There’s a restaurant in Chicago called Athenian Room that has some of the best roasted chicken I’ve ever had. It’s fall off the bone tender, but still has the most delicious crispy skin. And the juice that it’s sitting in….miraculous. It’s lemony and vinegary and garlicky and sprinkled with oregano. The roast chicken dinner is always served with a side of steak fries that are also soaked in the delicious juice. I’ve been trying my best to recreate it for years. And I think I’m coming pretty close.
So what makes a delicious roasted chicken in my opinion? A good salty acidic marinade. In this roasted chicken marinade we are looking for three things: salt, acid, and flavoring. In this recipe I use pink Himalayan salt, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, dried oregano, and Cavendar’s All Purpose Greek Seasoning. The results are spectacular! After the chicken is done marinating I add additional lemon juice and olive oil so that there are extra pan juices for plating over the chicken and potatoes. I also baste the chicken with butter in the last 25 minutes of it cooking to guarantee the nice brown crispy skin that we are looking for.
I chose to use leg quarters in this recipe because I think they make for the best roasted chicken. If you are going to use this recipe on chicken breasts, make sure you are getting bone-in skin-on breasts. This would also be delicious on a whole spatchcocked chicken. If you haven’t spatchcocked a whole bird yet, this video is great for showing you the ropes. After you spatchcock once, there’s no looking back. Any time I’m cooking a whole chicken, spatchcocking is an essential step in the process.
I hope this recipe makes its way into your weekly rotation. It’s the best type of simple dinner: easy, cost effective, healthy and hardly any cleanup.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Get saucy. Combine lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar, dried oregano, and Cavendar’s salt free all purpose seasoning.
Step 2: Super soaker. Let’s soak your chicken in that marinade. Using a glass dish or gallon size ziplock bag, marinate your chicken. Let the chicken sit in the marinade for at least 2 hours but ideally 6-8 hours.
Step 3: Patatas. I used baby purple potatoes for this recipe. Fingerlings also work great. Cut your baby potatoes in half once and then in half again. I like them to be this size because they make the perfect little crispy bite. Season your potatoes with salt, pepper, olive oil, and oregano.
Step 3: Roasting time. Preheat oven to 375. Lay out your chicken in a sheet pan. Surround it with your baby potatoes. Pour the additional marinade into your sheet pan. Add the juice of another lemon to the pan and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast for 1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes.
Step 4: Baste that bird. In the last 25 minutes of cooking the bird we are going to start basting it. Put a pat of butter over each piece of chicken. After 10 minutes baste the chicken again this time using a spoon to scoop up some of the pan juices over each piece of chicken. Remove the chicken from the oven and spoon the juices over the chicken. Plate the chicken with the potatoes and spoon all the pan drippings over the chicken and potatoes. Finish with the smallest pinch of salt. Garnish with chopped parsley.
My Big Fat Greek Chicken {One Pan Greek Chicken and Potatoes}
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds chicken leg quarters
For the marinade:
- 2 lemons juiced
- 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Pinch of Cavendar's Greek Seasoning (salt free)
For the potatoes:
- 1/2 pound baby potatoes cut into small pieces
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of black pepper
- Pinch of oregano
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Chicken finishing:
- 1 tablespoon butter cut into pieces to put over the chicken during basting
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- handful flat leaf parsley chopped
Instructions
- Combine lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar, dried oregano, and Cavendar's salt free all purpose seasoning.
- Let's soak your chicken in that marinade. Using a glass dish or gallon size ziplock bag, marinate your chicken. Let the chicken sit in the marinade for at least 2 hours but ideally 6-8 hours.
- I used baby purple potatoes for this recipe. Fingerlings also work great. Cut your baby potatoes in half once and then in half again. I like them to be this size because they make the perfect little crispy bite. Season your potatoes with salt, pepper, olive oil, and oregano.
- Roasting time. Preheat oven to 375. Lay out your chicken in a sheet pan. Surround it with your baby potatoes. Pour the additional marinade into your sheet pan. Add the juice of another lemon to the pan and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast for 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Baste that bird. In the last 25 minutes of cooking the bird we are going to start basting it. Put a pat of butter over each piece of chicken. After 10 minutes baste the chicken again this time using a spoon to scoop up some of the pan juices over each piece of chicken. Remove the chicken from the oven and spoon the juices over the chicken.
- Plate the chicken with the potatoes and spoon all the pan drippings over the chicken and potatoes. Finish with the smallest pinch of salt. Garnish with chopped parsley.
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