At Home: Roasted Lemon Beer Chicken

For an easy, cheap meal we made Roasted Lemon Beer Chicken for What Micky Eats...At Home.  Keith swears this recipe is hard to mess up, and provides a great alternative to the sad rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. You get to enjoy all parts of the chicken in one meal instead of just cooking a bland chicken breast. Plus, who doesn't love chicken skin!  We added potatoes to the pan last minute to provide a side to our meal.  Get the full recipe below.   

Roasted Lemon Beer Chicken

• 1 4-5 lb chicken for roasting
• zest + juice of 1 large lemon
• drizzle or two of extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 teasp sea salt
• 1 teasp black pepper
• 1 teasp paprika
• ½ can beer
• 2 large potatoes, cubed

- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Remove giblets from inside of the chicken and pat the chicken dry.

 

- Mix lemon zest, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, paprika and some lemon juice into a paste.

 

- Rub the outside and inside of the chicken with the seasoning paste, including under the skin.
- Cut up the juiced lemon into quarters, and spread along the bottom of your roasting pan.
- Pour the beer onto the bottom of the pan.

 

- Place chicken on the stand up portion of the roasting pan, tucking in the wings, and on a rack to keep it from sitting in the juices. (You can use an actual beer can to help stand up the chicken, if you do not have the specialty pan. Or a bundt pan.)
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

 

- Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and continue baking for a total of 18-20 minutes a pound or until the juices run clear and the temperature reaches 165 degrees.

 

- When the chicken is done roasting, remove it from the oven and allow to rest for about 10-15 minutes before cutting.
- With 30 min left put potatoes in the bottom of the pan.
- Serve chicken with fresh steamed veggies and potatoes.

The chicken had crispy skin and a light lemon flavor.  Most of the lemon and beer was soaked up by the potatoes.  We served the chicken with an additional side of sauteed spinach and mushrooms.  Though the roasting chicken is small, there were plenty of left overs to make chicken salad sandwiches or souvlaki style wraps.   Keith is thinking of doing an alternative with teriyaki. Do you like to roasted chicken?  What other seasonings do you use?