Lemon Parsley Chicken (Dairy-Free)

Lately I’ve preferred to bake a whole chicken rather than chicken filets. Filets are practically free of tasty fat and all other good things which the whole chicken has. What I like most is the crispy, fatty and tasty skin… Yes, I love to eat it but I also know many people who simply throw it away.

This dish is a hearty combination of few simple but appetizing — and healthy — ingredients. A few carefully thought elements create a tasty combination of flavors which are tied together with rich extra virgin olive oil.

 

 

Tips for making the dish

This is a very simple dish to make. Just mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the chicken so that every part of the chicken is covered with the sauce.

Turning the chicken every half an hour makes sure that it’s baked evenly and every side gets a nice color.

 

 

Lemon Parsley Chicken (Dairy-Free) 1 whole (approx. 3 pounds = 1.4 kg) grass-fed/organic chicken (ready to bake) 1/4 cup = 60 ml organic extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup = 60 ml freshly squeezed organic lemon juice small bunch (= 0.7 oz = 20 g) fresh organic parsley 2 teaspoons unrefined sea salt (or to taste)   Directions Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Place the chicken in a glass or ceramic baking dish breast-side up. Process the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and salt in a food processor or with a hand blender into a smooth sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken so that every part of the chicken is covered by the sauce. Bake in the oven altogether 1.5 hours (or until the juices run clear), turning every half an hour and basting with the fluid from the bottom of the baking dish.

 

Nutrition information	Protein	Fat	Net carbs	kcal
In total:	203.7 g	175.2 g	1.8 g	2396 kcal
Per serving if 4 servings in total:	50.9 g	43.8 g	0.4 g	599 kcal
Per serving if 6 servings in total:	33.9 g	29.2 g	0.3 g	399 kcal

 

About developing the recipe

I simply was thinking of flavors which would go together. The first experiment I tried with lime, garlic, olive oil and salt. It was nice, but I was hungering for more herby flavor.

Parsley is thriving in my garden, so this dish was a perfect way to use it. I also had bought a big bag of organic lemons mainly for home-made lemonade, but I decided to use some lemon juice for this dish as well. I thought parsley and lemon go well together, and so they did!

 

Tips for variation

You can vary this dish very easily. Just substitute the ingredients which are not your favorite for something you are fond of. Substitute garlic for lemon, olive paste for salt, thyme for parsley, for example. Or add your preferred herbs and spices.

Instead of extra virgin olive oil — which has quite a strong taste — you can use milder tasting organic extra virgin coconut oil or light olive oil. Just melt the oil gently before combining it with other ingredients. Or, use simply melted butter instead of oil for a delicious buttery flavor.

If you don’t like a strong flavor of lemon, you can reduce the amount of lemon juice with one or even two tablespoons.

And last but not least, don’t throw away the carcass, use it for making delicious chicken stock!

 

 

Update 8th September 2016:
 

This recipe can be found from my Easy Everyday Cookbook and from my Finnish book for which I had to take a new photo since the old one is not high enough resolution: