When meyer lemon season begins to peak, a favorite lemon chicken dinner is to oven roast a whole chicken that’s lathered with meyer lemon and herbs. Fragrant rosemary, fresh meyer lemon juice and tons of meyer lemon zest all infuse into this whole baked chicken to make a fabulous and quick and easy dinner. Unlike the common Eureka lemons, these meyer lemons bring a beautiful floral aroma to the oven roasted chicken. Combine the earthy flavors of the fresh rosemary, what you have is a perfectly juicy, moist and fresh lemon and herb baked chicken.
If you don’t have meyer lemons, you can use regular lemons and other herbs. Almost any combination of herbs, including dry herbs, make a marinade. Probably our favorite classic baked or roasted chicken recipe has this duo combination and you really can’t go wrong. It’s hard to resist the citrus flair and fragrant balance of herbs on the crispy lemon chicken skin. This recipe is so good, be prepared to have it as your go-to lemon and herb whole baked chicken recipe!
More Baked or Roasted Chicken Recipes and Chicken Soup Recipes. Here’s a Miso roast chicken and spice rubbed chicken roast.
Photo Tutorial for Meyer Lemon & Herbs Roast Chicken Recipe
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- Combine fresh meyer lemon and rosemary
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- Rub chicken with fresh lemon and herbs mixture
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- Add fresh cut meyer lemon
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- Allow to rest for 20 minutes before carving
Video for How to Oven Roast a Whole Chicken
(we know, it isn’t quite the same recipe, but it may help give a general visual on how to prepare the meyer lemon-rosemary roast chicken)
Video on How to Truss a Chicken
This can always be done with regular lemons, but the meyer lemons add a nice mellow brightness which is perfect to not overpower the rosemary. Fresh rosemary is easily tastier than dried, but if that is all you can get, it makes a passable substitute. Please read post for more recipe details.
- 1 whole Chicken
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped Rosemary
- zest from two Meyer Lemons
- Kosher Salt
- fresh cracked Black Pepper
- 2 medium Meyer Lemons , cut into quarters
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Preheat oven to 425°F. Pat dry the chicken. For the crispiest skin- see step 2. For quickest preparation- proceed to step 3.
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Sprinkle salt over all surfaces of chicken. Set on a plate, place in fridge and allow to air dry for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Remove from fridge and pat dry water that had come to skin surface.
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Combine olive oil, rosemary, and meyer lemon zest. Truss the chicken if desired (see video in post for trussing instructions). Place in a baking dish.
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Spread rosemary mixture evenly over the chicken. Squeeze one whole meyer lemon worth of quarters over and inside the chicken and place the squeezed pieces in the roasting pan with the chicken. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper.
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Roast for about 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes or until juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh or the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F when probed with an instant read thermometer.
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Remove from oven and allow to rest for about 10 minutes. Carve and serve with the remaining meyer lemon quarters to squeeze as desired.
Medeja says
I always have to browse a lot to find a good recipe for roasting whole chicken. This recipe is really useful! Thanks.
KalynsKitchen says
Happy Saturday! Just letting you know I featured this recipe in my monthly round-up of 25 Deliciously Healthy Low-Carb Recipes from October 2015. Hope a lot of my readers will come over here and try it!
Best Recipe Box says
Thank you so much Kalyn for including our recipe on your round up!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
This looks great. I’ve never had a Meyer lemon., but have lots of regular lemons.
SG says
I don’t have the best of luck with roast chicken. I was vegetarian for awhile and before that, chicken was never my favorite. I hate chicken skin. The one time I made a delicious, memorable roast chicken (not this recipe) is was a Meyer Lemon-Rosemary chicken and it will forever be my favorite flavor combination. Not only delicious but the house smelled AMAZING – I actually started looking for Meyer Lemon-Rosemary candles! The kickers was a rice-mushroom stuffing w/ brown basmati, wild rice, mixed mushrooms, garlic, onion etc.