Preheat the oven to 425°.
Dry the chicken with a paper towel to get the skin nice and dry to help it crisp up. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Ideally, place the chicken on wire racks on top of foil lined baking sheet. Cooking the chicken on racks will help it crisp up everywhere by allowing the air to circulate all around.
Bake the chicken in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the skin is dry and crisp.
In the meantime, simmer lemon juice, honey and butter for 4-6 minutes until thickened slightly. You are not trying to reduce it to a thick glaze - just simply thicken it a bit. Set aside.
Remove the chicken from the oven, turn the heat down to 350° and brush the chicken liberally with your slightly thickened honey-lemon mixture. Place the chicken back into the oven for another 25-40 minutes (until cook through and the internal temperature reaches 165° at the breast and 170° in a thigh) and keep brushing he chicken with honey-lemon mixture every 10 minutes.
Brushing the chicken accomplishes two things - developing nice thick glaze all around as well as regularly watching the chicken. Sugars in honey may caramelize too much and start burning, so if you notice any areas of the chicken getting too dark, tent them with aluminum foil to prevent them from burning.
When cooked to the safe internal temperature, remove from the oven, allow the chicken to rest for at least 7 minutes then carve and serve!
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425°.
Dry the chicken with a paper towel to get the skin nice and dry to help it crisp up. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Ideally, place the chicken on wire racks on top of foil lined baking sheet. Cooking the chicken on racks will help it crisp up everywhere by allowing the air to circulate all around.
Bake the chicken in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the skin is dry and crisp.
In the meantime, simmer lemon juice, honey and butter for 4-6 minutes until thickened slightly. You are not trying to reduce it to a thick glaze - just simply thicken it a bit. Set aside.
Remove the chicken from the oven, turn the heat down to 350° and brush the chicken liberally with your slightly thickened honey-lemon mixture. Place the chicken back into the oven for another 25-40 minutes (until cook through and the internal temperature reaches 165° at the breast and 170° in a thigh) and keep brushing he chicken with honey-lemon mixture every 10 minutes.
Brushing the chicken accomplishes two things - developing nice thick glaze all around as well as regularly watching the chicken. Sugars in honey may caramelize too much and start burning, so if you notice any areas of the chicken getting too dark, tent them with aluminum foil to prevent them from burning.
When cooked to the safe internal temperature, remove from the oven, allow the chicken to rest for at least 7 minutes then carve and serve!
