Learn how to make this simple, lightly bread, lemon chicken dish from ingredients you probably already have. Follow along with this recipe from Robert Irvine, that appeared on his Food Network Show, Restaurant Impossible.
Last Thursday, I was planning on what to make for dinner, when it dawned on me I had on hand the ingredients I needed to make a recipe a Restaurant Impossible episode that just aired the previous night.
So I thought that would be something great to review for the site.
In this episode Robert Irvine was helping out a restaurant called Anna Marie's. They made a chicken francese, but Robert felt the chef needed some help with his technique.
Jump to:
? What is Chicken Francese?
This chicken dish is basically a chicken breast coated in flour, then pan fried, with a sauce on top. The sauce is made of chicken stock, butter, and some lemon juice. The dish originated as a veal dish, but also works really well with chicken.
??? Gluten Free Alternative
If you wanted to do this recipe gluten free simply replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten free version. Need a recommendation? Try Jessica's, it's my favorite. I have not tried it myself but you could test it out with corn starch as well.
? Ingredients
Here is what you will need to make this dish.
- chicken breasts
- cooking oil
- eggs
- all-purpose flour
- kosher salt
- pepper
- chicken stock
- butter
- lemons
- parsley
??? Gluten Free Alternative
If you wanted to do this recipe gluten free simply replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten free version. Need a recommendation? Try Jessica's, it's my favorite. I have not tried it myself but you could test it out with corn starch as well.
?? How to Make
Here are my notes from making this recipe
1. The key thing to do for this recipe is to get a nice, crispy breading on the outside. So you need to make sure your pan is plenty hot before adding the chicken. This is what the chef of Anna Marie's was failing to do, so he was ending up with a soggy coating. No one liked soggy coatings!
2. I had pretty thick chicken breasts. I used a meat pounder to flatten them out some. It still took me longer to cook mine than the 3-4 minutes per side, Robert said. More like 4-5 minutes per side.
3. Making the sauce is pretty easy. It gets a lot of great flavor from deglazing the bottom of the pan. Deglazing is a key to make an outstanding sauce. The bits that stick to the bottom of the pan are full of flavor, and you can use a liquid (chicken stock) to free those bites. So make sure you get every little bit you can off the bottom of the pan.
4. Speaking of the pan, choosing the correct pan is very important. If you use non-stick those bites will never form on the bottom of the pan. So you need a a good stainless saute pan.
5. I also wanted to point out that Robert likes uses grape seed oil. I didn't have any, so I just went with canola oil. The point is to choose a neutral tasting oil that won't burn easily.
6. Robert recommend topping the chicken with parsley - a great choice. But you can use whatever herb you like. Thyme is a really good choice, which is what I used in the photos. Rosemary or basil would be tasty too. Go with fresh herbs over dried.
This chicken was delicious. It was moist, and juicy and the sauce brought it to a whole another level.
? More Chicken Recipes
- Clementine Chicken
- Sous Vide Chicken with Creamy Pepper Flake Sauce
- Chicken with Snow Peas
- Roasted Chicken Drumsticks with Kale, Dill, and Potatoes
Robert Irvine's Chicken Francese
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded thin
- 2 ounces cooking oil
- 4 eggs beaten
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 stick butter
- 2 lemons juiced
- 1 tsp parsley minced
Instructions
- Pound the chicken breast out thin without tearing it.
- Add salt and pepper to ¼ cup of flour and place into a large rectangular dish.
- In another dish, scramble 4 eggs. Add the chicken in. Turn to coat.
- Heat up a frying pan over medium heat with the 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Once the pan is hot, take the chicken out of the egg and into the flour mixture. Coat both sides, then straight into the pan. You can work in batches if needed if your pan isn't big enough for all the chicken.
- Cook the chicken for 3-5 minutes until it has browned on one side and then flip and repeat for the other side.
- Remove the chicken to a plate. Add in the chicken stock. Using a firm spatula scrape all the brown bites off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and reduce by three-quarters.
- Once that is done, remove from the heat, and whisk in the butter and lemon juice.
- Serve over top the chicken along with the chopped fresh parsley.
Notes
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