Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe with Lemon and Herbs

Be sure to try this amazing and incredibly easy to make Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe with Lemon and Herbs that is beyond delicious!

Let me first start by saying how much I’ve enjoyed creating these videos for you guys and this Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe with Lemon and Herbs may be one of my favorites.

I’ve only done a few of these long form videos, i.e. 10 mintues +, but still I like being able to share in more detail what and why I’m doing it instead of cramming so much cooking information into a 1 minute video.

No offense but I don’t care any more about those and I’m not going to cook recipes that can be prepared in 20 minutes, that’s not my style and not what has gotten me to this point, so this Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe with Lemon and Herbs is what I’m doing.

I have a culinary degree and 15 years of restaurant experience so I feel it’s my duty to share my story and cooking knowledge with you all and I hope in some way it inspires you to cook this Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe with Lemon and Herbs and enjoy every day in the kitchen.

What is Spatchcock Chicken

A spatchcock chicken is simply a flattened chicken where the backbone is removed, simple as that.

The term spatchcock breaks down into dispatch the cock, or chicken,  splitting it open and ready for cooking.

While traditionally a spatchcock chicken is grilled, you can absolutely roast it in the oven like I did in this recipe.

How to Spatchcock a Chicken

Once you start appreciating every step of the cooking process you will truly learn to love cooking.

While this spatchcock chicken recipe is incredibly classic, it does take over an hour to prepare.

Enjoying the process has honestly taken so much time to appreciate and I never felt this way until about 5 to 6 years ago when I had time to focus on what I was cooking instead of tickets printing and a chef yelling at me to hurry up.

This spatchcock chicken recipe video is a little long but man everything about this recipe is so good.

To spatchcock a chicken you simply flip it over breast side down and using really sharp kitchen shears or a butcher’s knife remove the back bone by simply cutting or carving it out.

Once the backbone is removed flip it over and press it down to lay it flat.

That’ll do it.

How to Make Chimichurri Sauce

The lemon and herb chimichurri sauce is divine and the prep that goes into it amazing.

When you are preparing the chimichurri sauce stop and smell each herb.

Taste each one.

After chopping it, smell it and taste it again to see if it changed.

Take your time while doing this chimichurri sauce recipe and enjoy it.

After you mix in the lemon and garlic, taste it, season it, and taste it again.

Set the lemon herb sauce to the side until it’s ready to be used.

I called it chimichurri just because to me it’s what it resembles the most, and also this stuff freezes really well if you’ve got any extra leftover.

Just a little FYI there.

How to make a Roast Spatchcock Chicken

For the roast spatchcock chicken, it’s super easy!

If you are a traditionalist like me, save the back bone from the spatchcock chicken and freeze it because man you can make a delicious chicken stock with that long back bone piece so save it up.

Drizzle on some olive oil all over the spatchcock chicken to help it brown and you want to season all sides of the chicken with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Also, drizzle on about half of the lemon and herb chimichurri sauce all over the spatchcock chicken.

As the spatchcock chicken cooks the herbs are going to infuse into the chicken making it so dang delicious.

You could actually marinate the spatchcock chicken in the lemon herb mixture over night if you wanted to as well.

I personally like to use it more like a sauce at the end so that’s just my cup of tea but it does not have to be yours.

You want to roast this chicken at around 375° for a bit and then crank up the heat to help finish crisping up the skin before it’s ready to serve.

Learn how to make this amazing Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad Recipe to go along with this Spatchcock Chicken Recipe.

My Favorite Chicken Recipes:

• Arroz Con Pollo Recipe
• Rotisserie Chicken Bravas Recipe
• Chicken Tinga Tacos Recipe
• Grilled Chicken Recipe
• Easy Jambalaya Recipe

Print

Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe with Lemon and Herbs

Try this amazing and incredibly easy to make Roast Spatchcock Chicken Recipe with Lemon and Herbs that is beyond delicious!

Course Main

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 4

Author Chef Billy Parisi

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

• 3 tablespoons each finely minced fresh parsley chives, thyme, rosemary and oregano
• 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• ½ cup of olive oil + 2 tablespoons
• 1 whole chicken backbone removed
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

For the Salad

• Get the Recipe for the Root Vegetable Panzanella Salad

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. Chicken: In a medium size bowl whisk together the herbs, garlic, lemon and olive oil until combined to make a chimichurri style sauce and set aside.
3. Place the flattened chicken on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and cover it on all sides with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper, and ½ of lemon herb sauce. Bake skin side up for 50 minutes.
4. After 25 minutes turn the chicken pan around so that it cooks evenly on all sides.
5. After the 50 minutes is up turn the heat up to 425° and cook for 15 more minutes or until the skin is golden brown and cooked throughout.

6. To Serve: Serve the chicken with the remaining lemon herb sauce and place the bread, greens and chilled root vegetables into a large bowl and dress with the desired amount of dressing, salt and pepper and optional garnishes micro-greens and goat cheese.

7. Enjoy!