Recipe for Lemon Herb Chicken and Potatoes: Easy, Juicy, and Flavorful Recipe
There are some dinners that ease our lives. One of such dishes is my favorite lemon herb chicken. This is an easy and tasty dinner I prepare on my busiest weeknights, when I need a comforting dinner without spending all night in the kitchen. All the ingredients just have to be thrown in one dish to bake for less than an hour – juicy chicken, crispy potatoes,s and soft asparagus with rich buttery lemon herb flavor.
My lemon herb chicken recipe was created during a period when I had too many things to do but still wanted to eat delicious home-cooked food. The smell of it would draw everyone into the kitchen, asking when dinner would be ready. Butter, lemon, and fresh herbs create a truly mouth-watering aroma.
The first time I made this chicken dinner, I used too much rosemary, Mary thinking that “more herbs = more flavor”. It turned out to be not very tasty as rosemary quickly became too pungent, resulting in a little bit bitter sauce. Now, I use less rosemary, giving way to other spices. Thus, I achieve a perfectly balanced dish with rich, savory, and lemony flavors.
Lemon herb chicken turns out to be moist and juicy, with crispy, golden-brown skin. Here is how to prepare it.
What Will You Need?
For the Lemon Sauce
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) chicken broth
- Juice of 1 lemon (3 tbsp or 45 ml)
- 1 teaspoon (1 g) fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 g) fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) onion powder
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) paprika
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (1 g) black pepper
The use of fresh rosemary gives a unique, intense flavor to the dish, but its excess can make your dish a bit bitter.
For the Chicken
- 3 chicken leg quarters with skin (2–2.5 lbs or 900–1130 g)
Chicken quarters with skin give you a nice crispy skin and moist meat.
For the Vegetables
- 4 medium-sized potatoes (680 g), quartered
- 1 bunch of asparagus (340 g), trimmed and cut
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (15 ml)
- Remaining seasoning from the marinade
Asparagus can be easily substituted with broccoli, green beans, or carrots, depending on what you have in the fridge.
Topping
- 1 lemon, sliced thin
The slices of lemon will be roasting above the chicken pieces.
Making the Sauce
Firstly, melt the butter in a bowl. Add the seasonings, lemon juice, fresh herbs,s and chicken broth. Mix everything thoroughly.
The aroma will become bright and savory right after combining all the ingredients. The lemon adds brightness and freshness, while the herbs give warmth and richness to the butter. First of all, I put all the dry ingredients into the melted butter. In this way, the spices spread easily and cover all the components.
In this case, the mixture looks somewhat milky, which happens due to the interaction between the lemons and the butter. Don’t worry about that, because it will disappear in the end.
Pro tip: I usually prefer to use freshly squeezed lemon juice to avoid using bottled one. The latter doesn’t have that rich taste.
Preparing the Chicken
Use a knife to cut several shallow holes into the meat of the chicken quarters. The marinade will better penetrate the meat this way.
Next, pour the marinade onto chicken pieces and make sure they are evenly covered.
Leave the chicken in the fridge to be marinated for a night, if you have enough time to do it. If not, you will still have a great dish even though it has been marinated for only a short time, while you prepare the vegetables.
When I tried to make this dish without the cuts on the chicken, I got moist skin but dry meat inside the chicken piece. Hence, I advise you to score the chicken thoroughly.
Pro tip: Leave the chicken pieces to be brought to room temperature for about 15 minutes. Otherwise, cold chicken will not be baked evenly.
Preparation of the Vegetables
Quarter the potatoes, making their pieces equally large in size, thus ensuring they cook evenly. Cut off the woody ends of the asparagus and divide the stalks into smaller pieces.
Rub vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle the leftover seasonings on them.
After this step, the potatoes should be lightly glossy and sprinkled with seasoning. The asparagus will immediately gain a bright green color after being covered.
Potatoes in this recipe absorb all the juice from the chicken, becoming soft but crispy on the outside.
