Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken
PERFECT roasted chicken! All you need is 6 ingredients. So so easy and amazingly juicy with the crispiest skin!
Happy Sunday! It’s our first weekend back home and we’ve been back to our routine.
Working out, grabbing donuts at 7AM, going to all the Dodger games, and being in bed all before 10PM.
You know, the usual. That and this roasted chicken.
This is our usual Sunday “early bird” 4PM dinner for us.
Now if you never roasted a chicken before, don’t be intimidated at all. You only need 6 ingredients here, and it’s pretty stinking easy.
Plus, the garlicky-herb butter that goes under the skin makes this recipe what it is.
Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken
PERFECT roasted chicken! All you need is 6 ingredients. So so easy and amazingly juicy with the crispiest skin!
Ingredients
- 1 4-pound whole roasting chicken
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Remove giblets and excess fat from the chicken cavity. Dry chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Season chicken cavity with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan; tie drumsticks together with kitchen twine; set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine butter, rosemary, thyme, parsley, garlic and lemon zest; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Using your fingers, carefully loosen the skin from the breast meat, spreading half of the butter mixture under the skin. Secure skin over the butter with wooden picks. Spread remaining half of the butter mixture over the chicken; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place into oven and roast until the chicken is golden brown and completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 1 hour. Let rest 10-15 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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This looks so delicious. Do you think this recipe would work in the air fryer? That is how I usually do my roast chickens now?
Very good. Tented the chicken until the end and basted a few times while roasting. Put carrots, onions and potatoes on the bottom of the pan. This also helps keep the chicken from drying out. Stuffed the cavity with lemons and fresh rosemary. Made little slits under the skin and inserted the garlic and butter.
Can’t wait to make chicken soup with the gravy and chicken carcass!
I don’t know what I did wrong but the herbed butter, which smelled so good, was impossible to spread on chicken. I tried; the skin never browned or got crispy even though chicken got done. And my kitchen was full of smoke until I turned down the temperature. Glad the recipe worked for others
Good prep recipe as I make a similar recipe for years, but 425 instruction in your recipe is a bit too hot and could result dried out breast meat. I roast at 350 then increase temp last 10 minutes to crisp skin.
Sounds good well try that soon. But i well do it in my Air fryer.
Do come back and let us know how it went! Love this idea❤️
I’ve used this recipie several times and always love it. I add 1 teaspoon of paprika and a little lemon juice squeezed to the butter mix and put it in a roasting pan with a lid until the last few minutes to crisp the skin. I also use this with drumsticks and use dry herbs .
Great recipe! I used dried herbs. I usually tent my chicken when I roast it but I followed the recipe and did not do it. It turned out fine, but as a preference, I will probably tent the chicken next time.
I love this recipe, but the butter smokes enough to set off my (very eager) smoke detector. Do you have any suggestions for dealing with that? Would a foil tent help? Is there a suitable oil with a higher smoke-point?
Hi Erin, try pre-heating your oven to 475F/245C/Gas 9 and then turning it down to 375F/190C/Gas 5 once you have put the bird in the oven. Also half a pint of chicken stock in the pan will stop the butter from burning in the roasting tin, the steam from this will assist with ensuring the bird is moist & will give a great gravy too!
How long should you cook 2 4lb chickens? Looking to serve 4 adults and 4 kids
Cooking time should stay relatively the same but as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications. Good luck, Jaclyn! 🙂
This chicken was great! I mixed all of the spices, olive oil and lemmon juice and rubbed it under the skin of the chicken and then over the top of the skin and poured the remainder in the cavity. I put about 3/4 cup water in the bottom of the pan and baked the chicken upsidedown with the breasts in the juices. I covered the whole thing in foil and in 2 hours the flavorful meat was falling off the bones. My company raved and everyone ate way too much. Served with baked apples, green beans and fresh bread. Delicious! Hashmanis
Thank you for your feedback!
So excited to make this recipe. Had two organic chickens and made according to recipe. Within 1/2 hour the herb butter was burnt so I used a tent. I then sampled the chicken and it is so salty. It didn’t look like the photo. I don’t know what went wrong! Are you suppose to lower temperature?
Oh no – how much salt did you add? Also, where did you place the chicken? It should be on the middle rack. Tenting is always a good idea though in case the chicken begins to brown quickly – that’s totally normal!
Cooked without a bag, correct?
Correct.
This looks great – but for those of us who have to time or energy for fresh herbs I’m sure we can use dried herbs right?
PS love your recipes and have used MANY – thanks!
Gayle
Yes, but please use your best judgement when it comes to the amount of dried herbs.
This looks absolutely perfect for Sunday dinner!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Did you forget to add amount of butter.
You need 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature.
Do you cover the chicken when you cook it?
No cover needed! But if the chicken is browning too quickly, you can always tent it with foil later on.