The Best Easy Baked Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts Recipe

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The Best Easy Baked Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts Recipe – tender, juicy chicken baked to perfection and bursting with garlic lemon flavor!

If you love lemon and garlic, this easy keto recipe is for you – it is packed with flavor and simple enough for any level home cook to make.

This super simple baked chicken is delicious, tender and juicy – loaded with garlic and lemon flavor right out of the pan.

You can add this chicken to wraps, tacos, salads, sandwiches, burritos, and more – or serve with roasted garlic potatoes, cauliflower rice, rice pilaf, cacio e pepe, or in a chicken and fruit salad!

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do.

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How To Bake Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts

Baking lemon garlic chicken breasts is incredibly easy – just marinate, season, and bake – but there are a couple tips and tricks we use to make sure our baked chicken breasts turn out tender and juicy every time.

Nobody wants dry, tough chicken breasts – so consider some of our following tips:

  • Marinate for at least 30 minutes before cooking
  • Lightly pound chicken breasts to keep them roughly the same thickness so they can cook evenly
  • Use a digital thermometer to gauge chicken doneness instead of going by time to prevent overcooking

How To Bake Chicken From Frozen

We recommend baking fully thawed chicken breasts for the best texture – but we’re adding the method to bake chicken breasts from frozen if you’re in a pinch and need dinner on the table.

This method is safe to use for chicken right from the freezer, with a few basic tips:

  • Plan on double the cook time if cooking from frozen
  • Space single chicken breasts out across the pan – do not try to bake a clump of chicken breasts frozen together
  • Use a digital thermometer and make sure the middle of the thickest part of the chicken breast cooks to at least 165 degrees
  • Cover in olive oil – you won’t marinate chicken if it is frozen – but still bake it in our marinade recipe below to help keep chicken juicy and from drying out
  • Flip chicken as it cooks to ensure it is cooking evenly

How To Bake Garlic Lemon Chicken Without Drying It Out

The two most important tips to baking perfect chicken are pretty simple – marinate first, and monitor cook time with a digital thermometer.

Marinating chicken helps to lock in juices, tenderize meat, and give a great flavor – we’re not only marinating, but baking our chicken in the marinade, for even more flavor!

Using a digital meat thermometer is essential for baked chicken to ensure you’ve reached a safe temperature, and to make sure you don’t overcook your chicken breasts.

Chicken is cooked at 165 degrees – which means removing from the oven at 160 degrees.

Chicken will carryover cook to 165 if you remove from the oven at 160.

Always let chicken rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting to help the juices recirculate and lock in.

Easy Garlic Lemon Chicken Breast Marinade

The base of our chicken’s flavor comes from the marinade we’re baking the chicken in – a simple chicken marinade is really easy to whip up.

For any marinade you make, aim for 1 oil (olive oil, avocado oil), 1 acid (lemon juice, vinegar), and herbs.

Dry herbs will work best – but you can use fresh if you’d like – add a bit more than dried.

  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 6-8 cloves garlic (without peel)
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder (you can use garlic salt, but omit salt below if you do)
  • 1 lemon, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon Italian Herbs
  • 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

How Long To Cook Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts

Chicken breasts will take about 25 minutes to cook at 350 degrees – 50 if baking from-frozen.

One tip to get extra juicy chicken is to cook it for less time at a higher temperature – around 22 minutes at 400 degrees.

  • 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees
  • 22-25 minutes at 400 degrees

As always, please go by your thermometer temperature, not your clock, to gauge when chicken is done cooking.

When is Chicken Breast Done Cooking

No matter how much time has elapsed, chicken is considered fully cooked and safe to eat at 165 degrees.

While our cook times are good for a guide to plan getting dinner on the table, please always go by temperature – not by time – when judging your chicken’s doneness.

What To Serve With Chicken Breasts

Lemony garlic chicken breasts go with just about everything – but these easy keto chicken breasts are great with air fried asaparagus, broccolini, farro salad, whole roasted cauliflower, and more!

To find the rest of our easy side dishes, please check out our side dish recipe index here.

Other Easy Chicken Recipes

If you love chicken, you’re in luck – we have lots of delicious chicken based dishes that are bursting with flavor!

You can find our other chicken recipes here.

Recipe FAQs

When Is Chicken Breast Done Cooking?

Chicken breasts are fully cooked and safe to eat at 165 degrees.
Baked chicken takes 20-30 minutes to bake.

Can I bake chicken breasts from frozen?

Chicken breasts can bake directly from freezer – double the cook time, make sure to still use marinade to bake in (though you’ll skip actually marinating), and spread out on a pan to help cook chicken evenly.

How Long Can Chicken Be Kept?

Chicken can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.

The Best Easy Baked Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts Recipe

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Baked chicken breasts with lemon slices.
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The Best Easy Baked Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts Recipe

The Best Easy Baked Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts Recipe – tender, juicy chicken baked to perfection and bursting with garlic lemon flavor!
Course chicken breasts
Cuisine American
Keyword baked chicken, chicken, chicken breast
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Marinating Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 380kcal
Author Courtney O’Dell

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken breasts rib meat and extra fat removed
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 6-8 cloves garlic with or without peel
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 lemon sliced into rounds
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon Italian Herbs
  • 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • Add ingredients to a bowl or plastic bag, covering chicken in marinade.
  • Let sit at least 30 minutes, up to overnight (skip marinating if using frozen chicken breasts.)
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (Also can bake at 350, for 5-8 minutes longer)
  • Add chicken and part of marinade to baking dish that has been lightly greased with a nonstick cooking spray, or lined with foil.
  • Bake, flipping occasionally, until chicken reaches 160 degrees at the thickest part when using a digital meat thermometer.
  • Remove chicken from oven and lest rest 10 minutes before cutting.
  • Discard marinade/cooking liquid.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 137mg | Sodium: 651mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g

About Courtney

Courtney loves to share great wine, good food, and loves to explore far flung places- all while masting an everyday elegant and easy style at lifestyle blog Sweet C’s Designs. Sweet C's devoted to finding the best food and drinks you'll want to make or find, around the world!

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