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Grilled Lemon and Rosemary Flattened Chicken

   

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Someone needs to tell California that fall is just around the corner because it is HOT. All caps HOT. Over 100 degrees HOT.

On these hottest of September weekends, we filmed a wedding in Sacramento on Saturday. You guys, it was 101 degrees. All outdoors. I easily drank 1 gallon of water, and sweat about that same amount. We were quite the sight. Shawn made the unfortunate decision of wearing a gray t-shirt that day. He has the difficult job of setting up all of the audio before the ceremony starts, which means he’s running around with wires and microphones, getting the officiant and groom miked up. He walked over to me when he was done, and his shirt was soaked with some very unfortunate sweat marks.

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It shouldn’t be this warm! I’m supposed to be bundled up on the couch with soup cooking on the stove. Instead, I’m splayed out on the couch with multiple fans turned on me, eating ice.

I don’t dare cook anything in the kitchen since it instantly makes the house feel like a sauna. So we’re doing lots of grilling outdoors. One of the few perks of this warm weather is delicious grilled dinners.

{recipe video!}

My current favorite grilling dinners is this grilled lemon and rosemary flattened chicken. To speed up the cooking process, you cut out the back bone and flatten the chicken. The whole bird is ready in less than 45 minutes. You smother the chicken in a lemon zest, rosemary and garlic olive oil rub. You cook the chicken skin side down, and weight it down with an aluminum foil brick. This also helps the chicken cook faster, and helps you get extra crispy skin with beautiful grill marks.

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The *best* part of this recipe is the grilled lemons. You cut the lemons in half, and grill them during the last few minutes of cooking the chicken. The heat cooks out all the sourness of the lemon, and reduces the juices and pulp inside. It turns the lemon into an amazing, concentrated lemon sauce. When you squeeze out the lemons, the pulp comes out as paste. It is SO good! I can’t get enough of it.

4.9 from 9 reviews
Grilled Lemon and Rosemary Flattened Chicken
 
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Serves: 4 people
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken, back bone cut out and the breast bone pressed to flatten (see video for visual instructions)
  • zest of 2 lemons, plus 2 more lemons (total of 4), sliced in half
  • 3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped
  • ¼ cup of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. In a large 9x13 baking dish, mix the lemon zest, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add in the flattened chicken, and rub it with the olive oil mixture on both sides. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 24 hours.
  2. Heat your grill over medium high heat, and oil the grill grates. Cook the chicken skin side down, and weight the chicken down with aluminum foil bricks, or the same baking dish you marinated the chicken in. Cook for 20 minutes, then flip the chicken so it is skin side up. Put the brick or baking dish back on the chicken. Continue cooking until the chicken has an internal temperature of 165 degrees, about 20-40 minutes more, depending on the size of your chicken.
  3. In the last 10 minutes of cooking the chicken, grill the lemons flash side down.
  4. Remove the chicken from the heat, and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Carve, and serve with the grilled lemons. Squeeze the lemons on the chicken. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for 5 days.

Grilled lemon and rosemary flattened chicken

Lovely comments so far...

  2. Gahhhh even though it’s below 60 degrees here, I’m STILL craving grilled food, but I have no motivation to go out in the cold to grill. LOL. This chicken might change my mind though. I LOVE the combo of rosemary and lemon and this chicken looks so perfect and crispy on the outside! Perfect. :) Pinned!

  4. I wish you could send some of that warm weather my way, because it’s only been in the upper 50s/low 60s by me this week, so unseasonable for this time of year! This grilled chicken looks perfect, Natalie! I love using rosemary whenever I can, and the lemon and garlic sounds like the perfect addition. Gorgeous pictures, too!

  5. Ouch, a 100 degrees?! At this point you must want fall to get here.
    This grilled chicken looks spectacular. I grew a lot of rosemary in containers over the summer. Love using it with chicken. Can’t wait to try this

  8. I finally had a chance to watch one of your videos, and wow, you guys are so talented! And this chicken looks so simple and delicious, love the idea of grilling the lemons and squeezing them over, I’m totally going to give this recipe a try :) Hope you get some cooler weather…maybe we can share with you, ha!

