Dairy Free Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken

Welcome back to Sunday Scratchups, your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales + affordable ingredients. This week, I picked up a big 9 lb roasting chicken on sale for $5.17 after clearance price + $2 off sticker — always look for that clearance meat! 🙂

It’s kind of funny that this chicken is 3/4 the size of the entire turkey I roasted up last Sunday… But, it ending up costing me just $.57/lb, and I was so happy with this find that I thought I’d share our favorite yummy Dairy Free Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken recipe with you. Generally these recipes call for butter, but I make mine with olive oil so that Dairy Free Junior High Guy can enjoy.

Dairy Free Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

One large whole roasting chicken (mine was just over 9 lbs)
Kosher salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
2 lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp rosemary
2 tsp Herbes de Provence
2 tsp minced garlic
One medium onion

– optional ingredients, if also making potatoes

2 lbs potatoes, diced
6-7 whole garlic cloves, peeled
Olive oil
Black pepper
Herbes de Provence

Directions

Remove giblets and rinse chicken well under cold water. Place in large metal roasting pan and pat dry with paper towels. Season with Kosher salt and black pepper.

In a separate bowl, mix olive oil, rosemary, Herbes de Provence, the juice from both lemons, and garlic. Rub cut side of squeezed lemon halves over chicken and insert into cavity. Peel and quarter onion and insert that into the cavity as well. Pour olive oil mixture over chicken.

If also making potatoes, wash, dice, and arrange around chicken. Add peeled garlic cloves to potatoes and drizzle with a little more olive oil, then season with pepper and more Herbes de Provence.

Bake at 425 degrees, basting occasionally and stirring potatoes, about 1.5 hours or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Remove from oven and tent with foil; let rest covered for about 10 minutes, then remove and discard lemon halves and onion before carving.

Notes:

• Even if your chicken has one of the little pop-up things in it, don’t rely on that to test done-ness. A meat thermometer is much more reliable. Mine was fully cooked and still hadn’t popped.
• Be sure to let it rest before carving, as tempting as it will be to dig into your chicken right away. It really helps preserve the juiciness.
• If your potatoes need a little extra time, just pop them back in the oven while your chicken is resting.

Easy-peasy! Whole chickens go on sale all the time, so it’s useful to have a reliable basic roasting recipe in your repertoire, then change up the seasonings as desired. I like to roast potatoes in the same pan as an easy built-in side, so then you just have to add a salad or green vegetable to round out your meal.

You won’t miss the butter, either! Besides being dairy free, this Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken is also naturally gluten free, so a great allergy friendly meal for our whole family.

Dairy Free Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken, printable recipe

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Dairy Free Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken

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Course dinner

Servings 0

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• One large whole roasting chicken (mine was just over 9 lbs)
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• 2 lemons
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 2 tsp Herbes de Provence
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 medium onion

Optional, if also making potatoes

• 2 lbs potatoes, diced
• 6-7 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• Olive oil
• Black pepper, to taste
• Herbes de Provence, to taste

Instructions

• Remove giblets and rinse chicken well under cold water.
• Place in large metal roasting pan and pat dry with paper towels.
• Season with Kosher salt and black pepper.
• In a separate bowl, mix olive oil, rosemary, Herbes de Provence, the juice from both lemons, and garlic.
• Rub cut side of squeezed lemon halves over chicken and insert into cavity.
• Peel and quarter onion and insert that into the cavity as well.
• Pour olive oil mixture over chicken.
• If also making potatoes, wash, dice, and arrange around chicken.
• Add peeled garlic cloves to potatoes and drizzle with a little more olive oil, then season with pepper and more Herbes de Provence.
• Bake at 425 degrees, basting occasionally and stirring potatoes, about 1.5 hours or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.
• Remove from oven and tent with foil; let rest covered for about 10 minutes, then remove and discard lemon halves and onion before carving.

Notes

If you're making a smaller chicken, adjust the seasonings, oil, and cooking time proportionately and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. (Even if your chicken has one of the little pop-up things in it, don't rely on that to test done-ness. A meat thermometer is much more reliable.) Be sure to let it rest before carving to help preserve the juiciness, as tempting as it will be to dig into your chicken right away. If your potatoes need a little extra time, just pop them back in the oven while your chicken is resting.

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