| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 55 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (4-pound) chicken
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, stems discarded before measuring, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lemon, zested, then juiced
- 8 potatoes (ideally Yukon gold), halved
Instructions
- Rearrange oven racks so that the bird can be placed in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
- Discard giblets (and any other foreign objects) that you find inside the bird. Rinse bird under cold water, then pat dry. Rub generously with salt, inside and out.
- In a small bowl, blend butter, pepper, rosemary, garlic and lemon zest. Rub the butter mixture all over the birds. Use your fingers to separate the skin from the breast meat and slide some of the mixture underneath the skin. Cross the legs and bind with twine.
- Place potatoes, cut side down in a large shallow roasting pan, or some facsimile. Perch bird atop potatoes. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove to baste and squeeze juice of 1/2 lemon overtop. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees F. Roast for 60 more minutes, or until the juices of the thigh meat run clear when pricked. If bird begins to burn on top, cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil.
- Squeeze other lemon 1/2 overtop, then cover tightly with aluminum foil, and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving (this locks in the juices).
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 1104 |
| Total Fat | 58 g |
| Saturated Fat | 21 g |
| Carbohydrates | 77 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 10 g |
| Sugar | 4 g |
| Protein | 67 g |
| Cholesterol | 262 mg |
| Sodium | 2123 mg |
Reviews
super easy and tasty chicken. Made this for potlucks, dinner for bedridden people and dinner. Everyone likes the chicken it is crowd pleaser!!
Loved, loved this recipe. Will definitely be making it again!
Perfect Chicken!!! Will be making this again, and again!!!
tasty, easy , great to serve for family
Good recipe my family loved it. I cut the salt down to just 1 tblspoon after rubbing the bird down and following recipe I still had way too much left over. Was perfectly done and moist. I agree there was way too much smoke through out the cooking process.
Fast,easy and delicious. The only thing I recommend Not doing is tying the legs. The legs will take longer to cook and your breast will be DRY! I know it happened to me. Ive made it without tying the legs and it was PERFECT!
This has become my staple best recipe! It tastes wonderful and the breast is the juiciest you’ve ever seen! It’s also quite yummy! I’m quite the novice in the kitchen and have no issues with this. Family and guest also rave about it….
Way too hot! 475 for 30 minutes? Almost had a fire… smoke throughout the house. Yikes.
While it is a little extra work, this turned out to be the best roast chicken I’ve ever made! I was worried that the chicken would dry out cooking at the high heat, but it was the juiciest chicken I’ve had in years (I did brine it for 4 hours before roasting). The butter and lemon made the potatoes really crisp and flavorful.
I’m a newlywed and was looking for a great roast chicken recipe. I made just the chicken, no potatos. The meal came out so good! Very easy to make, chicken stayed juicy and everyone loved it.