THIS CHICKEN. Get ready for the most tender and flavorful chicken you’ve ever had in this recipe for Jamie Oliver’s Chicken baked in milk…fall apart deliciousness!
THIS CHICKEN CHANGES EVERYTHING. I think I ran around my kitchen saying that over and over again after I snuck the first bite (okay, the first 5 or 6 bites) as I was serving it up.
This comes from Jamie Oliver’s recipe, and I had heard about it so many times that I finally had to see what all the rhapsodizing was about.
Cooking a chicken in milk is a little offbeat, but the Southern husband and I love cooking pork chops in milk – we’ve done it for years – and so I thought what the heck.
I got myself a chicken and some milk…but little did I know that this was going to be one those days that a recipe rocked my world. I love it when that happens.
I was expecting something like the pork chop recipe, which makes a thick milk gravy as it cooks. But nope.
This chicken cooks with a generous amount of lemon, which works with the milk to create a light and lovely sauce that has a hint of lemon flavor and is full of tender, delectable, slightly cheesy milk curds – you can see a few of them on the chicken in the picture above.
When I was done with mine it was really hard not to steal the Southern husband’s little milk curds right off his plate.
Get ready for the most tender and flavorful chicken you've ever had in this recipe for Jamie Oliver's Chicken Baked in Milk! And the chicken! Probably the most tender, most flavorful chicken I have ever made. And I just checked my chicken archives on this here blog – I have 236 chicken recipes counting this one. So I’ve had significant chicken-eating experience.
I think it probably has something to do with the milk tenderizing the chicken, but I prefer to think of it as magic. Because it tastes like magic.
I carved up my chicken into nice big chunks – it is almost too tender to slice, and nestled it in a bed of baby spinach and polenta, with every drop of that delectable sauce drizzled on top.
And then we started eating it, and I think we didn’t say a word until both of our plates were completely clean. Because who wants to waste time talking when you have a plate of world-rocking chicken in front of you.
So here is my very slightly American-ized version of this genius recipe. And here is Jamie’s latest cookbook, all about veggies, which I think we all need to run out and buy in pure unadulterated thanks for the whole chicken and milk thing. Because IMAGINE what he can do with veggies!
My only problem now will be ever making chicken another way again. Although, eating chicken cooked in milk for the rest of my life?
I think I would be good with that.
Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Baked in Milk
Get ready for the most tender and flavorful chicken you’ve ever had in this recipe that calls for cooking it in milk with lemon and sage.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 100 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop and Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- One 2-3 pound chicken
- Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 2 lemons
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup fresh sage leaves
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 cups whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Season chicken all over with salt and pepper.
- Melt butter over medium high heat in a heavy oven-proof pot that will fit the chicken (a dutch oven works wonderfully). Put chicken in the pot and cook for about 4 minutes on each side or until golden.
- Remove chicken from pot and pour out the butter.
- Using a lemon zester, peel the rind off the lemons in long strips. Put the lemons inside the chicken. Return chicken to the pot, breast side up, and add milk.
- Place garlic, lemon zest strips, cinnamon stick and sage in the pot, around and on top of the chicken. Put the pot lid on the chicken leaving it slightly ajar and bake for 90 minutes or until an instant read thermometer measures 165.
- Let the chicken rest for about 5 minutes, then slice into large pieces.
- Scoop out the sauce, leaving the solids in the pot but getting as many of the milk curds as you can. Ladle the sauce over the chicken and serve.
Eli says
hello! this recipe looks fantastic and i can’t wait to try it!
i was wondering if it would be possible to modify this to cook it in a crock pot instead? i have very little experience with cooking in crock pots, but i just recently moved and have no oven-safe pots that i can use at the moment (so aggravating)!
Eli, I wish I could say yes, but I think it probably won’t create the same kind of sauce in the slow cooker. But…here is a link with all my slow cooker recipes (including some with chicken) – hopefully you will find some good ones here! https://www.framedcooks.com/tag/slow-cooker
Anna S. says
I have made this recipe five times now, and each time it has been delightful. The only thing I do differently is cook it for an hour with the lid completely on and the breast side down (submerged in the milk), then I turn it over and cook for half an hour with the lid completely off. So simple, and so tasty!
I really like your suggestion of cheesy polenta (I’m from the South, so we do cheesy grits down here) as a side. I usually do it with that and a fresh salad, and everything tastes great!
Thanks Anna! I’m definitely going to try your variation (since I too can’t seem to stop cooking this one!) :)
Linda says
whynso much butter and why pour it out? All of it?
Hi Linda! You want that much butter so the chicken has enough to make a lovely brown crisp before you add the milk – and you pour it out so that the milk doesn’t have the butter interfering with the sauce – it wouldn’t turn out the same way. If you can’t bear to toss the butter (and I totally understand why you would!) it makes a lovely, lovely pasta sauce.
kel says
Made this last night for dinner….absolutely delicious! It got five “thumbs up” to stay in our dinner rotation menu :)
Hurray! It got only two thumbs up in my house, but that’s because there are only two of us. :) If there were more of us I think there would have been more thumbs!
Ginger says
The recipe didn’t address the sage, I included it in the milk, we’ll see how it turns out?
You did it exactly right – thanks for that and I’ve fixed the recipe!
Denise Fla says
Made tonight for dinner. Was a little skeptical about the cinnamon stick. Turned out tender with crispy skin and only a faint hint of cinnamon in the background. Thanks for sharing your opinion of this recipe.
Thanks Denise – I loved the light cinnamon taste too!
Charlie says
Hi Kate! (My eldest is Kate)
This looks wonderful.
I have a lovely recipe for creamy polenta I could use.
How do you think it would work if I used Buttermilk?
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
Hi Charlie! I think buttermilk might be a little too tangy for the polenta – here’s the recipe I always use, and I love it! http://www.ansonmills.com/recipes/532
Charlie says
Hi Kate:
We have an allergy to sage in our family.
I will be substituting summer savoury for the sage.
:~D
Carol Bleistine says
Hi Kate, I want to duplicate this meal… anything special you do to the spinach and polenta? Just sautee the spinach in a little olive oil?
Hi Carol! Yes, I saute baby spinach in just a tablespoon or so of olive oil until it is wilted, then I sprinkle with a little sea salt. As for the polenta, I always use Anson Mills polenta and I follow this recipe – the only thing I tend to vary in it is that I use whatever cheese I have on hand. Lots of times the parmesan as per the recipe, but this time I had some leftover shredded gruyere and it was heavenly! http://www.ansonmills.com/recipes/532
Ken Aspell says
Do you think a spatchcocked chicken will produce an even crispier finish without compromising the recipe?
Hi Ken! I am a big fam of spatchcocked chicken, so I get why you are asking! I do think that might crisp up the skin a bit because you are getting more of the surface area. My main concern would be that a spatchcocked chicken cooks more quickly, and you want enough time for the milk sauce to cook. My best idea would be to get your holden surface, and then sort of fold the chicken over so that you get that full chicken thickness again. If you try it that way I’d love for you to come back and tell us how it turned out! :)