Ina Garten’s 5 Tips for Cooking Chicken

After 45 years in the food business as a television cook and cookbook author, Ina Garten has picked up several tricks for making delicious meals—especially chicken. Her chicken recipes are legendary. We love dishes like her Skillet-Roasted Chicken and Potatoes, a fan favorite, and the Chicken Pot Pie that keeps us cozy, or her Crispy Chicken with Lemon Orzo from her cookbook “Modern Comfort Food,” which compelled even actress Jennifer Garner to hit the kitchen.

Naturally, with this many chicken recipes and years of experience, the Barefoot Contessa has amassed some fundamental and very helpful tips for making the crispest, juiciest and tastiest chicken one can eat. Lucky for you, we’ve bundled up her top five suggestions that are so good you’ll want to use them again and again.

1. Dredging Chicken in Mustard and Wine—Not Egg

When it comes to chicken, we know Garten loves to use wine and mustard in her recipes. Coincidentally, either or both of those ingredients make a tangier and lighter dredging mixture than you might make with ingredients like eggs or buttermilk. Depending on your preferences and needs within your eating pattern, consider giving this tip a try next time you’re cooking chicken.

Try a creamy take on Garten’s mustardy chicken dish with our 20-Minute Creamy Mustard Chicken Thighs.

2. Saving the Juices

Every part of the chicken can be used to make tasty additions to your meal—including the drippings. Garten’s roast chicken recipe is a prime example of utilizing chicken juice to make a savory and delicious gravy. We do the same in recipes like our Pan-Seared Chicken Breast with Rich Pan Sauce recipe and our Skillet Chicken Breast & Broccoli with Mustard-Rosemary Pan Sauce, because those juices are too good to waste!

3. Pouring Sauce Around Chicken—Not Over It

We get it! It’s all going to the same place, so why fret over where you pour your liquids in the dish? For Garten, it’s crucial in recipes like her Chicken Marbella that you protect the dry spices you’ve used to season your chicken, as well as any flavor-packed skin that has gotten golden and crispy in the roaster. To prevent soggy skin or uneven seasoning, pour sauces directly into your cookware—around the chicken.

4. Squeezing Citrus over Hot Chicken Right Before Serving

Similar to Garten’s tip about when to add herbs to your chicken, while citrus fruits won’t necessarily lose their sour taste when exposed to heat, they can lose their unique orangey, lemony or limey flavors. Knowing this, Garten strategically waits until the dish is just about finished before squeezing fresh citrus over recipes like her Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken.

Try your hand at using up your citrus fruits in recipes like our 20-Minute Creamy Lemon-Feta Skillet Chicken and Skillet Lemon Chicken & Potatoes with Kale for a light and refreshing meal.

5. Reheating Chicken in a Pan with Herbs Before Serving

Chicken is one of those proteins we like to avoid eating raw at all costs, so we understand why you might want to prioritize cooking your chicken first. But there’s nothing like a fresh and crispy breast or thigh straight from the oven or stove to bring a meal together. That’s why in her Skillet Roasted Chicken and Potatoes recipe, Garten advises us to simply return poultry to the pan before serving, so it’s hot every time. Plus, this tip also solves the issue of overheating your herbs in the cooking process. By adding herbs while your chicken reheats, you avoid muting the delicate and fresh flavors of herbs like chives, parsley and basil.