Marion’s Best Lemon Chicken recipe | Marion's Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

What does adding lemon juice to chicken do? ›

Tender Juicy Chicken: The acidic lemon juice helps break down muscle fibers, making the chicken more tender. The oil and other ingredients help lock in moisture, guaranteeing juicy, flavorful chicken. Flavorful: Lemon and garlic are a classic combo, while mustard adds tang, and red pepper flakes add a subtle kick.

Dredge the chicken in whisked eggs and cornstarch/flour mixture until nice and coated. To make your homemade lemon sauce, place freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and red chili flakes in a small pot and cook over medium-high heat. Add cornstarch and water and cook until thickened.

The sauce has garlic, thyme and lemon, and has so much flavor," Garten says. "And the whole thing takes like 5 minutes to put together... The best thing about this is that it makes the chicken and the sauce at the same time." Serve it over rice or quinoa, and the grains can absorb all of the sauce, Garten recommends.

Lemon Chicken

This is entry level Chinese food at it's finest, mostly because it's not really Chinese food. You can find variations of this dish across Chinese restaurants in North America, Australia and the UK, but just about the only place you'll find it in China is in Hong Kong, because—as I said above—white people.

Important: If your marinade is full of fresh citrus or vinegar, like the one in this chicken skewers recipe, keep the marinating time below an hour for optimal results. Poultry marinated in citrus, like lemon or lime juices, or vinegars can turn mushy and stringy if left to soak for too long.

At Least 30 Minutes Before Cooking: Marinate the Chicken

Zest and juice one lemon into a large bowl. Add ¼ cup olive oil, 5 crushed or minced garlic cloves (use minced for a stronger flavor), 1 ½ teaspoons of Italian seasoning, and ¼ cup of chopped parsley.

Velveting meat is a Chinese cooking technique used in Chinese restaurants. The process of velveting is one where you marinate raw meat in cornstarch and egg white or bicarbonate of soda to give it a soft, slippery, velvety texture.

Nothing says “Shanghai” like scallions. But this iconic seasoning recipe is more than raw scallions, as the green and white parts are slowly toasted in oil.

Lemon. Herbs and Spices: Pairs really well with lemongrass, cardamom, thyme, basil, cilantro, ginger, coriander, nutmeg, and tarragon. Foods: Pairs really well with other citrus flavours, carrot, cranberry, seafood, and bacon.

Like pickling, smoking, and curing, the practice of rinsing chicken with lemon juice probably started out as a way to neutralize any off-aromas in the meat and cut down on bacteria.

Why is chicken from Chinese restaurants so tender? ›

In Chinese cooking, proteins like beef, pork or chicken are velveted first before stir-frying them. There are several ways to velvet, but at its most basic level, it involves marinating meat with at least one ingredient that will make it alkaline. This is what tenderizes the meat, especially cheaper, tougher cuts.

If the menu states chicken, then the kitchen is using chicken. Now, it may not be boneless, skinless, all white breast meat. But it will be some part of the chicken. Chinese cooks prefer to use dark meat because it has more flavor and doesn't dry out.

If that's the question, it's from a technique called velveting. They coat the chicken in a mixture of corn starch, egg white and seasonings.

Place chicken in a bowl; pour 1/2 of the lemon juice over chicken and season with salt. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Place chicken into hot oil. Add remaining lemon juice and oregano; season with black pepper.

How lemon juice tenderises the meat. An acid-containing marinade not only helps to flavour meat; it also helps to tenderise it. Acid causes The protein and connective tissue in meat are broken down by acid. At a molecular level, meat proteins have a spiral shape.

Over time the acids in the lemon juice can start to “cook” the chicken before it even hits the grill or the heat source, turning it white and affecting its texture. If a protein spend too long marinating in lemon juice, the texture can start to break down and become mushy.