Garlic Lemon Chicken

This is a fabulously easy Garlic Lemon Chicken recipe and one that delivers a moist and delicious chicken dish with hardly any effort at all. Winner Winner.

Garlic Lemon Roast Chicken

I find this garlic lemon chicken dish absolutely perfect for a mid week meal as well as a fantastic weekend treat. Served with a salad, roasted new potatoes or good bread, things don’t get much better than this on a plate. Although it may take over an hour in the oven the preparation is mere seconds and totally doable at the end of the day if you don’t mind eating a little later. You can of course make this previously and reheat the carved chicken  in the gravy in under 30 minutes so with a little forethought you could cook this at the weekend for a super quick midweek meal. The gravy is to die for. Spooned over your vegetables or sides the lemony juices take it all to another level. This simple roast chicken recipe is an outstanding one.

This week has felt wonderful, in large part due to the return of my children to school after the holidays. What joy it has been to have a silent squabble free house. I really felt like getting roaring drunk and dancing to Beyonce hits all fricking day on Monday. The feeling of liberation was overpowering. Of course the reality was my house was a dusty, dirty and disorganised pit. I would love to clean it in a Freddy Mercury type fashion, god knows I have the moustache, but I just don’t have the energy or the glamour after 2 weeks of mostly hell. The trouble is once I started to really look I realised how minging my children really are. They leave crud and litter simply where it falls. Apple cores IN the sofa, banana skins under the sofa, yoghurt wrappers, toast crusts and lollipop sticks circling chairs used for gaming. The lollipop sticks are chewed and spat out apparently, much like some drawling cowboy. get off your horse and clear up. He must have chewed through a whole tree. Discarded and dirty clothes just everywhere you can possibly ram them out of sight and the sink where they clean their teeth looks like someone karate chopped a new tube of toothpaste several times and from several angles and heights. They actually probably did. It was even on the walls. I can only assume they spit out most of the toothpaste at each other before they even get started. Obviously they require much more psycho screaming at. That can easily be arranged as I am still yet to see a mellowing of my perimenopausal symptoms. There is still time. However I do feel a strong urge  to just go in hard and double up on the HRT application patches. I was hoping to be pert and somewhat serene by now……

Garlic and Lemon Chicken

This simple roast chicken recipe is about as easy as it gets. As mentioned above it is a great weekend meal, be it Saturday or Sunday you can add or takeaway sides to make it fit the bill for a family lunch or casual supper. This is the brilliance of it and the reason I have it in my roast chicken repertoire. It is also perfect for a midweek meal, especially if you make it  beforehand. I simply carve the chicken and place it in a roasting tray with the gravy to reheat until piping hot. I use grease proof or baking  paper scrumpled up and run under the tap so that it goes soft and easily pliable to cover it all during reheating. This stops the chicken from drying out. 20 minutes at 180 C is usually long enough but it depends on your roasting tray/dish. Try to pick one that is smallish so that the gravy covers the chicken well. I tend to add 250 ml of double strength chicken stock if I am reheating. This gives you a little extra liquid to cover the chicken. Even better is to reheat it in the slow cooker. The lid keeps it moist.

I like to use new potatoes when I add roast potatoes as a side for easiness but you can make actual roast potatoes too and parboil some peeled potatoes first. You can roast the potatoes separately while the chicken is heating through if you are doing this midweek and have roasted the chicken beforehand. About 500 grams is sufficient for 4 people.

Lemon Garlic Chicken with Potatoes

The preparation is merely a chuck it all in the tray affair. Although if you are able to season the meat 12 hours or so before cooking that does help the flavour of any roasting meat. Otherwise remove your chicken from the fridge and pat dry with a paper towel. I like to put my salt in the olive oil and give it a good stir. I slice the lemon in half and push the lemon inside the cavity first, followed by the whole garlic bulb. It is a tight squeeze! I have found that the lemon can burn if left in the tray and find that this way guarantees the lemon flavour without the bitterness and you get a heavenly lemony light gravy. I then tip the oil over the chicken and rub it in well.

Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken

I put the chicken in for 35 minutes or so at 190 C and by that time the fat will have begun to render out of the bird. If I am roasting potatoes with it I remove the chicken to a board and quickly tumble in the new potatoes. I give them a season and a schmoosh in the chicken fat. I make a space to put the chicken in and put the whole lot back in to the oven. Depending on the size of the chicken it may take another hour or more for the chicken to be cooked through. I tend to rely on checking that the juices are running clear from the thickest part of the thigh but you can use a meat thermometer too. You are looking for the temperature to be 75 C/165 C when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh but not touching bone. So you may have to take either the chicken or the potatoes out and leave the other in. But generally they should be cooked at about the same time.

