Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary
Roasted lemon chicken with rosemary and garlic is perfect for a weeknight dinner! It comes together so quickly and insanely flavored with only a few simple ingredients.
For more chicken recipes, try our roasted chicken thighs.
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Why This Lemon Rosemary Chicken Recipe WORKS
You can’t have too many roasted chicken recipes! This one is perfect for a busy weeknight or when you have a full house of guests.
It’s made in the oven with literally one bowl and a roasting pan. Not to mention only a few simple ingredients.
You only need rosemary, lemon, and garlic. It’s an insanely flavorful combo, especially for the chicken.
Toss everything together and let your oven do all the work. Pair it with cauliflower mash or our recipe for garlic mashed potatoes and a house salad for a complete meal.
Rosemary Chicken Recipe Ingredients
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
- Bone-in, skin-on chicken, such as thighs and drumsticks
- Olive oil
- Fresh rosemary
- Lemon zest and juice
- Garlic
- Salt
How to Make Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. You can use aluminum foil as well, just make sure to spray with a non-stick oil first.
- In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, rosemary, lemon zest, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add chicken and toss, thoroughly coating with the mixture.
- Arrange the chicken on the prepared sheet pan skin side down. Make sure not to crowd the chicken. Bake for 30 minutes. Then flip the chicken and continue baking for an additional 25-30 minutes.
How to Make Roasted Rosemary Chicken with Different Cuts
This recipe works great with other cuts of chicken. Here are the cooking times and temperatures:
- Chicken breast (boneless, skinless): 425 F for 16-18 minutes
- Chicken thighs (boneless, skinless): 425 F for 12 minutes, flip, and bake for 8 minutes more
- Bone-in, skin-on chicken breast: 425 F for 35-45 minutes, roast skin side up
- Chicken wings: 425 F for 25 minutes, flip, and bake for 7-10 minutes more
- Whole chicken: 425 F for 1 hour for an average weight of a whole chicken of around 4 pounds. You’ll need to double the recipe for the rosemary lemon mixture if roasting a whole chicken.
What to Serve with Lemon Rosemary
Looking for some side dishes to serve with this lemon rosemary chicken? Here are a few favorites:
Rosemary Garlic Chicken Recipe FAQs
The listed cooking times are an estimate. For the most foolproof way to ensure that your chicken is not over-or under-cooked, use an instant-read cooking thermometer. Chicken is cooked through when an internal temperature registers at 165F.
To make the chicken ahead of time, simply toss the chicken with the rosemary lemon mixture and refrigerate, covered, up to overnight. When ready to bake, arrange the chicken pieces on the prepared baking sheet and bake as directed.
Video: WATCH How to Make Rosemary Lemon Chicken
If you make this recipe, please leave a ⭐️ STAR rating and COMMENT letting us know how you liked the recipe.
Rosemary Garlic Chicken Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Roasted lemon chicken with rosemary and garlic is perfect for a weeknight dinner! It comes together so quickly and insanely flavored with only few simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds bone-in, skin on chicken thighs and drumsticks, pat dried with paper towel
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. fresh minced rosemary
- 2 Tbsp. lemon zest (from about 4 lemons)
- 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary, lemon zest, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add chicken and toss, throughly coating with the mixture.
- Arrange the chicken skin side down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, then flip and continue baking for additional 25-30 minutes until completely cooked through. The skin should be golden brown when finished baking.
Notes
- This recipe works great with other cuts of chicken. See post for recommended baking times.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 488
- Sugar: 0.1 g
- Sodium: 929.7 mg
- Fat: 38.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 2.5 g
- Protein: 31.6 g
- Cholesterol: 185.5 mg
Hi! I'm Katya -- a former corporate paralegal turned full-time recipe developer and blogger behind Little Broken. Here you'll find family-friendly and seasonal recipes made from real ingredients.
So good!! Can’t wait to cook it again!
Very tasty recipe. I added more lemon juice since I didn’t have much zest and I used 1T dried rosemary instead of 2T fresh. The cook time or oven temp is off though. At 375 degrees and 45 mins, my chicken was way over done.
I only have only dried rosmary herbs. Would that work? How do I mince that dried rosmary ?
Hi Steven: Yes – you can use dried rosemary. If it’s whole, I would just crush or chop it up.
A wonderfully delicious recipe! The rosemary and lemon flavours are so well complimented. Plus it’s an easy recipe to make and it was good being able to prepare my side dish while this was in the oven, being that it spends quite a while in there.
Thank you for this recipe! It was delicious and so easy. I marinated the chicken overnight.
I would not need as much rice as this recipe yields (only for me an my husband). Can this recipe be divided in half? What adjustments in preparation would I need to make?
Excellent and really delicious recipe Katya! It is now going to be part of our family repertoire. Thanks!
It turned out amazing! And my friends are asking for your recipe while my husband is asking me to teach my helper how to make it. Thank you!
My husband and I love this chicken…with simple ingredients and easy to make the chicken tastes delicious! Thank you so much !
I left a comment right after I cooked it. Said it was great but too salty.
MY mistake. I put two TBS of salt in the recipe, not two tsp??
This is a fantastic recipe, easy to make and very tasty.
Thank you!
We always cooked this every week, my husband love it!. Thank you so much. I didn’t use parchment paper because we love to dip the chicken with the chicken oil, more flavor.
Family loved it! Followed instructions except used two large bone-in breasts. Delish!
Hi! Just mixed up all my ingredients and mixed my thighs, my house smells great! I’m going to marinate this over night and have this for dinner tomorrow when i come home from work! Cant wait to bake and try this recipe! It has wonderful reviews, hoping since i marinated it , it will taste even better! Have to prep since i get home late from work. Thanks again!
That sounds great! I hope you enjoy it Melissa.
Wonderful!!
Made this chicken recipe today and it was great. I only sampled one piece, but can’t wait to eat it with a couple of sides. The chicken came out very moist and tender.
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it.
Made this for Thanksgiving, using whole chickens. People came back for 2nd and 3rd portions. I also put a whole apple inside to keep it moist and before baking cut up the lemon and put the slices on the chicken. Amazing recipe.
That’s great! So happy to hear you all enjoyed it. Thank you for feedback.
I want to make this recipe with an 8 piece chicken. How do I adjust the time?
Can you clarify what type of cut of chicken you’re using? For 2 1/2 pounds of drumsticks and bone-in thighs, the time should be about the same.
Best lemon rosemary roast chicken recipe
Wow! Thank you. That means alot.
Thank you so much for the recipe, it was amazing!! My family loved it 😋
Thank you!