Easy Lemon Herb Roast Chicken

Is there anything as wonderful as having a whole roasted chicken in the oven? Roast chicken is without-a-doubt my absolute favorite easy home-cooked comfort food because there are very few people who don’t love a juicy, roast chicken. This recipe for lemon herb roast chicken is the one I go back to time and time again because it is so easy, requires minimal prep and results in a chicken so flavorful, you will be licking your fingers, guaranteed. I make a marinade/cook-in sauce kind of thing before rubbing it all over the chicken, making sure I get the flavoring into all the nooks and crannies. I also like to gently lift the breast skin and get some of the marinade under it, flavoring the chicken breast meat directly. The rest of the marinade gets poured over the chicken as it is in the roasting dish before potatoes are added. Now, the potatoes are completely optional but I would seriously suggest you add them because there is just nothing better than potatoes roasting alongside a chicken. It absorbs some of the chicken juices and just becomes so good, I could an entire dish of them. Using a spatchcock (or butterflied) chicken makes it so much easier. Not only does the chicken roast in just more than half the time it roasts a whole chicken but carving is also made effortless. I also love that more of the skin is exposed resulting in crispy, gnarly, sticky bits of flavor.

How to spatchcock (butterfly) a whole chicken

Start by placing a whole chicken breast-side down on a large cutting board. Using sharp kitchen shears or scissors, cut down either side of the back-bone, removing it. Flip the chicken over so that the breast-side is up and push the chicken down to flatten it.

How long to roast a chicken

A 1.5kg/3.3lb whole chicken that has been butterflied should roast in 45 minutes – 1 hour in a preheated 200°C/390°F oven. If the chicken is left whole and not butterflied, the chicken may take 20-30 minutes longer to roast. A chicken is cooked when the juices run clear when cooked or when it reads 75°C/165°F on a thermometer.