The chicken needs to rest for at least 20 minutes. I tend to cover with silver foil and set aside on a carving board. It will keep plenty warm enough. Simply put the potatoes back in the oven five mins before you are ready to serve. I also like to push the soft garlic cloves from their hoods and smear it over the chicken. Jamie Oliver gave me the idea and it is lush.

To serve the delicious gravy I spoon off the excess chicken fat leaving about 2 tbsp behind. You can simply spoon over your sides and chicken or mop them up with some bread. It is absolutely divine.

What to serve with Garlic Lemon Chicken.

I like to serve some sort of greens and carrots with this. I tend to always go for tender stem broccoli because I love the things and it’s the same with carrots. But some peppery french beans would work well too.In the week I like to buy the sticks of carrot in bags. I’m not into peeling in the evening.

I haven’t but I would think that this would be fantastic with fresh egg tagliatelle. I find that a 300 grams pack feeds 4 about right.

In the warmer weather I love to serve it without the potatoes alongside a green salad and some good bread. I always put some parmesan shavings on the salad.That is a good option for a midweek meal too.

Equipment Required

• Roasting Tray big enough to fit the potatoes in if you are using. mine is 34 cm x 23 cm.
• Baking Paper and Silver Foil if reheating
• Slow Cooker if using
• Carving Board
• Carving Knife

5 from 2 votes

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Garlic Lemon Roast Chicken

This is a fantastic Roast Chicken recipe made with Lemon and Garlic. It can be a fantastic weekend lunch or great midweek meal.

Course Main Course

Cuisine English

Keyword garlic lemon roast chicken

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Resting Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 141 kcal

Author Apply To Face Blog

Ingredients

• 1 medium/large chicken
• 60 mls olive oil
• 1 medium lemon unwaxed
• 1 bulb garlic
• salt

Metric - U S Customary

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 190 C/375 F/Gas Mark 5. Cut the lemon in half and place inside the bird's cavity. Put the whole garlic bulb in there too. Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper.

2. Pour the oil over the chicken and season generously. If you are able to season the bird earlier than this then do and put back in the fridge. This will really help the flavour develop.

3. Put in the oven for 35 minutes. If you are cooking the new potatoes alongside the bird then get the chicken out of the oven and quickly put it on a plate. Tumble the potatoes in and smoosh them about in the chicken fat. Season well before making a space in the potatoes for the chicken to fit back in. Put back in the oven.

4. Cook for another hour or so according to the instructions on the chicken's packaging and the juices run clear from the thickest part of the thigh. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes if they are pink and re test again. It is generally 20 minutes per lb (450 g) plus 10-20 minutes extra – this will be 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 hours for a 5 lb (2.25 kg) bird.

5. You may have to remove the chicken or potatoes if one is ready before the other. The chicken needs to rest for at least 20 minutes. You can return the potatoes to the oven five minutes before you are ready to serve them if they have sat for more than ten minutes out of the oven.

6. I like to remove the potatoes to a warm dish and spoon off any excess chicken fat left in the roasting tray. I remove the garlic and lemon and empty out the juices from the cavity into the roasting tray. I then put the chicken on a carving board and cover with a single layer of foil. I decant the gravy into a small saucepan so I can quickly reheat when I am ready to serve.

7. Carve the chicken after resting and spoon the delicious gravy over the meat and sides.

8. If you are reheating the chicken at a later date then cool the chicken, cover and put it in the fridge until you are ready to reheat it. Decant the gravy into a container and put that in the fridge again. If you are reheating in the oven then cover with wet baking paper and a layer of foil and reheat in a 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4 oven until piping hot. You could also do the same in the slow cooker on high without the need for the paper and foil.

9. Apply To Liberated Face

Nutrition Facts

Garlic Lemon Roast Chicken

Amount Per Serving

Calories 141 Calories from Fat 135

% Daily Value*

Fat 15g23%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Sodium 1mg0%

Potassium 37mg1%

Carbohydrates 2g1%

Vitamin C 14.3mg17%

Calcium 7mg1%

Iron 0.3mg2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Try these other great chicken recipes.

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Cheesy Chicken Pasta with Broccoli

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Bang Bang Chicken and Noodles

Chicken and Broccoli Gratin

Chicken and Broccoli Gratin

I have linked this post with Fiesta Friday andAntonia @ Zoale.com and Liz @ Spades, Spatulas & Spoons.

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