I Tried 3 of Ina Garten’s Most Popular Chicken Recipes—Here Is My Favorite

Whether you call her Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa, or, more reverently, Our Lady of East Hampton, there is no denying she’s also earned the title of Queen of Chicken Recipes. After all, she’s been married to Jeffrey for 56 years, and their Friday night chicken dinner tradition is still going strong. With more than 50 chicken recipes in her repertoire, there’s something for every poultry fan. 

I know a thing or two about Ina’s recipes—I spent seven years Julie-and-Julia-ing my way through all 1,300+ recipes. As you can imagine, making all those recipes didn’t leave much time to revisit favorites, but I thought I was long overdue to remake a few of her beloved chicken recipes and see which claimed the title of my all-time favorite.

I kept things easy with three weeknight-friendly recipes, all big on flavor with minimal ingredients. Jeffrey is going to love this! 

Lemon Chicken with Croutons 

Having an Ina Garten chicken cook-off without at least one full-roasted bird is blasphemy. While the hour-plus roast time of Lemon Chicken with Croutons may not scream weeknight-friendly, it’s mostly hands-off. You can prep everything the night before (which also helps the skin to dry out, resulting in an even crispier finish) and pop it in the oven when you get home. The chicken is stuffed with sliced lemon and roasted on a bed of onions, which caramelize nicely in the oven. 

While it roasts, cubes of sourdough get pan-toasted until golden. Once carved, the chicken is served on the croutons, allowing the bread to soak up those incredible pan juices. We paired it with a simple green salad dressed in a lemon-Dijon vinaigrette.

Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce has always been a crowd-pleasing favorite. The key to ultra-crispy skin is starting the thighs skin-side down in a very hot cast iron skillet and then not touching them for 15 minutes. It gives the fat time to render out, rewarding you with golden, crackly chicken skin. Once flipped, add sliced onion and continue cooking until the onions are tender and the chicken is cooked through. 

Finally, you deglaze the pan with white wine and stir in crème fraîche, Dijon, and whole grain mustard. Combined with that rendered chicken fat, you’ve now created one amazing, silky, creamy pan sauce. A dream! 

Chicken with Goat Cheese & Basil

I hadn’t made Ina’s Chicken with Goat Cheese and Basil since early in my Ina journey nearly eight years ago, so I was eager to revisit it. It’s absurdly easy: tuck slices of garlic and herb goat cheese and a basil leaf under the skin of a boneless chicken breast, drizzle it with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and bake. That’s it!  

The only challenge is finding boneless, skin-on breasts; you may have to debone the chicken breast yourself or ask a butcher. Although it wouldn’t be the end of the world to leave the bone in, it just takes a little longer in the oven. We served this with shallot couscous and brown butter asparagus with roasted almonds. 

My Favorite Ina Garten Chicken Recipe

While you can’t go wrong with any of these, the ease-to-flavor ratio of Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce is hard to beat. If you roast broccolini while you cook the chicken, you have a delicious meal on the table in under 30 minutes. And the pan sauce is just as phenomenal on the broccolini!

It’s been my go-to chicken recipe since I first made it, and it still reigns supreme.