Baked Lemon Pepper Chicken (with Garlic Butter)

Close up baked lemon pepper chicken leg quarters topped with a melted garlic butter with parsley on a serving platter.

Baked Lemon Pepper Chicken (with Garlic Butter)

The juiciest, tender baked lemon pepper chicken with a decadent garlic butter slathered on top. Simple weeknight dinner with insane flavor.

Prep Time10

Cook Time55

Total Time1 5

Course: dinner

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 556kcal

Author: Morgan Peaceman

Equipment

1 sheet pan

Ingredients

4 Chicken Leg Quarters pat dried
4 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoon lemon pepper seasoning

Garlic Butter topping:

4 tablespoon butter
3 cloves garlic minced
3 sprigs parsley finely chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Pat dry the chicken and throw into a large mixing bowl.
Coat the chicken with a generous amount of olive oil, then add in the lemon zest, cracked black pepper, garlic powder, onion salt. Toss to combine and place on the baking sheet.
Top each piece of chicken with a slice of lemon, then bake for 55 minutes.
10 minutes before the chicken finishes cooking, melt the butter, then add in the garlic and parsley. Stir to combine.
Once the chicken comes out of the oven, drizzle the garlic butter atop the chicken, then serve.

Notes

Pat dry your chicken as best as you can so that the olive oil and seasoning stick really well to the chicken. DO NOT RINSE THE CHICKEN.

A tip that I've begun to follow pretty religiously in my cooking is trimming some of the skin off of the chicken. I do this because I don't typically love chicken skin, and less of it gives more surface area for the chicken to absorb the oil and seasoning.

Bring the chicken leg quarters to room temperature before marinading and/or baking. In my experience, I find that this really does make a difference with the flavor and overall juiciness of the chicken.

Nutrition