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Lemon and Garlic Chicken With Cherry Tomatoes
Updated July 15, 2024
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- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 40 minutes, plus 15 minutes' marinating
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3tablespoons lemon juice
- 2garlic cloves, minced or puréed
- 1teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 2boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ¼cup dry white wine
- 2heaped cups cherry tomatoes, about ¾ pound
- Pinch of sugar
- 2tablespoons all-purpose flour or a gluten- free flour such as rice flour or corn flour
- 2tablespoons grapeseed, sunflower or canola oil
- 1tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
- ¼cup grated Parmesan (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Stir together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Cut each chicken breast into 2 equal pieces (3 if they weigh 12 ounces or more) and place in the bowl. Stir together and refrigerate 15 to 30 minutes.
- Step 2
Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. (Discard marinade.) Place two sheets of plastic wrap (1 large sheet if you have extra-wide wrap) on your work surface, overlapping slightly, to make 1 wide sheet, and brush lightly with olive oil. Place a piece of chicken in the middle of plastic sheet and brush lightly with oil. Cover the chicken with another wide layer of plastic wrap. Working from the center to the outside, pound chicken breast with the flat side of a meat tenderizer or rolling pin until about ¼ inch thick. (Don’t pound too hard or you’ll tear the meat. If that happens, it won’t be the end of the world, you’ll just have a few pieces to cook.) Repeat with the remaining chicken breast pieces.
- Step 3
Season the pounded chicken breasts with salt and pepper on one side only. Dredge lightly in the flour on all sides (you will not use all of it) and tap the breasts to remove excess.
- Step 4
Turn oven on low. Heat a wide, heavy skillet over high and add oil. When oil is hot, place one or two pieces of chicken in the pan, however many will fit without crowding. Cook for 1½ minutes, until bottom is browned in spots. Turn over and brown other side, about 1½ minutes. (Do not overcook or chicken will be dry.) Transfer to a platter or sheet pan and keep warm in the oven. If there is more than a tablespoon of fat in the pan, pour some off into a jar or bowl.
- Step 5
Turn heat on burner down to medium-high. Add wine to pan and stir with a wooden spoon to deglaze. Add cherry tomatoes and cook, stirring often or tossing in the pan, until they begin to shrivel and burst. Add sugar and salt and pepper to taste and continue to cook, tossing the tomatoes in the pan and stirring often, for 5 to 10 minutes, until tomatoes have collapsed but are still intact. Top chicken breasts with the tomatoes, sprinkle with parsley and with Parmesan if using, and serve.
- Advance preparation: The chicken breasts can be pounded several hours ahead – but don’t marinate them until shortly before cooking – and kept between pieces of plastic in the refrigerator.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Delicious. Parchment paper works as well as plastic wrap for pounding chicken breasts and doesn't add plastic to the waste stream and our oceans.
I will never make basic fried chicken again. And that's saying a lot since I'm a black woman from the South.
Made this twice. First time I pounded with a cast iron skillet and got it quite thin, prob 1/4” as instructed. Cooked in the time specified and it was crisp and delicious, almost a different beast from chicken breast. Second time I used a rolling pin and ended up with 1/2” thick pieces, which cooked much more slowly. The result was more like pretty good chicken breast, but not nearly as good as the first time. So: pound thin!
I added pre-cooked, al dente rigatoni to the tomatoes while they cooked. This resulted in a bed of pasta upon which the chicken cutlets could be served. The rigatoni absorbed the tomato juices as well as the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Fantastic.
Made this with boneless, skinless chicken thighs...so didn't have to pound the chicken and it was delicious and moist! Also eliminated the sugar from the recipe....when I see sugar and tomatoes in the same recipe - my Southern Italian heritage creeps through and I disregard the sugar. This was easy, delicious and the people I had over for dinner asked for and received the recipe!
I had doubts about this recipe and procedures, and yet it turned out incredible. A few notes that helped me: - it doesn’t make any sense to refrigerate the chicken as it marinated, if it’s only for 30 minutes. It’s easier to pan fry if the meat is not cold. - I needed closer to a half (or more!) cup of white wine, and a drizzle of olive oil for the tomatoes. The sauce was definitely great as-is, but I’ll try out using capers and a squeeze of lemon or some garlic next time.
Am I the only one who found 1.5 minute/side a grossly inadequate amount of time to cook the chicken? I had to cook for at least 4 min/side!
It was a great recipe, the sauce turned out thick. The only difference I'd do is add rosemary and garlic while cooking the tomatoes. As well as maybe adding basil and thyme. Other than that I'd add a little chicken stock or more wine to deglaze the pan. I found that using a 12inch skillet helps thicken the sauce since it has more surface area.
Easy and tasty. I didn't pound either, just sliced one breast in half. It was tender and juicy. Will add to the rotation. Might throw in some preserved lemon next time.
