Whole Roasted Lemon Chicken
Prep Time Minutes 10
Cook Time 80 Minutes
Passive Time
Servings People
| Prep Time Minutes 10 | Cook Time 80 Minutes | Passive Time | Servings People |
Sometimes on a wintery Hanukah night, as the candles burn inside it’s nice to sit around the table with family and friends and eat a simple and homey roasted chicken. This whole roasted chicken, with some extra bright flavor from lemons squeezed over the top, will hit the spot this Hanukah. I cook the chicken along with onions, carrots and potatoes, in one large roasting dish, so that all you have to do is carve it up and your whole meal is ready! (Inspired by Julia Child’s Roast Lemon Chicken)
Ingredients
- 1 Whole Chicken about 3-4 lbs
- Salt and Pepper
- 6 Leaves Sage or 4 sprigs of fresh tarragon or rosemary
- 1 Lemon cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 2 TBS Butter, unsalted or butter substitute at room temperature
- 1 Cup mixed chopped carrots and onions
- 3 Potatoes Cut into a large dice, Ilke to leave the skin on for color
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Ingredients
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- To preparing the chicken: Set the oven rack on the lower middle level and preheat the oven to 425°F. Rinse the chicken thoroughly, inside and out and dry it with paper towels. Remove any extra fat around the edges or near the openings.
- Place the chicken on a V-rack in a foil lined large roasting pan. If you don’t have a v-rack, simply place it for now in the roasting pan. Salt and pepper the chicken cavity and stuff it with the sage leaves and 3 or 4 thick slices of lemon; give the slices a squeeze as you put them in. Save a few pieces of lemon for later.
- Massage the butter or butter substitute over the entire chicken skin, including undersides, then salt generously. (If you are using a Kosher chicken, no additional salting is necessary)
- To prevent burning, you can tie the ends of the drumsticks together with twine.
- Place the carrots, onions and potatoes on the bottom of the roasting pan. Place the chicken breast-up on the v-rack in the roasting pan. If you are not using a rack, you can place the chicken on top of the veggies in the pan.
- Squeeze the juice of the remaining lemon pieces over the top of the chicken.
- To Roast the chicken: Set the roasting pan with the chicken in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, lower heat to 350°F.
- If you are able, baste the chicken with any accumulated pan juices twice during the roasting.
- Roast for an hour and a half or until when the leg is poked with a knife, the juices run clear.
- When done, remove the chicken from the rack and set it on a board to rest for 15 minutes before carving, to allow the juices to retreat back into the flesh.
- Serve on a platter with the veggies.
