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    Nourished Kitchen » Pasture-Raised Chicken and Turkey Recipes » Chicken with Preserved Lemon

    Posted: Sep 12, 2013 · Updated: Oct 22, 2020 by Jenny McGruther · This post contains affiliate links.

    Chicken with Preserved Lemon

    Every Sunday I slow-roast a chicken.  I truss the bird, dress it with herbs, olive oil, and a generous sprinkling of salt and set it on a bed of vegetables - whichever I happen to have on hand.  It's a happy ritual and one that helps to feed us all week long, and, later, when I make bone broth to last all week long.

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    savory roasted chicken
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    Chicken with Preserved Lemon Recipe

    Prep Time5 mins
    Cook Time2 hrs 45 mins
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    Ingredients

    • 1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
    • 1 ½ pounds Russet potatoes (cubed)
    • 6 cloves garlic (chopped)
    • 3 preserved lemons (chopped)
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh savory
    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 tablespoon finely ground real salt

    Instructions

    • Heat the oven to 275 F.
    • Rinse the chicken, inside and out, in a gentle stream of water. Pat it dry, then truss it with 100% cotton cooking twine.. Place the trussed chicken in a baking dish, and arrange the potatoes, garlic and lemons around the chicken.
    • Brush the chicken with olive oil, and sprinkle it generously with sea salt and chopped savory. Drizzle any remaining olive oil over the potatoes, lemon and garlic.
    • Roast, uncovered, at 275 F for 2 hours, increase the oven temperature to 375 F and continue roasting a further 45 minutes or until the skin of the chicken crisps and turns brown, and its juices run clear. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

    Notes

    If you cannot find savory, substitute fresh thyme.
    Tried this recipe?Mention @nourishedkitchen or tag #nourishedkitchen!
    Previous Post: « 1 Chicken, 4 Meals: How I Justify a $25 Broiler
    Next Post: Marrow Bean Soup with Pale Vegetables »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jill says

      November 03, 2018 at 12:24 pm

      Hi I was wondering if you could help me find the broken link for your “feed my family all week” statement. While I like roasting chickens and I love having the broth, my family and I get bored with it. Any thoughts as to how to use chicken meat in creative ways? Thanks I love your blog!

      Reply
    2. Natasha says

      June 25, 2015 at 6:12 pm

      Hi Jenny-- live your blog

      Wondering what the increase in cook time if I doubled the recipe

      Thanks in advance!

      Reply
    3. Conner Middelmann-Whitney says

      July 14, 2014 at 4:48 am

      I have been struggling for years with dry, rubbery oven-roast pastured chickens (and the slow cooker wasn't great either -- it would cook them to a mushy sludge...). I tried your recipe tonight and it worked like a charm!! The meat -- incl. the breasts! -- was succulent, the salty skin golden and crunchy, and the potatoes were caramelized in a lemony-garlicky syrup. My family was delirious! Thank you! Best regards, Conner (Boulder, CO)

      Reply
    4. Kim Pawell says

      July 01, 2014 at 4:39 pm

      Love this blog post. My mom used to cook chicken in a clay pot when I was a kid. I agree lemon, potato and chicken is a great combination. I can’t wait to try your approach. Have you ever tried using a tagine for roasting the chicken? I think I may try your recipe in a tagine. Could be great!

      Reply
    5. umut says

      June 03, 2014 at 6:32 pm

      do you turn the chicken over during cooking?

      Reply
      • Jenny says

        June 03, 2014 at 6:37 pm

        Nope. I prepare it exactly as the recipe is written.

        Reply
    6. shauna says

      October 30, 2013 at 5:02 pm

      This was so easy to prepare and so delicious! My new favorite way to roast chicken. I used thyme because it's what I had on hand, and I also substituted sliced black radish, turnip, carrot and red onion for the potato. They didn't get dried out (not sure if previous reviewer drizzled her root veggies with olive oil -- that did the trick for me, but you could also stir them partway through cooking to make sure they're coated). The recipe turned out to be very flexible, and the whole house smelled amazing.

      Reply
    7. judith scott says

      October 12, 2013 at 3:37 pm

      finally got around to making this bird yesterday afternoon. off the chain with flavor and deliciousness. next time,however,i'll stick with
      just the potatoes. open roasting carrots and the long sweet whitish root veggie just didn't work out for them. they got dried out,tough and not fun to eat. but the rest of this was gorgeous!

      thank you for a full proof roasted chicken recipe.