Tasty but doesn't make nearly enough sauce. Ended up using much more oil and wine to get some real "sauce" to pour over the chicken. Suggested capers made the sauce way too tart so added chicken broth to cut the acidity - would not use capers again. Next time will cut tomatoes in half before heating to get more flavor - after 10 min of cooking they were still in tact and not blistering enough. Cooking time is also much longer than stated. And why not cook the chick in the left over marinade?
To all you folks who don't want to bother pounding the chicken breasts, there is another way:
Skip the step to cut each breast in half. Lay the marinated breast flat on a cutting board, and using a sharp knife slice horizontally through the breast while holding it in place with your hand lying on top of it. You may also separate the "tenderloin" and remove the tendon that runs through it. This doesn't tenderize the meat like pounding but I've never found that necessary.
Loved this recipe...I would have added capers just to add a little salty taste. Also you could cut up chicken to bite size and mix with linguine, just increase amount of sauce you use with tomatoes
I was left a bit confused with this recipe. Several people mentioned that they were left with a thick cherry tomato sauce, however, my cherry tomatoes barely collapsed and were a bit more like the ones in the picture. How did the rest of you do it and do you recommend smashing the tomatoes and/or adding anything else?
Very good and easy. However it did take longer for chicken to cook and tomatoes to break down. I added more white wine to the tomatoes which made for more sauce. I served everything over 2 oz of spaghetti with a dusting of Parmesan. Awesome flavor! A keeper recipe.
My grandmother used to make something like this -- she was from Naples. Not only was it easy, but it is great for serving a crowd. All the work can be done ahead of time, then the chicken fried at the last minute as guest entertainment.
Can also cut in half to make it thinner instead of rolling it.
This dish was definitely worth the effort! Chicken came out juicy & tender. We were sick of rice & pasta so i grilled thin slices of sour dough and let some parm melt on top. I served the chicken with the tomatoes & sauce over the cheesy sour dough slices. So good!
This was yummy. Took some others’ advice and added the marinade in when cooking the tomatoes. Also added some capers and chicken stock to mellow out and increase the sauce. Also used chicken thighs instead of breasts. Will be making this again.
Best and easiest chicken dish I have ever made!
The bags used in boxes of cereal and some crackers are the ticket for pounding flat the breasts. Darn near indestructible but then just toss them as they’ve had their second life.
I used chicken tenderloins, NOT TENDERS, so I didn’t have to pound the chicken breast pieces flat. Otherwise made as written. I think the tomatoes needed a little more acid, white wine, and garlic to perk up the sauce. Very nice and quick!
Used 1/4 C chicken broth and 1/8 C lemon juice instead of wine to deglaze. Was very good. But it took a long time. There were a lot of steps and a bit messy because of having to slice the chicken and pound it, too.
oww, this was great! I didn't have white wine so I used chicken broth, but I found the amount of liquid needed was a lot more than 1/4 cup. Maybe white wine doesn't evaporate as fast? I'll have to do the recipe again, actually, it's going into my favorites in my recipe box.
skip the sugar! Fresh cherry tomatoes have all the sweetness you need. Deglazing with broth sauces the cooked tomatoes.
I doubled everything as I wanted to take half to a sick friend. After reading the notes: —cut the breasts horizontally after marinating then floured them —used a full cup of liquid (mixture of broth and a little apple cider vinegar) —put everything in a large Pyrex and baked 25-30 mins on 425 —broiled the top at the end just to burst the tomatoes and get a nice browning. Outstanding! And I just think easier overall this way.
Add the sugar. I used sweet cherry tomatoes so I assumed there would be enough sugar. Nope, still too tart. I'm not sure if I agree with the strategy to deliver garlic and rosemary flavors through the marinade. Next time I will add the garlic and rosemary into the cherry tomatoes, and finally the lemon at the end.
This recipe triggered my smoke alarm and scared my cats. I opted to use the Parmesan, and served the chicken over Chickpea Rotini—delicious!
I made this last night, and it was indeed, quite yummy. However, as other cooks have noted, it made almost no sauce - I tossed it a little chicken broth at the end because the tomatoes were basically dry. I was also do as other cooks suggested - use thin sliced chicken breasts or cut the breasts horizontally, pound before marinating (it was a bit messy), and perhaps cut the tomatoes in half - mine never collapsed and I cooked them longer than the 10 minutes.
Caution: make sure to turn down the heat before deglazing the pan with the white wine. Otherwise, all of the wine will cook off and there’ll be little sauce when toss in the tomatoes. I made this mistake, and I ended up having to add a bit of additional wine and water to keep the pan from burning after I added the tomatoes. Otherwise, a delicious dish.
Added 3 T of additional lemon juice plus zest and then, sautéed shallots with tomatoes. Good additions.
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