Jeff has a standing order for roast chicken once a week, year-round.

So I’ve roasted many, many chickens and tried every recipe under the sun – “perfect” chicken, orange chicken, slashed chicken, herbed chicken, lemon chicken, trussed and untrussed, with vegetables and without – but the first time we tasted Jamie Oliver’s Roast Chicken with Lemon and Bacon-Rosemary Potatoes, I knew I’d found The One. (Cue choir of angels.)

This chicken has a crisp skin on the outside, but it’s lemony and juicy on the inside. And those potatoes? You could make a meal off the potatoes. They’re so full of flavor. First, they’re par-boiled with garlic and lemon, then roasted with the chicken and rosemary, and finally tossed with crumbled bacon – the same bacon that cooks on top of the chicken during the last 45 minutes of roasting.

Sweet goodness. This is a MEAL.

Delicious and so incredibly satisfying.

Make it for someone you love. Then get ready to make it again.

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Bacon-Rosemary Roast Potatoes

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie’s Dinners”

Serves 4

  • 1 4- to 4 1/2 lb. chicken
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled
  • 1 large lemon
  • 1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
  • 4 sprigs of fresh thyme (or rosemary)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • A handful of fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
  • 2 slices of bacon, cut in half (optional)
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. To Prep the Chicken: Remove the giblets and liver from the chicken’s cavity. Rinse the chicken under cold water, set it in the roasting pan, and dry it well with paper towels, inside and out. Rub it inside and out with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Let the chicken rest in the roasting pan at room temperature while you prep the potatoes.
  3. To Prep the Potatoes: Bring a large pot or Dutch oven of salted water to a boil. While you’re waiting, peel the potatoes (if you haven’t already) and cut them into golf ball-sized pieces. Put them into the boiling water, along with the whole lemon and the garlic cloves. Cook for 12 minutes.
  4. Drain, and return the potatoes, garlic and lemon to the pot to steam dry for 1 minute. Transfer the lemon and garlic to a small plate. Grab a wooden spoon, and toss the potatoes in the pot, so their outsides get a little wrecked and shaggy-looking. (This will make your potatoes nice and crispy later.) Set aside.
  5. To Roast: Rub the chicken all over with olive oil. Stab the lemon about 10 times, and push it into the chicken’s cavity, along with the garlic cloves and thyme (or rosemary sprigs). Add the potatoes to the pan, spreading them around the chicken. Cook for 45 minutes.
  6. Remove the pan from the oven. Transfer the chicken to a large plate, but leave the potatoes in the roasting pan. Add the rosemary leaves to the potatoes, and using a wooden spoon or spatula, toss the potatoes and rosemary with the chicken fat in the pan.
  7. Return the chicken to the center of the pan. If you’re adding the bacon, lay the slices over the chicken breast, and roast for another 45 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F. (If you’re not using a thermometer, look for the thigh meat to pull away from the bone easily and the juices to run clear.)
  8. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bacon slices from the chicken, and crumble the bacon over the potatoes.
  9. Remove the lemon, thyme (or rosemary sprigs) and garlic from inside the chicken. Discard the lemon and herb(s). If you really love garlic, you can squeeze it out of the skin, mush it up, and rub it on the chicken or add it to the potatoes.
  10. Carve the chicken, and serve with potatoes.