Pro tip: Try not to cut potatoes into too small pieces, otherwise they may be overcooked, while the chicken pieces have not finished baking yet.
Assembling the Baking Pan
Put the chicken pieces into the baking dish, putting their skin to the top. Place the potatoes on one side of the chicken pieces.
Then, arrange the asparagus pieces around the chicken pieces, and pour any leftover marinade on the vegetables and chicken.
After doing that, you will notice an amazing aroma coming from the dish with all that butter and seasoning. Moreover, you will see that all the ingredients of your marinade are evenly spread throughout the baking pan.
Cover the chicken with lemon slices. During roasting, they become soft and aromatic, adding a bright taste.
Once I had made this dish several times, I realized that one overcrowded baking pan leads to poor results. Thus, you should use a baking pan big enough to roast potatoes without overcrowding them.
Roasting
Bake your dinner at 380°F (193°C) for about 40-45 minutes.
Your kitchen will smell amazing after 20 minutes of roasting: the bubbles of butter and seasoning will appear, and the golden crust will cover the skin of your chicken quarters.
When the chicken is ready, the golden crust must be crispy and slightly blistered, while the juices running out from the chicken meat should be clear and not bloody. Additionally, the potatoes should become golden outside and soft inside. The asparagus should be soft, but not mushy.
If you want extra crispy skin on chicken pieces, use a broiler during the final two minutes of roasting.
Pro tip: If you aren’t sure whether your dish is cooked, you should check its temperature with a meat thermometer. The minimum required temperature is 165 °F (74 °C).
Serving
Let the dish cool down for 5 minutes.
This lemon herb chicken is absolutely juicy with moist, succulent meat and crispy golden skin covered with a bright lemony taste. The potatoes become crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, and the asparagus remains soft.
Moreover, you can put some buttery sauce from the dish on the plates along with the chicken pieces.
It is impossible not to say that this dish tastes like it took hours to be prepared, although it requires only half an hour.
Mistakes Not to Make
Too Much Rosemary in the Marinade
As rosemary gets stronger in taste while roasting, too much of this herb will make your dish bitter and pungent. Hence, you should use it moderately.
Overcrowded Baking Pan
If your baking dish isn’t big enough to contain all the pieces of chicken quarters and vegetables, they might be steamed instead of being roasted. Therefore, use a bigger baking pan.
No Cuts Made on Chicken Quarters
Unless chicken meat has small holes in it, the marinade can remain only on the surface of chicken pieces. Thus, scoring them is a must.
Too Small Pieces of Potatoes
If you cut the pieces of potatoes too small, they can be overcooked quickly and burned while the chicken pieces aren’t ready yet.
Not Patting Chicken Dry
Damp chicken pieces won’t give you crispy golden skin on their surface. Thus, you should pat the chicken quarters with a paper towel.
Ways to Adapt This Recipe
Replacing Vegetables
Instead of asparagus, you may use broccoli, which would provide you with crispy edges. Green beans and carrots are also good alternatives.
Adding Garlic
You may add 2–3 smashed garlic cloves directly into the baking pan to enrich your dish with more flavorful aromas.
Spicing up the Seasoning Mixture
A little dash of red pepper flakes or cayenne will make your dinner hotter. It goes perfectly with lemon.
Storage and Serving
Leftover dinner can be stored in a fridge for 4 days in an airtight box. Its taste becomes better the next day, when the herbs will settle well in the chicken meat.
To store your dish for long-term usage, place the chicken and potatoes in freezer-safe containers and keep them frozen for about 2 months. However, asparagus is not a good option to freeze; hence, you should freeze it separately.
To reheat the dish, warm it in an oven preheated to 350°F (177°C).
I enjoy my chicken being served fresh from the oven with additional slices of lemon. Also, it goes well with warm bread absorbing buttery liquid from the pan.
This recipe is my go-to for preparing a quick yet special dinner. Give it a try and share your thoughts with me about the vegetables you have used instead of asparagus.
