Sheryl Crow’s recipe for roasted chicken breasts

I’m usually not one to check out celebrity cookbooks, but I ran across this recipe in an  issue of Prevention magazine on a week when chicken breasts happened to be on sale. Apparently this is a favorite from Sheryl Crow’s recent cookbook, If It Makes You Healthy (and I thought I was a fan of questionable puns). The recipe was easy, tasty, and made enough for two meals. (On day #2 I used the extra meat to make tacos, quesadillas, or burritos.)

Idea to make this even simpler:

I’ll buy enough ingredients to make this recipe 2 or 3 times. Place the meat in the marinade in plastic bags or containers then freeze until you’re ready to use. That way, as the chicken thaws, it’s marinating too.

Recipe

Prep time: 20 minutes + baking

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

1/3 cup olive oil (I use half flavored oil, like basil, half regular)

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (the juice of about 1 lemon; go ahead and toss the whole lemon in the bag once you’re done juicing it)

3 cloves garlic (or ½ teaspoon garlic powder)

1 teaspoon dried basil or Italian seasoning

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Olive oil

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients except the chicken. Stir.
2. Add the chicken to a large, heavy-duty plastic bag and then pour in the marinade ingredients.
3. Marinate at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
5. Add ½ tablespoon olive oil to a nonstick skillet and bring to medium-high temperature.
6. Remove the chicken from the marinade and put it in the hot pan, skin side down. Heat for about three minutes or until the skin is browned.
7. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray.
8. Cook for about 20 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer measures the chicken at 155 degrees. (The chicken meat should reach 160 after it’s out of the oven.)
9. Allow the chicken to sit for five minutes before serving.