Olive Garden Pollo Limone (Lemon Chicken)

Christina Chavez's Note:

This recipe originally came from the Olive Garden website but I have changed a few of the steps after trial and error in my home chicken. We have a thing for lemony chicken in my house and this is one of the favorites.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup finely chopped green onion
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• ½ cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (plus more to garnish)
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Pound chicken to 1/4 inch thickness.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil over high heat.
4. Lightly coat chicken with flour shaking off excess.
5. Cook in skillet until brown and nearly cooked through.
6. Remove chicken and reserve on the side.
7. Add 1/2 tsp oil to the skillet reducing heat to low.
8. Saute green onions and garlic until tender.
9. Deglaze the pan with broth and wine (scraping browned bits from pan).
10. Add lemon juice and parsley.
11. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat (3 min).
12. Add lemon peel and salt and pepper to taste.
13. Return chicken to skillet and coat with sauce.
14. Cover skillet for 5 minutes over medium-low heat turning chicken once.
15. Plate the chicken and top with sauce and parsley for garnish.

Reviews

[Paja]

This was very delicious. The sauce was very lemon-y which matched beautifully with the chicken breast. I thickened the sauce with corn starch after removing the breasts and the sauce was wonderful on rice. A really nice balance of flavours with the lemon, wine, and parsley! The key was browning the breasts and removing before quite cooked through and then finishing the cooking in the sauce, so that they were just barely cooked and therefore moist and flavourful!

[patticakes]

this wonderfully lemony chicken was so tender you could easily cut it with just a fork. i had six half breasts so i doubled the sauce. i put the extra sauce on our rice and fresh asparagus, too. it was fairly quick to cook, but it took me longer than 15 minutes to prep. getting the chix washed, trimmed and pounded took some time. i couldn't prep the sauce while the chix browned because browning went quickly and needed my attention. next time, i'll prep it all early in the day. we all really enjoyed this fresh dish!

[PamTB]

We really love this recipe. I've been making it for years; I'm not sure how I overlooked reviewing it! My kids--even the three-year-old--like it, and it's easy to adapt to make in advance, too. To make it in the crockpot, I don't dredge the chicken in flour (too soggy if you do) and add the fresh parsley at the end so it will retain a fresh color and flavor. I just brown the chicken--not cooking it all the way through-- and make the sauce up until the parsley, then put it in the crockpot on low for 4 hours. Nice for when you have company and don't want to be fussing much in the kitchen instead of visiting.