This easy chicken with crispy skin and a honey glaze is marinated in lemon juice and fried. Basting with honey creates the sweet glaze that ups the deliciousness factor!
Nothing beats a roast chicken for an easy family dinner!
In this recipe, we marinate the whole chicken in lemon juice for a few hours, roast the chicken, and then glaze it with honey for the last few minutes in the oven.
The acidity of the lemon juice acts like buttermilk to tenderize the chicken. The chicken is salted as it goes into the marinade, so the marinade also serves as a gentle brine.
Cooking with honey can be problematic as it burns so easily. So we wait until the chicken is almost done and then baste it with honey so it doesn’t burn but still gives us a wonderful honey flavor.
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Perfect side dishes to round out your fried chicken meal
- Potatoes baked twice
- Green beans with almonds and thyme
- Make-ahead dinner rolls
- Roasted Cauliflower
- carrot souffle
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Roast chicken glazed with honey
You can marinate this chicken for 2 hours or up to overnight. Overnight marinating will result in more lemon flavor in the chicken, but in any case, the lemon flavor is subtle.
ingredients
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4 lb (1.8kg) whole chicken
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1 cup (236ml) lemon juice
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1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
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Kosher salt
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Fresh ground black pepper
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Little branches fresh thyme
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1/2 fresh lemoncut into wedges
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1/4 cup (60ml) honeyheated to facilitate brushing
method
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Marinate Chicken:
Rub the chicken with about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt all around the surface of the chicken. Place the lemon juice and whole chicken in a resealable plastic bag (such as a large freezer bag). Seal the bag and swirl the lemon juice around so it coats the chicken.
Place the bagged chicken in a bowl so it doesn’t spill all over the fridge in case of a leak, and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Turn the chicken occasionally to keep all sides coated in the lemon juice.
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Preheat the oven:
Preheat the oven to 205°C. Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven.
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Pat the chicken dry, rub with oil and add spices and lemon wedges:
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and remove from the marinade bag (discard the marinade).
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil. Salt and pepper everything, including the indentation. Place sprigs of thyme and lemon wedges in the well.
Would you like to learn how to prepare the chicken for the oven? Check out our guide on how to tie a chicken!
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Fry the chicken and baste it with honey:
Place the chicken on a wire rack over a shallow roasting pan (we recommend a wire rack to help heat circulate around the chicken). Roast at 450°F for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F. Roast for another 45 minutes.
While the chicken is roasting, heat the honey in a bowl in the microwave or in a small saucepan to make it easier to brush.
After the chicken has roasted at 175°C (350°F) for 45 minutes, use a pastry brush to generously coat the top and sides of the chicken with honey.
Cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes at 175°C (350°F) until an instant read thermometer reads 71°C (160°F) for the breast and 77°C (170°F) for the thigh, or when crisp A knife inserted into the breast and thighs releases juices that are clear, not pink.
Honey will burn if it gets too hot, so watch the chicken at this stage. If the skin is getting too dark and the chicken is still not done, loosely cover the chicken with a piece of aluminum foil. Coat the chicken once more with honey before removing it from the oven.
What is the temperature of cooked chicken?CONTINUE READING:
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Tent with foil and let it rest:
Remove the chicken from the oven and place on a cutting board. Leave the tent with foil to rest for 15 minutes.
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Make the sauce:
Scrape the drippings out of the skillet with a metal spatula. Pour the pan juices and drippings into a small saucepan. If there are blackened pieces of burnt honey, remove them. Skim off all but a tablespoon of fat.
If you want to thicken the juices for the sauce, make a slurry with 1 teaspoon cornstarch or flour and 1 tablespoon water. Add the slurry to the drops, heat and stir until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve the chicken with gravy or thickened sauce.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 572 | calories |
| 27g | Fat |
| 40g | carbohydrates |
| 48g | protein |
