Oven-Roasted Lemon & Herb Chicken
Honestly, there’s nothing EASIER than popping a whole chicken into the oven, letting it cook for about an hour, and having enough juicy, tender and delicious leftovers for the entire week. It takes all the stress of having to prep multiple cuts of chicken (or various other protein sources!) from your meal prep, and just keeps things super uncomplicated, yet oh-so-tasty!
For this particular whole chicken, I purchased it at Rowe Farms, which is a local, sustainably raised “farm-to-table” style grocery & meat shop. The chicken was already flattened, and the excess bones & giblets removed, so all I had to do was season & roast!
The result was a super juicy, tender, and perfectly-seasoned roasted chicken that provided at least 5 day’s worth of meals and worked perfectly in my Fiesta Chicken Summer Meal Prep.
Recipe & details available below!
INGREDIENTS:
1 whole chicken
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp dried rosemary
3 cloves garlic, minced
zest of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Pat chicken dry thoroughly with paper towels.
Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.
In a small bowl, combine oil, oregano, rosemary, garlic and lemon zest; then, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Using your fingers (I usually wear food gloves for this!), carefully spread oil & herb mixture all over the chicken, and then season with salt and pepper to taste.
Place into the oven and roast until the chicken is golden brown and completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 1 hour.
Let rest 10-15 minutes. Then, serve immediately, or wait until fully cooled to place into meal preps or into an airtight storage container.
MACROS:
Servings, 5
Calories per serving, 307
** Macros depend on what part of the chicken you are eating! It’ll be a higher fat, lower protein ratio if you’re eating the darker meat parts (thighs/leg) versus a higher protein, lower fat ratio for the white meat