      Reply
    8. Jennifer says

      October 03, 2013 at 4:02 pm

      I see you haven't commented here for awhile, so I can only hope that you'll see my question and respond. For a couple of years, I've been salting birds a la Zuni Cafe method - afterwards we have cooked them in a variety of ways - spatchcocked and bricked on the grill (pretty good), roasted in a super hot oven (best taste - biggest mess), spatchcocked in the oven (good - still a bit messy - even if you have a self-cleaning oven), rotisserie (routinely good).... but it's only been recently that I've started buying pastured birds exclusively. From your recipe, it sounds like the extra salt, pre-roast - is akin to the 2 day salting method - which lead me to wonder if you'd ever tried salting a pastured bird for a couple of days before roasting it. I haven't tried the clay pot method, but am going to do so in the next day or so. I was trying to decide whether to salt the bird today and cook it in a couple of days, or whether to just go ahead and cook according to your directions.....so it got me thinking about the effects of salting what might be a tougher bird. I'll probably have to experiment and try salting your way and Zuni Cafe way...but I just wondered if you or anyone else had any experience with this.

      Reply
      • Bill Shoemaker says

        May 28, 2014 at 4:20 am

        I'm also committed to Judy Rogers' salting methods. Last time I did chicken on beer can. Slow roasted sounds good. Have you tried Judy's salting method with the slow roasting technique?

        Reply
    9. Jaime says

      September 23, 2013 at 12:45 am

      I made this for our traditional Sunday roast chicken tonight and it was fantastic! You are absolutely right that this is the best way to cook pastured birds. It made it as tender as the storebought organic birds I sometimes buy, but retained the delicious pastured bird flavor. I'll never go back to the old way!

      That said, my preserved lemons are salty as the recipe I followed last year called for a lot more salt than yours does. Next winter I'll try your recipe, but for now I'm accommodating their saltiness by using half the amount. The lemon flavor is still carries through since it is so intense.

      Reply
    10. Karen says

      September 16, 2013 at 8:16 pm

      I love the photo of the chicken nesting on the vegetables ready to be put into the oven. Can you tell me what size and material baking dish you use to roast it?

      Reply
    11. Angie says

      September 16, 2013 at 10:18 am

      Once the fall chill starts to creep into the air here in VT, I like to roast a locally raised chicken & root veggies from our garden on the weekend also. I like how this one comforting meal can turn into several more in the busier days to follow. I usually use leftover meat for a nice pot of chicken noodle soup & maybe in quesadillas. . Wondering how you use it later on in the week also. And please tell me more about how you make broth in your slow cooker- that's one thing I need to learn to do more of!

      Reply
    12. Joshua Hampton (Cooking Classes San Diego) says

      September 15, 2013 at 7:59 pm

      I've never slow-roasted chicken before. I never really had the patience. But this post has convinced me to at least try it, and so I shall!

      Reply
    13. Janet says

      September 14, 2013 at 3:58 pm

      Just a quick edit - I wanted to see how you use the chicken all week, but that link goes to holistic squid's post on fish contamination. 🙂

      Reply
    14. JulieS says

      September 13, 2013 at 3:39 pm

      I'm wondering if there is an alternative to the 100% cotton kitchen twine... or where I could find it locally.

      Reply
    15. Janet says

      September 13, 2013 at 2:46 pm

      Yea! I have some preserved lemons (your recipe). I do have a question about the olive oil. I used to cook with it all the time and now am seeing that I should only use it for salad dressings. Does the heating process of this low and slow method not make it oxidize like sautéing would?

      Thank you.

      Reply
      • Esther says

        September 14, 2013 at 3:25 am

        I keep wondering this too when I see recipes like this talking about heating olive oil. I thought we weren't supposed to? I usually make your herbed chicken with ghee (& sometimes the Moroccan chicken recipe). Love them both! 🙂

        Reply
    16. Becky says

      September 13, 2013 at 11:43 am

      Delicious! I can't wait to try this!

      Reply
    17. Sophie says

      September 12, 2013 at 10:54 pm

      Hi Jenny, thanks for the great recipe. I thought you might like to know about the new recommendations for not washing chickens. http://t.newsone.com/newsone/#!/entry/researchers-say-washing-your-chicken-is-hazardous-to-your-health,522a3143da27f5d9d0187f5b/1
      I used to wash them too but am glad that now I don't have too:) One less thing to do!

