Name: Herbes de Provence Baked Chicken, Lemon Style
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 bone-in skin-on chicken quarters (or a combination of thighs and drumsticks); 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour; fine salt (to taste); freshly ground black pepper (to taste); 2 tablespoons olive oil; 3 tablespoons butter; 1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence; 1 whole lemon (halved); 2 medium shallots (peeled and halved lengthwise); 1/4 cup dry white wine; 2 tablespoons fat drippings from pan; 1 cup pan juices; 1 cup chicken broth; juice from the roasted lemons; Herbes de Provence (to taste)

This Lemon Herbes de Provence Baked Chicken is classy and elegant while being straightforward at the same time. Serve with mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables.

Nothing and I mean NOTHING beats the smell of chicken baking in the oven.

I could curl up with a blanket of that scent and take a nap FOR DAYS!!!

And it’s also no secret that Sunday’s are my go-to day of the week. The girls do their chores, I catch up on laundry and Pat watches football. Sounds pretty boring, but I live for boring.

I always make a Sunday breakfast and then a family dinner. It’s sort of a tradition I started because I use to work weekends and then on the weekends I was off, it was important to me that we have one day where we turn on Pandora and the girls or Pat can help me make breakfast, set the table and enjoy each other’s company. I of course don’t mind all the cooking {the dishes are a different matter} but Worth keeping sitting at the table with everyone at the table before the busy week begins. And who knows… maybe my girls will pass on this tradition to their families.

But of course that’s never going to happen because they aren’t allowed to grow up. Ever.

For this method you’ll need a dry white wine, lemon, shallots, butter, olive oil, Herbes de Provence, s & p, flour and chicken. I’m using bone-in, skin-on chicken quarters, but you could use chicken breasts, thighs and drumsticks or a combination of all three, simply as long as there’s a bone and the skin is still left on, that’s where most of the flavor is.

This Lemon Herbes de Provence Baked Chicken recipe is pretty flexible and I like flexible.

I add in three tablespoons of butter and drizzle in a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a stainless steel pan. This is a lasagna pan… but I use it mostly for baking chicken. Now I pop the pan into the oven while it’s preheating to 375 degrees. This will get that butter melted and the pan hot.

Meanwhile; in a bag or gallon size resealable bag add a cup of flour and a couple pinches of black pepper.

Drop in a couple of chicken pieces at a time.

Give it a good shake.

Give the chicken pieces a good shake to get any excess flour off.

Voila!

Arrange the chicken pieces into the pan. Carefully because that pan is hot.

Cut a lemon in half and only drop it in.

Peel and halve a couple, 2-3 shallots and drop those in too.

Herbes or herbs depending how you feel about it, is a mixture of dried herbs like basil, savory, fennel, thyme. And from what I’ve read; for the American market…

…lavender is added. Yeah… I thought that was what put the “Provence” in the “Herbes de”… but apparently it’s not. Either way it’s purple, pretty and rocks it out with the lemon.

Sprinkle a few pinches per chicken quarter with Herbes de Provence, kosher salt and a little more black pepper.

Pour in the quarter cup of white wine. I.e. Pinot Grigio.

After the first twenty are up, carefully remove the chicken from the oven, tip the pan and use a spoon to scoop up the wine infuse drippings and spoon it over top of the chicken. Return the pan to the oven for twenty more minutes.

Repeat this step a second time before sliding the chicken in for its last twenty minutes in the oven. {total of 60 minutes}

I must take a moment and explain how utterly memorable the scent is that wafts from the oven while this is baking. Throughout the basting I’d walk over to Pat and say “ohhhhh only smell that… go on S-M-E-L-L it!”… I’m so lucky he loves me.

In my oven I have to start with the pan on the lower third of my oven and then move it to the upper third to brown and crisp the skin. I have the world tiniest oven… and you may not have to do this. Unless you’re in the same tiny oven boat as me:).

I was running out of sunlight to show you how to do the pan sauce gravy but I’ve included the recipe below. It’s pretty simple and so savory!

The skin crisps, the lemon herbes de provence baked chicken is moist and the gravy adds so much flavor from the roasted lemon and Herbes de Provence. It was the reliable comforting meal for a Sunday… or any night for that matter.

Ps. Crispy skin, Worth keeping you.