Last Updated on September 17, 2023
A whole roast chicken is always impressive and here we do that, and we also make a sauce for the chicken along the way. Pitted olives, shallots and half-moons of lemon roast alongside until caramelized. Once the chicken is done cooking, those are turned into a sauce with a little broth, a little olive oil and chopped fresh herbs and garlic. That’s then spooned over the golden-roasted chicken.
Ingredients
- 1 ButcherBox Whole Chicken roughly 3-½ to 4-½ pounds
- Salt
- Pepper
- 5 small shallots
- 1 jar pitted Castelvetrano olives
- 1 large lemon
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped oregano
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Trim chicken of any extra fat and/or skin and discard. Place the chicken into an oven-safe vessel with a little extra room on the sides for the other ingredients, like a 9x13x2-inch baking dish. Season generously with salt and pepper before baking (it's always better to season as far in advance as possible, like a day before you start cooking).
- Bake the chicken for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Drain the olives, saving ½ cup of the liquid, peel the shallots, crush and peel the garlic and slice the lemon into ¼-inch to ½-inch half moons, removing the seeds. Set all of this aside.
- At 1 hour and 15 minutes, carefully open the oven, take out the baking dish and scatter the olives, shallots, lemon and garlic around the chicken. Pour the reserved olive brine into the dish, drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and place back in the oven. Bake until the chicken is golden and browned in parts; it should register 165°F (73.9°C), set in the thickest part of a thigh, on a meat thermometer. The lemons, shallots and garlic should have softened too. Cook about 1 hour and 30 minutes longer (2 hours and 45 minutes total).
- Transfer the chicken onto a cutting board to rest; return the baking dish with the olive, shallots and lemon to the oven, turn up the temperature to 450ºF; and cook until the ends of the lemons have singed and the olives blistered, about 15–20 minutes.
- Serve the chicken whole or cut into pieces and transfered to a platter. Fold the oregano into the olives, shallots, lemon and olive oil brine liquid then quickly spoon everything over the chicken and on the side of it.
Share on Pinterest!Pin at @Butcher_Box!
The ButcherBox Kitchen Team works hard to give you confidence you need to pull off any kitchen endeavor.
