Citrus and Garlic Roast Chicken
Happy Tuesday Simply Paleo Friends!
This recipe is a no bullshit, grand slam. The proof is in the pudding when your husband says "holy crap this is the most amazing roast chicken I've ever had." The trick is the citrus blend in the cavity and a dip in a brine mixture for about 3 hours. I served with a blended blackberry dipping sauce and simple cucumber salad.
If you love perfectly moist (hate that word!!) chicken with amazingly crunchy skin you're gonna pee your pants when you eat this. Citrus and Garlic Roast Chicken - let's go!
Ingredients
- For the Brine
- non iodized salt - 1 cup
- orange - 1, Some water to cover the bird in a stock pot
- Roasting the Chicken
- free range chicken - 1 whole
- grass fed pasture butter - 1 stick, sliced into 1 inch thick slices
- lemon - 1 meyer
- orange (blood orange is lovely) - 1 large
- rosemary - 3 sprigs, finely chopped
- garlic - 6 cloves, finely chopped
- Few drops of EVOO
Instructions
Live to Thrive,
Lauren
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Doin it!!!
This looks so amazing! I can’t wait to try it.
I have one question though, it says place half of the garlic in the butter pocket, but the recipient makes no mention of the other half of the garlic. Where do I put it?
Thanks!
Reporting back best chick I have eaten / cook will make this again & again sooo good. Thanks!!!
Hey Kimberly! The other 1/2 of the garlic goes in the cavity!
Nathan- I’m SO AMPED you liked this. I just bought another whole chicken to make it again this week! I’m addicted! xoxo
Sounds yummy and I’ll be trying it soon. Question … do you cut up the lemon and orange that go inside the bird? I would think so, but maybe there’s some strange phenomena where they explode while it’s cooking and permeate the meat that way?
HI Jen! Yes, I halved them, I’ll make that addition to the recipe :). Haha I love your idea though!
This looks so darn good. I am a beginner and am searching for simple recipes. thanks for sharing.
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This recipe was awesome! I made it for my sister and her kids (trying to get them to go Paleo while they’re young!) and they said it was the best meal I’ve ever cooked… Which is bittersweet because I cook all the time and like to think my food is good all the time! Haha, either way, keep up the great work!
although pasture butter is alot healthier than reg butter, according to all my research its still dairy and therefore not paleo. I hope i am the one wrong here cause i do miss butter, but in a paleo recipe website dont think it should be included.
In most of my reading, dairy can be allowed in moderation for those that don’t have an intolerance to it. Pastured butter is better because of it’s high CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) content.
Hi Shawn, thanks for your comment. Over the years, I’ve found that dairy is the least upsetting “non paleo” item. Although it’s technically not Paleo, pastured butter is on my list of once and a while. If you’re going strict Paleo, obviously you’d want to substitute ghee. Listen to your body!
I’ve made a Thanksgiving turkey in a similar fashion, brining then roasting, and one change that I made was the butter. I soften the butter and then add chopped parsley, garlic, rosemary, thyme, etc.) and mash it all up in a Ziploc bag. I squeeze it all down to the end and form it into a “log” and place it in the freezer while I’m brining the bird. Once the bird is ready I use the sliced “seasoned butter” under the skin. This made for some extraordinary flavor once the bird was roasted. I’d imagine that adding a little of the citrus juice to the butter would really be fantastic for this recipe!! Can’t wait to try it this weekend!!
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this
article and the rest of the site is extremely good.
Great recipe, however in the instructions it says to dissolve a cup of salt I to a cup of water. Just wanted to let you know that is physically impossible. Do you mean to just heat them as a mixture?
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I have heard that cooking dairy changes the protein makeup and therefore is easier to digest. Haven’t googled it or done any research, however, it seems to be more tolerabl for me after dairy is cooked.
@Chemist- yes, thank you for your neediness! Make a mixture
@Susan- you can also use Ghee, I’m currently doing the whole 30 and switched to ghee, it was WONDERFUL!
I’ve made this a couple of times and it’s DELICIOUS, but even after increasing the amount of water I *cannot* get the salt to dissolve in the water, so I’ve ended up just saying “screw it” and marinating the chicken with undissolved salt. Are you sure you’re supposed to dissolve an entire cup of it? Also I can never even fit half an orange and half a lemon in the cavity, but I sometimes squeeze some of the juice from the remaining half over the chicken.
Hey Natassja! Thanks for your comment. Are you starting with hot/boiled water? The hot water really helps mix the salt. For the oranges, you can try using tangerines or blood oranges. I think as long as you have some citrus inside the cavity along with some squeezed on the outside you’re golden So glad you like this recipe!
a few questions….
1) so you add the boiled water/salt to chicken in pot while it’s still hot?
2) then add the juice of the orange plus the rind?
3) do you use dutch oven? do you keep it covered/uncovered in the oven?
Hi Hania! Thanks so much for your questions! I do add the hot water/salt directly to a big pot with the chicken in it and fill the rest with cold water, yep then the juice and the rind- just plop the whole thing in.
I just use a glass baking dish in the oven uncovered!
Where is the rest of the recipe? Looking for cooking temperature and how long to cook. Thanks~