This cilantro lemon chicken chicken is one of the easiest lunch or dinner recipes. Simply add the ingredients and let the oven do the magic. Isn't that all we long for in this busy life?
It's, therefore, a perfect recipe for busy moms or nine-to-five workhorses who don't have the desire or time (or both) to spend hours in the kitchen.
Not to mention that this chicken is also seriously tasty. You'll be amazed by the depth of flavor!
Considering the amount of butter in this recipe, you might initially feel worried and start counting calories right away, but don't rush with your judgment! Most of the butter goes into a flavourful sauce, and you are the one to decide on the amount of sauce that you spoon onto your plate.
Also, the sauce is anything but plain. The combination of lemon and fresh herbs is literally amazing! It's rich and rather salty, and the butter adds softness to it. This might be the juiciest chicken on this planet!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This is a perfect roast chicken that's full of flavors and provides a perfectly balanced flavor and is really juicy.
- It requires minimum effort and contains very simple ingredients - stuff the chicken, add some spices, and let the oven do the work. What a wonderful option for a busy night!
- It won't break the bank and will help you feed the whole family with a nutritious lunch or dinner.
The best part about this cilantro lime chicken recipe is that it's very tasty, easy to make, and doesn't require spending hours in the kitchen. So, let's make it a chicken day today!
Ingredients
Chicken is the star of this dish, and all the other ingredients are only there to enhance its flavor and create a beautiful duo of flavors and aromas. If you're lucky enough to buy a chicken at a bargain price and are thinking of a budget-friendly recipe, this is exactly what you're looking for.
To make this stuffed chicken, you'll need:
- Raw chicken: It's great if you can access a home-grown, clean chicken free from antibiotics, growth hormones, and other nasty additives. Choose the size depending on how many people you need to serve (and the size of your oven!). The amount of ingredients in this recipe is calculated for a chicken weighing approximately 53 oz (1.5 kg).
- Butter: We used unsalted butter, but lightly salted butter will also work for this recipe.
- Fresh lemons: Lemons add a fresh and slightly sour flavor, balanced by the salty butter sauce. It's pure perfection!
- Fresh garlic: Garlic plays wonderfully with the butter-herb sauce, adding to the cozy winter-style dinner mood. So, grab some large garlic cloves, and don't be stingy with it! If you've run out of fresh garlic, add some garlic powder (however, it won't taste exactly the same).
- Fresh cilantro: Give this recipe a try, and you'll agree that cilantro and lemons are a match made in heaven! While there aren't many dishes where we add cilantro, this recipe contains A LOT of cilantro and it is for a reason. The cilantro stuffing will make your taste buds dance Charleston.
- Salt: The measurements in this recipe are tailored to kosher salt or pink Himalayan salt, but regular table salt can also be used instead of kosher salt. Start with the given measurements, and feel free to adjust the saltiness to your liking.
- Ground black pepper: Black pepper is a friend of ours that we invite to nearly all main dishes; this one is no exception.
Directions
- Prepare the filling: The first step is to prepare the filling, which is one of the main ingredients of this dish. Cut lemons into smaller pieces (not too finely; cutting each lemon into eight pieces will work), mince garlic cloves, and chop cilantro. Then, take a rather large bowl and add soft butter (not melted butter, but rather at room temperature), one teaspoon salt, some ground black pepper for extra flavor, chopped cilantro, minced garlic, and lemon wedges. Mix (massage) well with your hands, squeezing the ingredients so the lemon juice combines with the rest.
- Fill the chicken: Place chicken breast-side up on a casserole dish and rub it with salt and pepper on the outside. Cut small "pockets" into the skin of the chicken and stuff each cavity with the filling that you prepared in Step 1. Finish by adding the filling on top of the chicken. Don't throw any of the filling away. If you feel it's enough, just put the remainder on the chicken and let it melt and run down, adding to the flavourful butter and lemon sauce.
- Roast the chicken in the oven for 50-70 minutes at 200°C (392°F) until golden brown. Spoon the chicken with the sauce from the baking dish occasionally. We never measure the internal temperature of the chicken. Once the cooking time has passed, we judge by the look (color) and the color of the juice coming out of the chicken. If it's pinkish, keep baking!
- Serve the baked chicken with your preferred side dish. Oven-baked or mashed potatoes are a great choice!
Variations and Tips
- On Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving dinner, when more people come around, you can substitute chicken with turkey.
- Add sliced potatoes and/or carrots to the same casserole dish for a complete meal. This way, veggies will bake in the delicious butter-lemon-cilantro sauce, soaking in all its flavor.
- Whole chickens can be replaced with bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, drumsticks, or breasts. In this case, you won't do the stuffing but will mix the chicken with the filling and bake it in a casserole dish.
- For best results, use a casserole dish that's deep enough to gather all the juices that will be flowing. A shallow dish (like a sheet pan) might not be the best choice for this recipe.
- This is also a great meal prep option. Combined with steamed rice, this will be a hearty meal for the week ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
If anything is left after your dinner (which is unlikely), refrigerate the leftover chicken in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Yes! You might need a bigger baking dish and might need to increase the amount of stuffing, but overall, turkey can definitely play the chicken's role in this recipe.
For a lighter dinner, serve it with a salad (among our favorite sides is this Caesar salad and its winter version, skipping the shrimp). For more satisfying options, consider serving it with oven-baked or mashed potatoes, steamed rice, vegetable purées, or roasted vegetables of your choice.
Once you've tasted the original recipe and know its flavor nuances, you can experiment with the ingredients. Lime might be a valid option (with the amount slightly reduced compared to lemon); however, we haven't tried such an iteration and cannot comment on the expected result. While lime is similar to lemon in many aspects, its taste is slightly different, and we wouldn't recommend substituting lemon entirely with lime (maybe just a small part of it).
If you're looking for other chicken recipes, check out our Chicken & Mushroom Julienne and Cheesy Chicken Meatballs.
Happy cooking, everyone!
Stuffed Chicken With Lemon And Cilantro (Easy Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (ca. 53 oz)
- 7 oz (200g) butter
- 2 lemons
- 4 cloves of garlic
- a bunch of fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cut lemons into wedges.Mince garlic cloves and chop cilantro.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add soft butter (at room temperature), ⅓ of the total amount of salt, black pepper, cilantro, and lemon pieces. Mix well with your hands, slightly squeezing for the ingredients to combine.
- Place the chicken, breast-side up on a casserole dish.Rub the chicken with salt and pepper on the outside.Cut small "pockets" into the skin of the chicken and loosen the skin to create cavities for the filling.Stuff the chicken and each cavity with the prepared butter-lemon-cilantro filling and generously add the filling on top of the chicken.
- Roast in the oven for 50-70 minutes (depending on the chosen mode and your oven) at 392°F (200°C). Pour the chicken with the sauce from the baking dish occasionally.
- Serve with your preferred side dishes. When ready, the meat will fall off the bones— soft and juicy. Yummm!Enjoy!
Notes
- When more people come around, you can substitute chicken with turkey.
- Add sliced potatoes and/or carrots to the same casserole dish for a complete meal. This way, veggies will bake in the delicious butter-lemon-cilantro sauce, soaking in all its flavor.
- Whole chickens can be replaced with bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, drumsticks, or breasts. In this case, you won't do the stuffing but will mix the chicken with the filling and bake it in a casserole dish.
- For best results, use a casserole dish that's deep enough to gather all the juices that will be flowing.
- This is also a great meal prep option. Combined with steamed rice, this will be a hearty meal for the week ahead.
Nutritional Label
Disclaimer: This nutritional value label has been created using an online analyzer and might not be 100% accurate
Leave a Reply