vide bags
- vacuum sealer or handheld pump
- tub or 8qt. stockpot
Ingredients
For the Marinade Paste
- 1 head garlic
- 2 lemons
- 2 preserved lemons cut in half
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves removed from the stem, chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 TBSP preserved lemon juice from the jar
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper optional
For the Chicken
- 1 ½ lb boneless skinless chicken breasts about 4-5
- salt/pepper to season chicken breasts
Instructions
For the Marinade Paste
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Trim the top of the garlic clove but cutting with a knife across the top ⅛-¼ of the head exposing all the cloves.
- Place garlic head on a small piece of foil and place on an ovenproof small dish. Drizzle garlic with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Loosely bring up the sides of the foil around the side of the garlic leaving the top open.
- Roast garlic in the oven for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool and set aside.
- While garlic is cooking, zest both lemons and then juice one of them. *NOTE: if you're not using sous vide, juice BOTH lemons)
- Place/pour zest and juice into a small bowl.
- Squeeze head of garlic lightly to pop out the roasted cloves and add them to the lemon zest/juice bowl.
- Add herbs, salt, and crushed red pepper to the lemon mix and mashup completely with a fork creating a slightly smooth paste. Don't worry if there are any chunks of garlic. Just make sure you got all the papery skins out.
For the Chicken
- Place the chicken into a sous vide gallon size freezer bag or vacuum bag. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Spread the lemon garlic paste on top of the chicken along with the four preserved lemon halves.
- Remove as much air as possible from the bag either using a vacuum sealer, handheld pump or water displacement method. If the chicken will be frozen immediately, seal it up and freeze it for later. Just get as much air out as possible.
Sous Vide Method
- Fill large stockpot (I use an 8 qt wide pot) with water about 2/3 of the way up. Attach sous vide to side of pot securing it tightly. **TIME SAVER: use hot water to begin with!
- Set temperature to 146° and the time to 1 hour on the circulator according to manufacturer's instructions.
- Once the water has come to temperature, lower the vacuum-sealed bag into the water clipping the top to the side of the pot. You can also use the water displacement method mentioned above.
- When the circulator signifies cooking has ended after one hour, either allow the food to stay in the water bath for no longer than 4 hours (for chicken). Or remove and refrigerate until needed that day.
- Heat a skillet with a little olive oil on medium high and sear the chicken for about 2 minutes on each side until the internal temp reaches 165°.
Grill Method
- Heat a grill to medium heat.
- Add extra lemon juice (see above).
- Allow chicken to marinate in the lemon garlic paste for about 30 minutes to an hr in the refrigerator.
- Remove from marinade and discard the remaining marinade.
- Place chicken on grill over direct heat and cook for 8-12 minutes flipping once until meat is no longer pink and the internal temperature reaches 160°. Remove from grill and rest for approximately 5 minutes until the chicken reaches 165°.
Notes
- For extra-large chicken breasts: butterfly them (slice in half horizontally without going all the way through and then open like a book) and then slice in half down the middle lengthwise.
- Another option is to double the garlic paste mixture.
- For a reusable plastic bag alternative, try Stasher bags.
