Italian Dressing Chicken Breasts

Why This Recipe Works

We wanted a version of Italian dressing–marinated chicken without highly processed, store-bought marinades or bottled dressings. For a lively and fresh spin on an old favorite, we started by marinating bone-in chicken breasts (which are less expensive and more flavorful than boneless chicken breasts). We whisked together a mixture of extra-virgin olive oil, grated Parmesan (which added savory flavor and helped boost browning), minced fresh garlic, lemon zest, a little sugar for balance, salt and pepper, pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning and marinated the chicken for at least an hour (or up to one day) to allow the marinade to permeate the meat. To achieve crispy, brown skin, we rendered out some of the fat in the chicken skin, starting in a cold nonstick skillet, before roasting the chicken in the oven. Before slicing the cooked chicken, we let the breasts rest for 10 minutes to let the meat relax (it contracts during cooking), which helped it better hold on to its juices when sliced. Adding lemon juice and minced fresh parsley to the pan drippings created a flavorful sauce that we could pour over the sliced chicken breasts.