  9. Ooh, this looks so good. And that heat is crazy! It’s already in the 70s here during the day, with lows dipping into the 50s at night. It typically stays hot until late September here in Maryland, so this is pretty whacky! Not complaining, though. Yayyy fall!

  10. We didn’t even get close to 100 degrees this year! It definitely feels like fall in good old MN, but that doesn’t keep me from grilling :). I am in love with this Flattened Chicken – you always have the best dinner recipes, Natalie!

  11. I really admire how gorgeous your photo is of the chicken, I struggle with things like this myself and you are obviously very talented. Now, let’s talk about how much I want to EAT this chicken! So yummy! And yes, I’m in SoCal and it’s 105 for the 5th day in a row here… I cannot believe you were doing outdoor wedding activities on Saturday. That’s brutal. Glad you survived. Where is El Nino already?!

  12. Ok, this is the one time I’m not jealous of your California weather. We’ve been enjoying some temperatures unusually low for this time of year in Nashville and I’m loving it! It hasn’t been over 80 in several days. I’ve always wanted to try cooking chicken like this and haven’t tried it yet. I also had no idea that grilled lemons did that! I’ve been (gasp!) throwing them away after I grill them. I won’t make that mistake again!

  16. No kidding about the heat here in California. In my neighborhood it was 104 degrees yesterday. Crazy hot. This chicken looks beautiful. Lemon, rosemary and chicken were made for each other!

  17. Yikes, it sounds over 100?! That is hot! Hope it cools down for you soon. Luckily you guys are grilling most of your meals. This chicken looks incredible – the grill marks are gorgeous! And grilled lemons too? Sounds amazing!

  19. I hope it cools down for you. We actually enjoyed the cooler dry weather for a few days when we were in California. 100 degrees when it is dry feels a lot better to me than when it is humid. I had a good hair day almost every day I was in California ;P I love grilled lemon rosemary chicken. It is so easy and I usually just grab the rosemary and lemons from my yard so it makes it even easier!

  20. Holy cow! Fall definitely needs to get here, especially for you! 100 degrees is just insane for September.

    On the plus side, this chicken looks absolutely amazing. I love that you grilled it and it’s ready so quick. Pinning!

  26. Wow!! This looks super impressive!! I tried this once (the flatten chicken thing) but I am such a wuss that I gagged the whole time I tried to take the bone out. COULD NOT HANDLE IT! ha! I am going to be brave and try again because this looks so worth it!!

  28. The grass is always greener…because I want your heat! I feel like summer never came here and we only got to use our grill a handful of times. Soup is for dinner more often than not! This chicken looks so good! But I kinda get the hebejeebees (?) when I have to cut off the backbone. Maybe I can get Jon to do it next time since he is in charge of the grill :)

  30. Wow great chicken recipe, I’m sorry that it’s so dang out for you guys! Hang in there, fall we be there soon. The weather is cooling off in NC but it’s still great grilling weather. I’ll have the hubby make this for us, pinning!

  31. Sweat marks are the worst! Poor Shawn! I love grilled lemons! They add such a great flavor to everything you add them to. I’ve never cooked a whole chicken before, but that seems like such a great idea to cut the backbone out and flatten it. We finally got a bunch of rain and it has cooled things down a bit. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you get some cool weather soon!!

  32. Ooof sorry about the heat, girl! No wonder you’re steering clear of the kitchen, but geez what a fab dinner to make on the grill regardless! I love that it takes under an hour and I NEED to experience a grilled lemon.

    • I am so glad to hear that Lori! I love this dinner. One of my favorites. Nothing better than flavorful and crispy skinned chicken. Thank you so much for taking the time and letting me know you like my recipe. You just made my day!

Trackbacks

  3. […] Grilled Lemon and Rosemary Flattened Chicken served with roasted carrots and parsnips // Chicken that is covered in a lemon, garlic and rosemary olive oil, then grilled until crispy on the BBQ. Served with grilled lemons that lose all their sourness when grilled and turn in to a deep and intense lemon paste and roasted carrots and parsnips (chopped, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, roast at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes) […]