Stuffed Chicken With Lemon And Cilantro (Easy Recipe)
This roast chicken with lemon and cilantro will help you prepare a hearty family dinner with minimal effort and cost. The rich flavor of the sauce and the tender chicken will make you want to add this easy recipe to your monthly repertoir.
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.
