Lemon and Herb Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary Potatoes

Lemon and Herb Chicken is a reliable, flavour-packed dish that works well for both everyday meals and simple meal prep. Fresh herbs and lemon bring brightness, while Wilson’s Foods Rosemary Flavoured Oil adds depth and a gentle aromatic note that complements the chicken without overpowering it.

The rosemary oil carries the citrus and herb flavours through the dish, helping to keep the chicken tender and fragrant during cooking.

This dish is particularly well suited to summer cooking — ideal for the braai, oven, or a grill pan. Serve it with a crisp salad, roasted vegetables, or warm bread to soak up the pan juices. It also works well for meal prep, as the flavours continue to develop over time.

Lemon & Herb Chicken with Lemon & Rosemary Roast Potatoes

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Total Time 2 hours hrs

Servings: 6

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 x 2kg free-range chicken
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1.5 kg potatoes peeled
• 1 large preferably unwaxed, lemon
• 1 whole bulb of garlic broken into cloves
• a handful of fresh thyme
• Wilsons Foods Rosemary Oil
• a handful of fresh rosemary sprigs leaves picked
• optional: 8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon

Method

 

1. Rub the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do this in the morning if possible, then cover the chicken and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to start cooking it for lunch or dinner. By doing this, you’ll make the meat really tasty when cooked.
2. Preheat your oven to 190ºC/gas 5. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cut the potatoes into golf-ball-sized pieces, put them into the water with the whole lemon and the garlic cloves, and cook for 12 minutes.
3. Drain and allow to steam dry for 1 minute (this will give you crispier potatoes), then remove the lemon and garlic. Toss the potatoes in the pan while still hot so their outsides get chuffed up and fluffy – this will make them lovely and crispy when they roast.
4. While the lemon is still hot, carefully stab it about 10 times. Take the chicken out of the fridge, pat it with kitchen paper and rub it all over with Wilsons Foods Rosemary oil. Push the garlic cloves, the whole lemon and the thyme into the cavity, then put the chicken into a roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes.
5. Remove the chicken to a plate. Some lovely fat should have cooked out of it into the roasting tray, so toss the potatoes into this with the rosemary leaves. Shake the tray around, then make a gap in the centre of the potatoes and put the chicken back in.
6. If using the bacon, lay the rashers over the chicken breast and cook for a further 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are nice and golden. (You can tell the chicken is cooked when the thigh meat pulls easily away from the bone and the juices run clear.)
7. We like to remove the bacon from the chicken and crumble it up over the potatoes. Then I remove the lemon and garlic from inside the chicken, squeeze all the garlic flesh out of the skin, mush it up and smear it all over the chicken, discard the lemon and rosemary and carve the chicken at the table. Heaven!