Baked Lemon Chicken With Chinese Lemon Sauce

Submitted by Chef Dine

"An instant hit! 1/2 the fat of the chinese restaurant versions. This comes from Betty Crocker's Best Chicken Recipes. You won't have any leftovers!"

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 4 large boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 egg white
• 4.92 ml water
• 59.14 ml all-purpose flour
• 4.92 ml baking soda
• 0 cayenne pepper (1/2 tsp if you like spicier)
• cooking spray
• 1 lemon, cut into thin slices
• 1 green onion, chopped (about 1 Tbls)

• Chinese Lemon Sauce

• 59.14 ml sugar
• 78.78 ml chicken broth
• 4.92 ml grated lemon peel
• 44.37 ml lemon juice
• 29.58 ml light corn syrup
• 29.58 ml rice vinegar
• 1.23 ml salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 9.85 ml cornstarch
• 4.92 ml cold water

directions

1. Cut each chicken breast half lengthwise. Mix egg white and water in a medium glass or plastic bowl. Add chicken; turn to coat both sides and let stand 10 minutes.
2. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Spray nonstick cookie sheet with cooking spray. Remove chicken from egg mixture; discard egg mixture. Mix flour, baking soda and red pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Add 1 chicken piece at a time. Seal bag; shake to coat chicken. Place chicken on cookie sheet; spray with cooking spray about 5 seconds or until surface of chicken appears moist.
3. Bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. While chicken is baking, prepare Chinese Lemon Sauce. Let chicken stand 5 minutes;slice each piece into 5 slices. Pour sacue over chicken. Garnish with lemon slices and green onion.
4. Chinese Lemon Sauce: Heat all ingredients except cornstarch and cold water to boiling in 1-quart suacepan, stirring occasionally. Mix cornstarch and cold water; stir into sauce. Cook and stir about 30 seconds or until thickened. Serve warm, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 weeks.
5. This meal is excellent with steamed broccoli.

Reviews

[Klc1Foodie]

Tried this recipe for the first time tonight. Easy to make, better than at our local good Chinese food restaurant, and liked by 2 of my 3 kids which is pretty good! I doubled the flour portion of the recipe just to make it easier to coat. Sauce was excellent and found it to be enough.

 

[TexasKelly]

My husband and I thought this dish was excellent. I followed the directions exactly, only I added a little salt & pepper to the flour mixture, and instead of chicken broth, I used white wine, because I was too lazy to prepare the bullion cube for the chicken broth needed. The flavor was delicious. I couldn't beleive I actually had all the ingredients needed, and I am so glad I did. This will become a staple meal in our house! Thanks for posting!

 

[Jonathan Melendez]

This chicken was amazing! I couldn't stop eating it. It's like orange chicken but with lemon instead and I can't wait to make it again. Rave reviews over here!

 

[lolablitz]

I'm so glad I tried this! Excellent and I'm so glad I know this technique for baking "Fried" Chinese chicken pieces. I used three large breasts and cut them into smaller strips, then I used 2 eggs and doubled the flour and used 1.5 tsp baking soda to compensate. I put them on sprayed tinfoil on the pan and only sprayed them briefly. Swapped honey for corn syrup and would do it again. I started rice when the chicken was sitting in the egg bath and everything was ready after 15 minutes in the oven. I think you could easily make this orange chicken by using an orange in place of the lemon/zest and adding toasted sesame seeds. Thanks so much for posting this, love the technique!

 

[Cathy-O]

Least expected this to turn out well.. but decided to try it anyway as my son loves lemon chicken from the chinese restaurants. As he watched excitedly, my DH came in saying the house smelled exactly like a chinese restaurant. I was glad but kept telling them not to build up their hopes as it was baked and not fried the way it should be. Weren't we pleasantly surprised when we tasted it - it was perfect! I increased the flour to 1/2 cup but the baking soda down to 1/2 tsp, next time I will add more chillie pdr. Didn't even notice that there was garlic in the recipe till i read someone's review. Didn't have corn syrup so i skipped it although I had planned to use honey. Will remember to use it next time. I was disappointed that there was very little sauce so will double the amount next time. Thanks for teaching me how to make the baked battered chicken nuggets in the oven. I am going to try making szechuan chicken and then honey garlic chicken, then manchurian chicken using your baked method. Thank you for sharing that amazing low fat tip, although i generously greased the baking sheet with oil.