      Reply
      • Jenny says

        September 13, 2013 at 2:08 am

        Yeah. I'm aware of the recommendations, and I think they're laughable. I like this response: http://ruhlman.com/2013/08/bacteria-run-away-run-away/

        Reply
        • C.J. says

          September 16, 2013 at 10:17 pm

          Good grief!! I was really surprised that you recommended this article. I thought it was extremely offensive.

          Reply
        • Jessica says

          October 24, 2013 at 5:22 pm

          Haha! Some people are so easily offended they really shouldn't be on the internet. I love the response article you posted. To the point and very funny. Unfortunate some people give so much power to words that they can't see the message!

          Reply
    18. Roy A. Ackerman, PhD, EA @ Cerebrations.biz says

      September 12, 2013 at 7:59 pm

      This sounds perfect for tomorrow night- except I will substitute sweet potatoes.
      Thanks for the idea...

      Reply
    19. cosgrove says

      September 13, 2013 at 12:52 am

      Do you soak the clay pot? In the link it looks like one of the soaking kind.

      Reply
    20. Abbe says

      September 12, 2013 at 6:34 pm

      This looks divine! Rosemary is one of my favorite seasonings and with the fall rolling in I can't wait to start slow roasting. Thank you so much for the recipe and the beautiful pics! Can't wait to try it out 🙂

      Reply
    21. Ada ~ More Food, Please says

      September 12, 2013 at 5:56 pm

      Your dish looks so delicious! I love using rosemary and thyme to season a chicken. I have never slow-roasted a chicken before, so I will give this a try. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    22. Sara G says

      September 12, 2013 at 5:43 pm

      Is there a reason you use Real Salt of Celtic?

      Reply
      • Jenny says

        September 12, 2013 at 9:53 pm

        Absolutely. These salts retain their trace mineral content unlike refined sea salt or iodized salt.

        Reply
        • Sara G says

          September 19, 2013 at 1:14 am

          Sorry that should have read Real Salt over (not of) Celtic?

          Reply
          • Jenny says

            September 19, 2013 at 11:56 am

            Oh! Yes! I choose Real Salt for basic cooking and fermentation and Celtic Sea Salt as a finishing salt. Expense is the reason.

            Reply
    23. :D says

      September 12, 2013 at 5:33 pm

      I'm assuning that you would discard the inside of the lemons and just use the rind of the lemons...of do you use ghe entire preserved lemons. Do you rinse the salt off first?

      Reply
      • Jenny says

        September 12, 2013 at 9:46 pm

        No. The recipe should be prepared, exactly as written. There's no salt to rinse off of a properly preserved lemon, just as there's no salt to rinse off of sauerkraut or a sour pickle.

        Reply
    24. Astaire Roorda says

      September 12, 2013 at 5:13 pm

      I love slow-roasting chickens too! I didn't realize you could roast a chicken with veggies-that's brilliant! I will definitely try it next time!

      Reply
    25. Evelyn says

      September 12, 2013 at 5:12 pm

      Hi,

      I don't know where you are located, but I'm curious how much your bird costs. I'm in NYC and a pastured bird that is just about 3 pounds is going for over $30. Would love to get a sense of comparison.

      Thanks - Evelyn

      Reply
      • Marissa says

        September 12, 2013 at 6:21 pm

        Evelyn, if you can get to Brooklyn there's an organic grassfed butcher, Fleisher's. I shop at their upstate branch, everything I've tried has been fantastic. I believe whole chickens are $3.99lb(prices are listed on their site), at least up here-average chicken being between 3-4lbs.

        Reply
      • Jenny says

        September 12, 2013 at 9:45 pm

        I pay $4 - $5/lb for a pasture-raised bird.

        Reply
      • judith scott says

        October 12, 2013 at 3:34 pm

        in los angeles,we're paying upwards of 30 dollars for a 3 lb bird.

        Reply
    26. KateD says

      September 12, 2013 at 4:48 pm

      This looks so good! Any chance you can make it with regular lemons? I don't have preserved ones.

      Reply
      • Jenny says

        September 12, 2013 at 9:44 pm

        Absolutely, but I wouldn't eat the regular lemons - too bitter.

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Jenny! I'm a nutritional therapist, herbalist and the author of three natural foods cookbooks. You'll find nourishing bone broths, simple herbal remedies and loads of fermented goodness on this site.

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