Wow, this is probably the easiest roast chicken I’ve ever made and I thought I had it down to an efficient science at this point. Nope, this just got easier and somehow even tastier. A friend told me about a chicken thigh recipe she recently made that was really good and the thighs were cooked on a bed of lemon and garlic. I had a whole chicken in the fridge and thought I would give it a go. Since I am too lazy to follow a recipe I just threw this together. I’m writing it down to remember forever and share with you. The sauce that is made at the bottom of the dish from the melted chicken fat, butter, olive oil, lemon, and garlic is absolutely divine. We were all mopping it up with bread, so so good. The chicken was perfectly juicy with crispy skin and loads of flavor.
What you need:
1 whole chicken (Make sure its a real one, not some genetically engineered monster that is all breast. I like the smaller free range slow grown birds), neck bone removed and flattened
Olive oil
2 tbsp salted butter
5 peeled cloves of garlic
Vidalia onion ( a few slices)
1 whole lemon, sliced thinly
Borsari Citrus blend seasoned salt or your favorite herbed, seasoned salt
Fresh ground pepper
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator about 45 minutes prior to cook time so that it can adjust to room temperature and dry out properly. Rinse and pat it dry with paper towel. Gently loosen the skin at the top of the breast and drizzle a bit of olive oil under the skin with a spoon and push down two pats of room temperature butter. Cover it inside and out with seasoned salt (don’t overdo it, around 2 tbsp should be generous but it depends on how big the bird is. Add some extra fresh ground pepper to the top of the chicken if you like pepper as much as I do. Preheat the oven to 450 and let the chicken sit out until cook time.
In a baking dish layer a bit of olive oil, lemon slices, onions, and garlic on the bottom of the dish. Place the chicken on top and bake (middle rack) for about 35-45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165. Drizzle some of the pan sauce over top of the chicken while it rests for a few minutes. Carve and serve. Enjoy.
Comments