Lemon + Herb Roast Chicken

Welcome back to QCK!

It seems like everyones life has gotten significantly busier over the past couple weeks with the craziest “back to school” I’ve ever seen. In light of that, I wanted to share this awesome roast chicken recipe. I love making this at the beginning of the week and using the leftovers for soup, sandwiches, quesadillas, etc. So today I’m giving you the chicken recipe, throughout the week I’ll be sharing recipes you can use the leftovers in.

I love using this recipe when I’m roasting a whole bird because it’s super flavorful but also very versatile, which is great for leftovers. I don’t do any long marinating process, though you can if you want to. Instead, I season the bird under the skin with herb butter and thinly sliced lemons and add chicken stock and soy sauce to the bottom of the pan along with some herbs, garlic and onion. The skin gets really crispy while the meat stays perfectly moist and juicy, you can literally pull the bones clean out when it’s done.

I live alone, so an entire chicken is a lot for me and I get bored of leftovers really quick. So instead of eating the same chicken night after night, I like to repurpose it. Since it’s so moist, it’s great for pulled chicken sandwiches or on a salad. I like to use it for loaded quesadillas with chipotle ranch and in quinoa enchilada soup, which are the recipes I’ll be sharing this week.

Substitutions and Add Ons

• Chicken Stock can be substituted for dry white wine.
• Fresh Herbs can be substituted for dry herbs, or Italian Seasoning.
• Butter can be substituted for olive oil.
• If you’re gluten free, be sure to use gluten free soy sauce.
• You can also add carrots, potatoes, celery, dry white wine, parsley, oregano, basil.

Notes

• If your chicken is not already trussed, here is a really helpful video on how to do so.
• Be very gentle when seasoning under the skin so you don’t rip it, the skin protects the meat from overcooking and drying out so it’s important to keep as much coverage as possible.
• The chicken should be at room temp so it cooks evenly all the way through. If you put a cold chicken in the oven, the outside will cook really fast and the inside will take significantly longer. You’ll end up with a dry, overcooked chicken by the time it’s done.
• Keep the lemon slices as thin as possible so they fit nicely under the skin without ripping it.

Recipe

Prep: 25 Min

Cook: 1 hr 20 Min

Category: Dinner

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 lb Whole Chicken, at room temp, cavity emptied and trussed.
• 1/2 C (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, room temp
• 3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp Thyme, picked and chopped
• 2 Tbsp Rosemarry, picked and chopped
• 1 Tbsp Tarragon, chopped
• 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 Lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 Large Yellow Onion, chopped into large pieces
• 3-5 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 C Chicken Stock
• 1/4 C Soy Sauce

Directions

1. Position oven rack to center and preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a medium bowl with a rubber spatula, fold together butter, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, black pepper, and salt.
3. Place the chicken on a clean flat surface, breast side up, legs facing towards you.
4. Starting from the bottom of the breast, gently lift the skin and use your hand to seperate it from the meat all the way up to the top, be sure to get the sides and legs as well. You just want to seperate it, not remove it.
5. Once all the skin is lifted, use your hand to spread a layer of herb butter under the skin. This will use about 1/3 of the butter.
6. Spread the remaining 2/3 of butter all over the outside of the chicken.
7. Next, take four of your lemon slices and slide them under the skin as well.
8. Place half of your chopped onion inside the cavity of the bird along with 2-3 cloves of crushed garlic and some lemon slices.
9. Place the remaining garlic, lemon and onion in the bottom of your roasting pan.
10. Position the bird inside the roasting pan and pour your chicken stock and soy sauce over the bird, allowing it to run down into the bottom of the pan.
11. Cover the pan in tin foil and place in the preheated oven.
12. After 30 minutes, remove from the oven and use a turkey baster or a ladel to spoon the liquid in the bottom of the pan over the chicken.
13. Cover and place back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes.
14. Remove and baste again, this time leave the tinfoil off.
15. After another 15-20 mintes, remove and baste again, at this point the skin should look really crispy.
16. Continue cooking until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F on a meat thermometer. Be sure to check the bird in multiple places such as the largest part of the breast, legs and thighs.
17. Remove from oven and rest 15-20 minutes before carving.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you tried it out let me know in the comments. For more recipes check out my homepage and follow along on Instagram. Don’t forget to like, follow, comment and share. Thanks for reading! 

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