Roasted Lemon Chicken

Brining a chicken is letting it soak in a seasoned solution so that the meat takes on the seasoning and also stays incredibly tender during the cooking process. Traditionally, people brine turkeys because the meat can be so dry if you don’t, but brining chicken is an easy way to get spectacularly juicy chicken.

The brining solution doesn’t have to be exact. It’s generally water, a lot of salt, a little less sugar and some kind of seasoning, such as honey or orange slices. For my version, we’re using scallion. Some people put vinegar in their brines as an added flavor. I would caution that if you do so, you should not brine your chicken for a long time because the acid may start to cook the chicken.

A lot of people think they do not have the time to brine chicken. I know, I was one of them! The first time I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, I had a massive bucket of turkey and brining solution sitting in my fridge for 24 hours. What a chore! But the more I read about the brining habits of top chefs, the more I realized that brining does not have to be an overnight affair. Chef Andrew Carmellini brines his chickens for as little as 30 minutes! So don’t be intimidated and let’s get brining!

You’ll need:

• Water, approximately 6 cups
• ¾ cup salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 stalk of scallion
• 4 lb whole chicken
• 2 small lemons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp black pepper

Fill a pot halfway with lukewarm water, about 4 cups. I think using lukewarm water helps the salt dissolve faster, but Serious Eats has debunked me here: Ask the Food Lab: Do I Need to Use Kosher Salt? So, feel free to use water at whatever temperature you want. Except hot. We definitely do not want hot water that is going to start cooking the chicken as it sits in the brine.

Get out the salt, sugar, and scallion.

Using the back of a knife, bash the scallion up and down the stalk to release its flavors.

Add the salt, sugar and scallion to the water and stir to dissolve.

Place the chicken in the brining solution. Remember to remove and throw away the bag of giblets from the inside of the chicken before placing it in the brine.

Cover the chicken with cool water, approximately 2 cups.

Brine the chicken for 30 minutes to overnight in the fridge.

Remove the chicken from the brine and pat the outside dry with a paper towel. Dry skin means it will crisp up nicely in the hot oven.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Using a fork, pierce the lemons all over.

Put the chicken on a rack on top of a foil-lined baking sheet. I only use the foil to make cleanup easier, but the rack is important here. Raised up on the rack, the chicken can cook from all sides at the same time. If you are not using a rack, you will need to flip the chicken over halfway through cooking if you want each side to brown.

Place the lemons inside the cavity of the chicken. I learned this from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and it is a fabulous way to get even more flavor into a roasted chicken.

Use kitchen twine to loosely tie together the chicken legs. If you don’t have twine, you can skip this step, but the idea is to create a snug pouch for those pierced lemons to steam and season the chicken from the inside. If you don’t tie together the legs, a bit more of that lemon flavor will escape into the oven.

Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with olive oil, basil, paprika, and black pepper. You don’t need to salt the chicken because it has been sitting in the salty brine.

Roast for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes (25 minutes per pound of chicken), until chicken is cooked through and skin is nicely browned.

Let the chicken rest for at least 30 minutes. This will give the juices a chance to redistribute inside the chicken and ensure that every piece is nice and moist. Just chuck the chicken onto a platter or big plate and use the time to prepare a side dish or whip up some drinks.

Carve and serve.

I like to serve it with a slice of the roasted lemon for garnish. This chicken is so crazy good you will not believe it. I made the mistake of eating a piece before taking these final shots, and I could not focus on taking these pictures AT ALL!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Roasted Lemon Chicken

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

1 hour 40 mins

Total time

2 hours 10 mins

 

How to make brine for chicken and then roast the chicken with whole lemons and spices for a flavorful, easy dinner.

Author: Tekesha @ EatMoreFoodProject

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Water, approximately 6 cups
• ¾ cup sea salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 stalk of scallion
• 4 lb whole chicken
• 2 small lemons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Fill a pot halfway with lukewarm water, about 4 cups.
2. Get out the salt, sugar, and scallion.
3. Using the back of a knife, bash the scallion up and down the stalk to release its flavors.
4. Add the salt, sugar and scallion to the water and stir to dissolve.
5. Place the chicken in the brining solution. Remember to remove and throw away the bag of giblets from the inside cavity of the chicken before placing it in the brine.
6. Cover the chicken with cool water, approximately 2 cups.
7. Brine the chicken for 30 minutes to overnight in the fridge.
8. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat the outside dry with a paper towel.
9. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
10. Using a fork, pierce the lemons all over.
11. Put the chicken on a rack on top of a foil-lined baking sheet.
12. Place the lemons inside the cavity of the chicken.
13. Use kitchen twine to loosely tie together the chicken legs.
14. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with olive oil, basil, paprika, and black pepper.
15. Roast for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes (25 minutes per pound of chicken), until chicken is cooked through and skin is nicely browned.
16. Let the chicken rest for at least 30 minutes.
17. Carve and serve.

Notes

I am not including nutrition information for this recipe because I don't know how much of the brine solution gets absorbed by the chicken, and I suspect it varies based on how long the chicken sits in the brine.

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