Lemon-Garlic Roasted Half Chickens with Brussels Sprouts
Lemon-Garlic Roasted Half Chickens with Brussels Sprouts
Here's a dinner that looks and tastes fancy but takes only a few minutes prep. The whole dinner roasts in the oven while you do your own thing.
It's easy to put together too. Simple fresh ingredients go together quickly creating a super flavorful chicken with the added bonus of some roasted garlic on the side for smearing on juicy bites of chicken or a crusty piece of bread.
I know I'm not the only person who needs something quick to put together so that I can entertain friends or have time to water the garden while it finishes. This is perfect for a family weeknight dinner or a cozy meal with friends or a special someone. I also love that the ingredients are ones that keep well so if I know I won't have time to get back to the market soon I can get them ahead of time and make this a few days later without compromising the freshness of the dish.
I start with a whole chicken and after rinsing and patting it dry with paper towels, I cut it in half and put it on a foil lined sheet pan with a touch of extra virgin olive oil. I add a cut up lemon to it, squeezing some of the juices over the chicken and I season the chicken with a mix of seasoning I like to make up regularly and store in a spice grinding jar. I use a mixture of dehydrated garlic, dehydrated shallots, dried tarragon, and whatever other dried herbs I'm into at the moment and some dried chili flakes. I usually add coarse ground salt to this mix but if you are watching your salt intake you might leave the salt out of your seasoning mix and salt to taste separately.
This is my chicken ready for roasting on my sheet pan lined with foil. I use my fingers to separate the skin from the chicken and rub some of the extra virgin olive oil and seasoning under the skin too. It helps it to crisp the skin and adds more flavor directly to the meat. I use smoked pink Himalayan salt in my spice grinder blend. I really like it. It's pink color comes from the many trace minerals it has making better for you too. When I smoke anything in my smoker I always add a pan of salt to the top shelf. It's so easy to do! Why pay for expensive smoked salts when you can make your own?
I clean the brussels sprouts and cut them in half. Then I break apart two large heads of garlic leaving the skins on the cloves and toss them with the brussels sprouts in a nice extra-virgin olive oil giving them a few quick grinds of my seasoning mixture. I add the vegetables to my sheet pan around the chicken and set it into my oven that I have preheated to 350 degrees.
Lemon-Garlic Roasted Half Chicken with Brussels Sprouts Ready for the oven.
About an hour and a half after the sheet pan goes into the oven I remove the brussels sprouts to a serving dish and top them with chopped roasted salted pistachios to rest and keep warm. I remove some of the garlic to a small bowl for serving on the side as well. We love to squish the sweet garlic pulp out of the clove onto bread with butter. Yum!
Brussels Sprouts with chopped roasted pistachios.
I put the chicken back into the oven and turn the heat up to 425 degrees for 20 minutes to crisp up the skin and finish cooking the chicken all the way through like this. Beautiful golden and crispy!
Your roasting time may vary because of the weight of your chicken but generally I roast for 75-90 minutes at 350 degrees and finish at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
By the way, this makes your house smell incredible! And don't forget to use the lemony-garlicky pan juices when you serve. It's so good!
Enjoy!
~Melisa
Lemon-Garlic Roasted Half Chickens with Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
1 whole chicken cut in half, rinsed and patted dry
1-2 lemons sliced
2 heads of garlic, cloves separated, skins intact
1-2 pounds Brussels Sprouts, rinsed and halved
Seasoning mixture of your choice
Salt & pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Dry Roasted Salted Pistachios (for garnish)
Method
Place chicken halves on a 1/2 sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Loosen the skin of the chicken with your fingers and rub the chicken inside and out with extra virgin olive oil and a seasoning mixture of your choice. Place slices of lemon on and around seasoned chicken squeezing some of the juice onto the chicken halves as you do so.
Toss the brussels sprouts and garlic cloves in a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a touch of the seasoning mixture you are using for the chicken.
Roast the entire meal uncovered 75-90 minutes at 350 degrees then remove the brussels sprouts and garlic cloves to keep warm and finish roasting the chicken at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes more.
Garnish the brussels sprouts with the pistachios, serve the chicken with it's pan juices and serve the garlic on the side with a nice crusty bread like Rosemary Garlic Sourdough.
