One my all time favorite ways to make and eat chicken is citrus roasted chicken, nothing fancy, just roasted. This is one of the easiest ways to make chicken, yet, it so juicy and tender. It is just one of those recipes you can prepare, stick in the oven and go do your favorite thing (maybe watch an episode of Real Housewives? I know, it’s a sick obsession!). I decided to make a citrus marinade this time, with grapefruit and limes, but you can use any citrus you have on hand.
I put the breast side down when roasting, the juices fall right in to the breast meat to make it extra tender.
I was quite busy the day I made this, (no time for Housewives) so, I prepared the chicken and the vegetables along with the marinade in the morning, put it all in the baking dish and put it in the fridge until it was ready to go in the oven later that evening. It worked out nicely, the marinade had time to do it’s job and because it is citrus, it helped keep my potatoes from turning that awful gray color.
- 1 roasting chicken
- 1 lime, cut in half
- 1 pink grapefruit, cut in half
- 4 carrots, cut in half
- 6 potatoes, cut in half and quartered
- 1 medium onion, cut in half and quartered
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Spray a roasting pan or baking dish with a cooking spray.
- Rinse and wipe dry the roasting chicken. Place in roasting pan with a rack or use vegetables as a rack.
- Place the cut vegetables around the chicken.
- Mix the juice of the ½ the lime, ½ the grapefruit, olive oil, honey, dried thyme, salt and pepper in a measuring cup (using the measuring cup make it easy to pour)
- Stick the squeezed lime and grapefruit rind in the cavity of the chicken.
- Cut the other halves of the lime and grapefruit in to slices. Place slices in between vegetables.
- Pour marinade over the chicken and vegetables.
- Cover with foil.
- At this point you can put it in the fridge until you are ready to cook or you can place the bird in the oven.
- Once you have placed the chicken in the oven, bake for 55 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Until the skin is deep golden brown. The juices should run clear.
- It is best to check the doneness of the internal temperature with a meat thermometer:
- Breast ~ 165 F
Enjoy~