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Favorite Lemon and Herb Chicken

Updated: Aug 19, 2018


This grilled lemon and herb chicken takes barbecue chicken to a new level. These chickens are marinated in mixture of herbs, garlic and lemon and then grilled to perfection, producing the juiciest of chickens. Simply put, these are irresistible. I'm so glad that my good friend Gail told me about them.


Ingredients for Favorite Lemon and Herb Chicken:

2 chickens approx 4 1/4 lbs each

2 lemons, zested and juiced

2 cups combination of chopped parsley, rosemary and oregano, thyme, oregano or basil

6-8 cloves garlic

1 cup olive oil

kosher salt

coarse pepper


Times Saving Tip: The marinade for the chicken can be made in the morning and set aside until you are ready to combine it with the chicken. Also, preparing the chicken for the marinade can also be done earlier in the day or even the day before and kept refrigerated.


This recipe is great because it feeds a crowd of 8-10 people depending on how big of eaters they are. Feel free to half the recipe or to use two smaller chickens. If you plan on cooking 2 or more chickens at the same time try to get ones closest to the same weight so the cooking times are the same.

Let's see what we need.





Time to make the marinade.




Combine the chopped herbs, lemon zest, lemon juice, chopped garlic and olive oil in a small bowl. Set aside. I used a combination of parsley, rosemary and oregano for this marinade.




Clean and dry the chickens. Turn the chickens over and using the cooking shears cut out the back bone. Now turn the chickens over and with your hands apply some pressure and flatten them out a bit.


Spread half of the marinade all over each chicken. If you can, to slip some under the skin. Be sure to evenly coat both sides of the chicken.




Once all of the marinade is distributed between the chickens, liberally sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Then seal them individually in the plastic baggies for 4-6 hours.




Place the chickens on a grill heated to about 400 degrees. The temperature will drop when the chickens are first placed. The temperature should be kept around 375 degrees. If you find the temperature is dropping too much close the cover for a minute or two until the temperature rises. Don't walk away... you don't want the chickens to go up in smoke.



After about 40 minutes the chickens will look like this. They are finished cooking. Keep in mind that if you are grilling smaller chickens they will likely cook faster... larger chickens will take longer.




These chickens look amazing and they are equally delicious. Leftovers are delicious, too.


Enjoy!

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