This delicious, one pot Italian Lemon Chicken with Zucchini and Mushrooms evokes the flavors of the Amalfi Coast and will make you wish you could head to Italy! Affiliate links were used in this post to link to items I am discussing.
Have I mentioned I am counting the seconds until I have some light at dinner time again? Seconds. The better I get at this photography business the more I hate trying to deal with photographing food in the dark. Because I see the problems more clearly.
Sigh.
But do not let it stop you from trying this absolutely fantastic dish.
It started with the Lemon Chicken dish in Kate Caldesi’s Wild Rosemary and Lemon Cake: A Collection of Italian Recipes from the Amalfi Coast
, but as most of you probably know by now, I take any opportunity to make something a one pot dish (by adding veggies), thereby reducing my work, and I have yet to find the dish that is not improved by mushrooms. I am happy to say I was right, and this dish had us all licking our plates. My mom remarked several times that although she is not the world’s biggest fan of chicken, the dish was delicious. My often citrus disdaining husband pronounced it addictive. My children were too busy eating to say much.
This dish was a complete winner. And taking the time to flour and brown the chicken is the most complicated (by which I mean trying for someone as impatient as I am) part of it. Deceptively simple and relatively quick (aside from said browning), this is worthy of being served to company–but so good you should not wait for that occasion. Traditionally, the lemon chicken is served with potatoes I think (according to the cookbook), but I chose to serve with crusty bread.
- 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces (I prefer thighs, but my husband likes breasts so I did both)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper for chicken
- around 1/2 cup AP flour
- 2-3 T extra virgin olive oil
- 4-6 cloves garlic, smashed
- 6 sprigs of rosemary
- 1 lb sliced crimini mushrooms
- 4 small zucchini, sliced into thin rounds
- 1 cup white wine (I used a Pino Grigio, divided)
- 1/4 cup water
- juice of one lemon--and reserve the lemon itself
- 3 T unsalted butter
- 1 lemon thinly sliced
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Pat the chicken dry and season on both sides with salt and black pepper. Place a wide, shallow bowl with the flour in it by the cook top. Heat a large skillet (I used a 14 inch) over medium heat. Add the olive oil. When it starts to shimmer, start dragging each piece of chicken in the flour and then knocking the excess off. Place in the skillet. Do not over crowd the pan, you will probably have to do this in batches.
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Make sure the chicken is browned on both sides--this will take a good 10 minutes or more per batch. After each piece is browned, just place it in a bowl or on a plate.
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When all the chicken has been browned, add the mushrooms with a pinch of salt to the pan. Also add the garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs. If the pan is too dry, add a small splash of olive oil as well.
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Brown the mushrooms, stirring occasionally. When they have released their liquids and are starting to darken, add the zucchini with another pinch of salt.
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Once again stir occasionally. If any of the zucchini or mushrooms starts to stick or scorch, add a splash of the wine.
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When the zucchini has released some of its water, add half of the wine and scrape up the bottom of the pan. All those lovely browned bits will become serious flavor in the sauce.
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When all of the wine has cooked off, add the chicken back into the pan as well as the rest of the wine and bring it to a brisk simmer. Let simmer for 3-4 minutes.
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Stir and add the lemon juice, water and butter. Add the seeded and juiced lemon halves to the pan as well.
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Bring to a simmer. Let simmer until the chicken is cooked through.
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Scatter the dish with lemon slices before serving.
A good hearty comfort food meal! Love that you one-potted it. Makes it so much easier!
I love one pot meals, and this looks delicious. This might be one of our weeknight dinners.
This looks amazing! The crust on that chicken….wow! And I have to say, I’m totally with you, chicken thighs are where it is at. I think this dish would be a total success at our house. Maybe a little buttered pasta on the side and we’ll be good to go!
What a great one pot meal – and yes – it makes me wish we were visiting Italy again!
I love that light, golden crust on the chicken – it looks so good! I’ve been trying to find more one-pot meals to make for dinner to keep life simple. I’m going to add this one to my list.
I couldn’t agree more about mushrooms making everything better! I love them. I saute mushrooms and zucchini together regularly, but I never thought to add chicken to it! Winner!! I will definitely give this a try.
I love mushrooms and the sight of it in this Chicken with Zucchini and Mushrooms dish is just amazing.
The meal is just spot on and it looks so colourful and delicious.
This was heavenly
I’ll have to try this with gf flour. The recipe looks great.
Testing my reply feature. 🙂 And you should–it was awesome! 😀
I LOVE lemon chicken. My grandmother used to make this a lot. Thanks for the recommendation of the cookbook, too! While I haven’t been to the Amalfi Coast, it is definitely on my list of places to visit for that ‘someday’ Italy trip.