Roasted Lemon Rosemary Chicken
A simple, rustic, one-pan dinner that never disappoints.
I think that a roasted chicken dinner is probably my favorite dinner in existence. To me, there’s nothing else that’s quite as comforting as juicy succulent chicken, flavorful roasted veggies, and savory drippings to spoon over it all. I often accomplish this by roasting a whole chicken over a bed of veggies or even using two pans if I’m really concerned about getting the ideal texture on both the bird and veg… And that works great. But when I’m a little more pressed for time, or when I want to introduce a few more flavors to both components, or I want to pop the whole meal in the oven and forget about it, I only have eyes for this Roasted Lemon Rosemary Chicken.
This is a one-pan, no-fail, go-to type of dinner recipe. You could add a side salad to round it out, sure, but I’m pretty darn happy with chicken and potatoes and leeks, particularly when they taste like this.
You need:
- one chicken, cut into pieces OR about eight of your favorite chicken parts (you could go all thighs or all breasts, or whatever combination strikes your fancy)
- a pound of baby potatoes
- a leek (or maybe two)
- lemons
- garlic
- rosemary
- (and olive oil, salt, and pepper, too)
Aside from the small bit of chopping for the leeks, potatoes, and lemons, there isn’t really any other prep work to do. You just arrange everything in a baking dish, whisk together some olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, and garlic, and then pour it alllllll over the chicken and veggies.
Toss it all together and then toss it in the oven (or, you know, slide it in gently) and bake it until the chicken hits 165 on a thermometer. That will probably take about an hour, which is enough time to go worry about something other than dinner entirely. But this is sure a delicious one to come back to!
Roasted Lemon Rosemary Chicken
Ingredients
- 8-10 pieces bone-in skin-on chicken (thighs, breasts, etc) or 1 whole chicken, cut up
- 1 lb baby potatoes
- 1 large leek, white and light green parts only, halved and chopped
- 2 lemons
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, plus more for serving
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with oil, butter, or cooking spray.
- Place chicken pieces skin side up in baking dish.
- Halve any larger potatoes. Arrange potatoes and leek evenly around chicken.
- Slice one of the lemons and place slices around baking dish.
- In a small bowl, combine together olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Zest and juice the remaining lemon, add to mixture and whisk to combine.
- Pour oil/lemon mixture over chicken and toss to coat as needed.
- Season with more salt and pepper and bake, uncovered, until chicken reads 165°F on a thermometer and potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Laughing Spatula.