Make Ahead
Lemony Roast Chicken
- Serves 2 to 4
Author Notes
"Lemony" describes a lot of my recipes -- I unabashedly love lemon and use it unsparingly as much as possible. (I'm the person who squeezes additional lemon over a dressed salad...sorry if that offends.) So when I roast a chicken, I can't help but add lemon to the mix. This recipe is a combination of what I've always done to make roast chicken into a one-pot meal (I include onions, potatoes, and carrots in the pan) and Thomas Keller's wonderful technique of roasting at high heat. The bed of vegetables keeps the chicken away from a lot of liquid, and provides its own savory side dish. —drbabs
Test Kitchen Notes
This produced a nice roasted chicken. There's nothing that 'special' about it, but it's really so simple, and I love how lemony it is -- it makes for a great, no-fuss meal. —Anna Francese Gass
Ingredients
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2
large potatoes, cut into cubes
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4
large carrots, scraped and cut into 2-inch pieces
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1
large sweet onion, cut pole-to-pole and sliced
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one
3- to 4-pound chicken
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Olive oil
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Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
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2
well-scrubbed lemons, preferably organic
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1 sprig each rosemary, thyme, and sage, washed and dried well, then trimmed to fit inside the cavity of the chicken (If you don't do this, the tips of the herbs will burn.)
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1 to 2
large cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
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1/2 cup
white wine, for deglazing
Directions
- Heat oven to 450° F. Place onions, carrots, and potatoes in the bottom of a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with about a teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Squeeze lemon juice over the vegetables, then stir well.
- Place the chicken, breast side-up, on a V-shaped rack inside the roasting pan. Dry the skin well with paper towels.
- Salt and pepper the cavity. Place the sprigs of sage, rosemary, and thyme and the garlic into the cavity, and tie the legs together with twine. Cut another lemon in half, squeeze the juice into the cavity, and place both halves into the cavity of the chicken.
- Rub the skin with olive oil, salt the skin all over with about a tablespoon of kosher salt, and season with about a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
- Roast for about an hour, until an instant read thermometer registers 160° F when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh.
- Place chicken on a cutting board and let rest for about 15 minutes.
- Deglaze the pan with white wine, and stir the vegetables, scraping up any browned bits. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve chicken with vegetables on the side and additional lemon for lemon lovers like me!
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