A roasted lemon chicken with potatoes is a classic Sunday dish for many Greek families. This is the exact recipe I make every time we enjoy a delicious roast chicken at our home. The aromatic chicken marinade has lots of garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and many herbs. The lemony potato seasoning brings brightness to the chicken for an delectable roast.
If you love this Roasted Lemon Chicken, you will also love this Greek Dutch Oven Roast Chicken, Spatchcock Chicken With Lemon & Garlic, or Buttermilk Chicken Thighs With Lemon Garlic Orzo!
Why this recipe sings
This roasted lemon chicken with potatoes is a company-worthy and cozy dish, perfect for a Sunday family lunch or served to guests alongside a leafy green salad.
The chicken is juicy and flavorful, and the potatoes are perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
Fresh garlic, rosemary, thyme, and sage are combined with extra virgin olive oil and a bit of mustard, then rubbed all over the chicken to marinate.
Ideally, you marinate for as long as 24 hours, but an hour or two will do the trick if you don’t have a lot of time.
The classic Greek lemon potatoes have their own seasoning with lots of lemon and garlic. They roast in all the chicken juices and are full of flavor. The lemony sauce can be served on the side to be enjoyed over chicken and potatoes.
Here is what you need
- Chicken: Get a whole free-range chicken broken into eight pieces. Bone-in chicken breasts or a pack of chicken thighs will work as well (in the same total weight, 3.5 to 4 lbs).
- Yukon gold potatoes. They have a thin skin that I like to keep. After scrubbing the potatoes clean, they are cut into wedges.
- Lemons. Their aromatic juice and zest will be used to season the potatoes before roasting.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Mustard. You can use any mustard you like. Yellow, dijon, and even honey mustard.
- Garlic head. In this recipe, they are about ten cloves used in total. If you prefer a lighter garlic touch, cut the amount in half.
- Fresh herbs. Thyme, sage sprigs, and rosemary. I love working with fresh herbs. You can use all or some. If no fresh options are available, you can use their dried equivalent.*
- Sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and dried oregano.
*This recipe is flexible. If you would choose one herb to use, that would be dried oregano. It is the dried herb found in most traditional Greek recipes, a pantry staple that sits right next to the stove along with sea salt and pepper.
How to make it
Make the chicken marinade
Using a food processor**, pulse half the garlic, the leaves from two sprigs of rosemary, two sprigs of thyme, a tablespoon of dried oregano, the mustard, a generous pinch of sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and half the olive oil.
** If you don't have a food processor chop all the marinade ingredients as small as you can and mix them with the olive oil using a jar or a bowl.
Add the chicken to a pan and pour over the marinade. Massage the chicken marinade through every nook, cranny and under the skin if possible.
Cover and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for one hour to a day.
Get ready to roast
Remove chicken from the refrigerator half an hour before cooking.
Preheat the oven to 390°F / 200°C
Scrub the potatoes clean and them into wedges.
Make the potato seasoning
Using a food processor, pulse the other half garlic, juice and zest from two lemons, a teaspoon of sea salt, a tablespoon of dried oregano, a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and the rest of the olive oil.
Tuck the potato wedges between the chicken pieces and pour the garlic lemon mixture over the potatoes. Keep the rest of the mixture on the side to baste the chicken as it cooks.
Bake chicken and potatoes covered with aluminum foil for 45 minutes.
Remove aluminum foil and bake for another 30-45 minutes. If you have leftover garlic-lemon mixture, baste the chicken with it occasionally. This step is optional.
Measure the internal temperature of the chicken to make sure it is fully cooked and juices run clear. The safe temperature for chicken is 165°F / 74°C.
Don't overcook. If the chicken is ready and the potatoes need more time, move the chicken to a serving platter, cover it with aluminum foil, and roast the potatoes until they are nice and crispy outside and tender inside.
The sauce that remains in the baking pan has all the chicken drippings and is infused with all the seasonings, herbs, lemon, and garlic and is excellent to pour over the roast.
Pass the sauce through a sieve to remove any undesired fat components and make it silky. Transfer into a saucer to serve with the roast.
Remove the chicken from the oven. Cover and let it rest for ten minutes. and serve with a traditional Greek salad, bread, and feta.
Check out my Greek pantry staples
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Classic Greek Lemon Chicken And Potatoes
Equipment
- Meat thermometer
- large baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 free-range chicken cut in 8 pieces. A 3.5-4 lb chicken.
- 6 Yukon gold potatoes cut in wedges
- 2 lemons juiced and zested
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup mustard
- 1 garlic head
- 2-3 thyme sprigs
- 2-3 sage sprigs
- 2-3 rosemary sprigs
Instructions
Marinate
- Using a food processor, pulse half the garlic, leaves from two sprigs of rosemary, leaves from two sprigs of thyme, a tablespoon of dried oregano, the mustard, a generous pinch of sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and half the olive oil.
- Add the chicken to a pan and pour over the marinade. Massage it through every nook and cranny, and under the skin if you can. Let chicken marinate for one hour to a day.
Get ready to roast
- Remove chicken from the refrigerator half an hour before cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 390°F / 200°C
- Cut the potatoes into wedges and add them to a bowl.
- Using a food processor, pulse the other half garlic, juice, and zest from two lemons, a teaspoon of sea salt, a tablespoon of dried oregano, a generous amount of freshly ground pepper, and the rest of the olive oil.
- Tuck the potato wedges between the chicken pieces and pour the garlic lemon mixture over the potatoes.
- Bake chicken and potatoes covered with aluminum foil for 45 minutes.
- Remove aluminum foil and bake for another 30-45 minutes. If you have leftover garlic-lemon mixture, baste the chicken with it occasionally. This step is optional.Measure the chicken's internal temperature to ensure it is fully cooked and juices run clear. The safe temperature for chicken is 165°F / 74°C.
- Remove the chicken from the oven. Cover and let it rest for ten minutes. Pass the sauce in the pan through a sieve, transfer it into a saucer and serve with the roast (See notes below).Serve chicken and potatoes with a green salad, bread, and feta.
Notes
- If you don't have a food processor chop all the marinade ingredients as small as you can and mix them well in a jar or bowl.
- Instead of fresh herbs, use their fried equivalents. If there is one herb you use, make it dried oregano. Almost every Greek recipe has dried oregano in it. Its aroma is tied with most of the Greek flavors.
- Don't overcook. If the chicken is ready and the potatoes need more time, move the chicken to a serving platter, cover it with aluminum foil, and roast the potatoes until they are nice and crispy outside and tender inside.
- The sauce that remains in the baking pan has all the chicken drippings and is infused with all the seasonings, herbs, lemon, and garlic and is excellent to pour over the roast. Pass the sauce through a sieve to remove any undesired fat components and make it silky. Transfer into a saucer to serve with the roast.
Nutrition
