My Cookbook: Souk to Table 
Roasted Lemon Garlic Chicken (With Addictive Pan Juices!)
Although this lemon garlic chicken recipe sounds simple (and it is), I had to test it many times, and I’ll tell you why. But first: this recipe features bone-in chicken quarters marinated in lemon juice and a warm spice blend, then roasted with garlicky potatoes until golden. I finish it with a bright lemon butter sauce – and that’s my secret. Most lemon garlic recipes taste muted because lemon loses its brightness in the oven. Adding it in the end is what actually brings in the lemon flavour. So when I promise you a lemony chicken – you’ll get it! Oh and the pan juices in this recipe are to die for. Must make!
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A Classic Flavour Profile – Perfected
A lemon garlic roasted chicken is a pretty easy dish to throw together, and it follows a similar formula to my reader-favourite Mediterranean chicken, and honey za’atar chicken. But I’ve been testing this recipe for a while because there were so many variables and I wanted perfection. For the garlic; should I use finely chopped? or crushed? Or pounded in a mortar and pestle? Or blended in a food processor?
I tried them all! And the winner was thinly sliced garlic. It’s the easiest way to prep garlic, and it’s also the best way to avoid burnt bits of garlic on the chicken skin (which is what you get if you use the other methods).
As for the lemon, my problem with so many “lemon garlic” dishes out there is that the lemon is always underwhelming. I’m Arab – I can handle a lot of lemon. So in this recipe, I made sure to finish the dish with a lemon butter sauce for that punch of acidity. Lemon is best when added at the very end!
Make Lemon Garlic Chicken With Me
Grab your ingredients! A few notes: I love bone-in chicken leg quarters, drumsticks or thighs. Don’t use chicken breast for this recipe – the cook time is far too long and it will dry out.
You can use baby potatoes (like in the ingredient photo below), or my more preferred option which is yellow potatoes cut into large 1-inch chunks. I feel like peeled potatoes absorb flavour a lot more.
Finally – you don’t really need chicken broth in the recipe, though you see it in my photo below. I’ve since tested it with just water, and it comes out wonderful. So water it is!
Now to make it, follow these simple steps (the recipe card at the end has all the measurements):
When I tell you that you’ll be dreaming of the pan juices – I am not joking!
This recipe already has the juicy lemon potatoes as the perfect carb, so I pair it with my Arabic finely chopped salad most of the time. I love to grab pita bread and smother it with the pan juices and just dig into the chicken. My kids love it with a side of vermicelli rice, so I often make that too, and it ends up soaking the juices so well.
If you tried these recipes, please consider leaving a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page – I’d love to hear from you! You can also hop on over to Instagram and say hello!
Roasted Lemon Garlic Chicken (With Addictive Pan Juices!)
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1.4 kg Bone-in, Skin On Chicken Leg Quarters
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon seven spice
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Lemon, juiced
For the Pan:
- 4 large yellow potatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup water
For the Lemon Butter Sauce:
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons Parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- In a 11×13 inch roasting pan, combine the olive oil, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, seven spice, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Add the chicken quarters and toss to coat well. Cover and refrigerate for 1–2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Arrange the potatoes and sliced garlic cloves in the roasting pan with the chicken. Season with salt and paprika, then pour in the water.
- Roast for 1 hour uncovered, then check on the chicken. If the skin is becoming too dark, you can tent it with foil. Chicken should be falling off the bone, so continue roasting another 10 minutes if needed until the chicken is deep golden and cooked through.
- While the chicken rests, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Take off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Pour over the chicken just before serving.
- Serve with the roasted potatoes, and a side of bread to dip into the pan juices.
Notes
- Marinating the chicken, even for just an hour, will make a huge difference! You can even marinate it overnight.
- Add the 1/2 cup water if you want deeply flavourful pan juices. That’s my favourite part.
- Check the chicken at the 45-minute mark — if it’s browning too fast, tent loosely with foil for the remaining time.
- Don’t be stingy with the lemon butter sauce – that’s where all the lemon flavour comes in!