Ina Garten’s crispy chicken with lemon orzo brings together two culinary traditions in one skillet-to-oven recipe: the Italian technique of cooking chicken breasts in butter, known as al burro, finished with a Greek-inflected side of orzo, feta and dill. The dish appears in Goodreads-listed Modern Comfort Food, published by Clarkson Potter on 1 September 2020, and it illustrates the cross-cultural approach that runs through the collection.
The Method Behind Ina Garten Crispy Chicken
The recipe is built on a single technical principle: high-temperature cooking to seal in juices and produce genuinely crisp skin. The chicken breasts are dredged in seasoned flour, then placed skin side down in a cast-iron skillet with canola oil and four tablespoons of butter. They cook over medium heat, untouched, for 12 minutes before the skillet goes into a preheated 425° oven for a further 10 minutes.
The final stage is where the flavour deepens. Back on the stovetop, the chicken is turned skin side up and the remaining five tablespoons of butter go in. The butter cooks to a nutty brown as the chicken finishes through, with an instant-read thermometer reading of 130° to 140° as the target. A handful of fresh parsley goes on at the end.
One preparation note worth following: Garten removes the tenders from the underside of each breast before cooking. The reasoning is straightforward, it creates a more even thickness so the breast cooks uniformly throughout, rather than leaving a thinner section overdone while the thicker part catches up.
Lemon Orzo With Feta: Building the Side
The orzo component is assembled separately and quickly. One cup of orzo is simmered uncovered in salted water for nine to 11 minutes until al dente, then drained and tossed while still warm with lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, olive oil, dill, salt and pepper. A cup of small-diced feta, preferably Greek, is folded through at the end.
Plating is deliberate: orzo goes down first on each of four dinner plates, a sliced chicken breast is arranged on top, and a few tablespoons of the brown butter from the skillet are spooned over. Lemon wedges are served alongside. The brown butter acts as the bridge between the two elements, carrying the richness of the chicken into the orzo below.
The Book Behind the Recipe
Garten described her inspiration in the recipe headnote, explaining she started with the classic Italian al burro method before introducing the Greek elements. That combination of European cooking traditions, reworked through an accessible, ingredient-focused lens, is characteristic of her output.
The recipe comes from Modern Comfort Food, a 256-page collection that spans reimagined classics and new originals. Among its other recipes is one for Emily’s English Roasted Potatoes, courtesy of actress Emily Blunt, according to the book’s Amazon listing, an indication of the range the book takes in beyond solo Garten recipes. The Goodreads page for the collection notes that Garten has won four Emmy Awards and a James Beard Award, credentials that underpin the commercial and critical weight the book carried on publication.
Photographs throughout the book are by Quentin Bacon. It was published as part of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
Ingredients at a Glance
For the chicken: two-thirds of a cup of all-purpose flour, four eight-ounce boneless skin-on chicken breasts, a quarter cup of canola oil, nine tablespoons of unsalted European-style butter and fresh parsley. For the orzo: one cup of orzo, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, fresh dill, salt, pepper and four ounces of feta, with lemon wedges for serving.
Total time from prep to plate runs to around an hour, with 25 minutes of preparation. The recipe serves four, with the Ina Garten crispy chicken and lemon orzo combination coming in at 984 calories per serving as listed.