Chicken with Fresh Herb Sauce
Chicken with Fresh Herb Sauce
This easy, delicious chicken is a new favorite at our house. The "everything but the kitchen sink" green sauce is fun to make and takes ordinary baked chicken to a new level.
(This recipe was inspired by a recipe from The Kitchn)
Ingredients
The Chicken
- 1 4 to 5 pound chicken cut into pieces
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
The Fresh Herb Sauce
- 1 bunch cilantro about 1 cup
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves or herbs of choice
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 1 large lemon
- 1/2 cup white wine optional
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
The Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
- Place the chicken pieces on a sheet pan.
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Drying it will result in a lovely, crisp chicken
- brush the chicken with olive oil
- Sprinkle the chicken with the 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Bake the chicken for until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees (about 30 minutes)
The Fresh Herb Sauce
- Zest the lemon
- Place the cilantro, basil, garlic, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, the juice of the lemon, olive oil, white wine (if using) along with a pinch of salt & pepper in a blender.
- Blend the sauce until all the ingredients are incorporated. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
- Have fun with this one. Feel free to use your favorite herbs, add more heat, wine, garlic etc.. to make this sauce your own. Here's a great shot of my friend Fred and neighbor Laura creating their version
- Once the chicken has finished baking remove it to a platter. Spread the Fresh Herb Sauce on the hot sheet pan and place the chicken on top. The Herb Sauce will mix with the pan juices to create a rich, flavorful sauce. Let the chicken rest for 10=15 minutes.
- Place the chicken on a platter and spoon the sauce all over
- Serve with your favorite salad, vegetables and bread or rolls and a crisp white wine and/or your favorite sparkling water and enjoy!
I just made this tonight. It was a hit — four thumbs up! I needed to enlarge the recipe some, so I added some parsley to the cilantro and basil. It came out fine. Definitely will be making this again, especially once I can buy local herbs.