Ina Garten Uses 1 Easy Trick for Perfectly Crispy Chicken

Ina Garten has perfected her method for making perfectly crispy chicken. The Barefoot Contessa star shared an easy trick for the most flavorful crispy chicken in her simple Italian-inspired recipe.

Ina Garten shares a tip for her crispy chicken recipe

Garten demonstrated how to make her crispy chicken with lemon orzo recipe on an episode of Barefoot Contessa. “I’m making Italian classics, my way,” she explained at the top of the show. Garten had a simple trick to get the best crispy results when making this chicken dish.

“I love the way Italians cook chicken breasts al burro, which means ‘in butter.’ And we know how I feel about butter,” the Food Network host said. “Inspired by that, I’m making crispy chicken breasts with lemony orzo. It is the perfect combination.”

Garten dredged chicken breasts with the skin on in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. “And the reason why I dip it in flour is so the outside will be really dry,” she explained. “And it’ll sear really well. You want a really nice crust on the outside. Which is why I call it crispy chicken.”

She coated both sides, then placed it skin-side down in a hot skillet with canola oil and European butter. Garten explained the butter has “low water content” so it “sears really well,” resulting in perfectly crispy chicken.

“When I’m sautéing something in butter, I always add oil to it — canola oil,” she said. “So you have the higher burning temperature of the oil but still the flavor of the good butter.”

Ina Garten uses a ‘trick’ for cooking her chicken recipe

Garten shared the process for cooking the chicken: cooking it on the stovetop, then roasting it in the oven, then returning it to the stovetop. She also shared her easy “trick” that makes all the difference.

“So for the chicken, the trick is to cook it without moving it for the whole 12 minutes,” Garten explained.

Garten placed the skillet in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for 10 minutes. When she pulled the skillet out of the oven, she noted, “And this is why I cook it at a very high temperature. It really sears in the chicken juices and the flavor. It’s just fabulous.”

The Barefoot Contessa star placed the skillet on a burner and turned the chicken over to cook the other side. “But wait until you see what I’m going to do next,” she teased. “I’m going to put in more butter … it’s going to make this even better.”

The ‘Barefoot Contessa’ star paired the chicken with a lemony orzo

When the chicken was roasting in the oven, Garten cooked the orzo. She added salt to boiling water, poured in the orzo, and brought the water to a boil. Then she simmered it uncovered for 10 minutes.

After Garten drained the orzo, she added it to a bowl along with lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil, feta cheese, and fresh dill and tossed everything together.

“You really want to do this when it’s warm because then all those flavors are absorbed into the orzo,” Garten explained.

She sprinkled fresh parsley on the chicken then sliced it at an angle, and placed it on a plate Garten added orzo to the plate and gave it a squeeze of lemon juice. She poured the sauce from the pan over the chicken for additional flavor.

“And that’s how Italians do comfort food,” Garten said before taking a bite.

The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.