Simple, straightforward, and so delicious, this Broiled Lemon Chicken is inspired by the legendary Rao’s restaurant in New York City, is one of the tastiest chicken recipes you’ll ever make. The chicken is tender and juicy, and the lemon garlic oregano sauce is divine! Serve with plenty of crusty bread to soak up every last bit.
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A Rao’s favorite
The legendary New York City-based restaurant, Rao’s, has been serving up incredible food since 1896, and while most people may know the brand for their sauce, which is now sold in jars, one of the most famous recipes served at the restaurant is broiled lemon chicken, or pollo al limone.
This dish combines a whole chicken that’s cut into pieces, broiled, and finished with a lemon, garlic, and oregano pan sauce that’s finished with fresh parsley. The acidity in the sauce is the perfect match for the juicy chicken.
The sauce is great spooned over the chicken, on top of roasted potatoes, but is especially good with some crusty bread. A green side like my garlic sauteed broccoli rabe or some garlic sauteed spinach would be great as well.
Recipe Ingredients
All ingredients for this recipe are shown in the pic below and special notes are made in this bulleted list to assist you.
- Chicken. I am using an entire chicken for this recipe. You can also use bone-in chicken thighs, bone-in breasts, or drumsticks, or any combination thereof.
- Lemons. I love the combo of chicken and lemons and use it in many recipes, like my Greek lemon chicken and potatoes, and chicken Francese. This recipe for Rao’s lemon chicken calls for both lemon juice and lemon zest. You’ll need 2-3 lemons to yield the amount of juice needed for the recipe. You may also wish to add a few lemon slices at the very end for garnish. Rao’s doesn’t use lemon zest but I think it’s a nice touch to amp up the lemon flavor even more.
- Vinegar. I add a little red wine vinegar to the lemon sauce. If you don’t have red wine vinegar, you can use white vinegar. I don’t recommend using balsamic vinegar for this recipe.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
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How to make Rao’s broiled lemon chicken
Each number corresponds to the numbered written steps below.
- Use kitchen shears to remove the backbone from the chicken and split the chicken in half. Dry very well with paper towels on all sides.
- Salt the chicken on all sides then place skin up on a wire rack and place in the fridge uncovered, overnight. Note: if you’re in a rush, you can salt and roast the chicken on the same day. Remove the chicken from the fridge 1 hour prior to roasting.
- Whisk the lemon sauce ingredients together and taste test. Adjust salt and pepper as needed and set aside.
- Place the chicken halves into a 14-inch oven safe pan or large roasting pan and drizzle the olive oil on the chicken and season with black pepper. Pour 1 cup of the chicken stock into the bottom of the pan and roast in a 500°F oven for 25 minutes.
- Remove the chicken halves from the oven and transfer to a cutting board.
- Cut the chicken halves into 6 pieces per half, or 12 pieces total.
- Pour out all but 1/3 cup of liquid from the pan and place the chicken pieces back into the pan, skin side up. Pour the lemon sauce all over the chicken and into the pan.
- Turn the broiler to low and once hot, place the chicken on the middle rack to finish cooking. After 10 minutes, the chicken should be charred and completely cooked but use a digital thermometer to ensure the pieces register at least 160°F internally. Note: the legs and thighs can be roasted for an additional 5-10 minutes at 500°F or until they reach an internal temp of 185°F or higher.
- Transfer the broiled lemon chicken pieces to a platter and whisk the cold butter into the pan sauce.
- Add the parsley and pour the sauce all over the chicken. Top with lemon zest and serve with crusty bread to soak up the sauce.
Top tips
- Brine the chicken. I recommend salting the chicken overnight as it will help to dry the chicken exterior out while keeping the interior moist and allow the chicken to get a crispy broiled skin.
- The pan. A 14-inch stainless steel pan or large roasting pan work well for this dish.
- Additional flavor. Though I haven’t personally tested marinating the chicken overnight in the lemon sauce, I suspect it would add even more flavor to the dish. If you wish to do this, be sure to save the marinade for use later in the recipe, and to pat the chicken very dry before roasting in the pan.
More chicken recipes
If you love roasted or broiled chicken, give these other recipes a try!
If you’ve enjoyed this Rao’s Style Broiled Lemon Chicken recipe, give it a 5-star rating.
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Broiled Lemon Chicken (Rao’s Style)
Ingredients
Base ingredients
- 1 small chicken backbone removed and halved
- 4 teaspoons Diamond crystal kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons unsalted cold butter cubed
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf Italian parsley
- 4 lemon slices for garnish
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest for garnish, optional
Lemon sauce
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon Diamond crystal kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
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Instructions
- Cut the backbone out of the chicken and split the chicken in half. Pat dry with paper towels then season with salt on all sides. Place the chicken halves, skin side up, on a wire rack and into the fridge uncovered, overnight. Note: if in a rush, you can salt the chicken and roast on the same day.
- Preheat oven to 500°F and set the rack to the middle level.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge 1 hour prior to roasting.
- Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients and taste test. Season with more salt and pepper as required. Set aside.
- Place the chicken halves, skin-side up, into a large 14-inch oven safe pan or large roasting pan. Drizzle the olive oil all over the chicken and season with black pepper. Pour 1 cup of chicken stock into the bottom of the pan and roast the chicken for 25 minutes.
- Remove the chicken halves to a cutting board and cut into 6 pieces per half chicken for a total of 12 pieces. Pour out all but 1/3 cup liquid from the pan and place the chicken pieces back into the pan, skin side up. Pour the lemon sauce all over the chicken and into the pan.
- Turn the low broiler on and once hot place the chicken on the middle rack to finish cooking. After 10 minutes the chicken should be well charred and crisp and completely cooked. Check that the pieces register at least 160°F internal temp. Note: If you like, the legs and thighs can be roasted for an additional 5-10 minutes at 500°F until they reach an internal temperature of 185°F or higher.
- Place the chicken in a platter and whisk the cold butter into the pan sauce. Mix in the parsley then pour the sauce over the chicken. Top with the lemon zest and serve with crusty bread to mop up the sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
- Chicken. A smaller chicken (broiler chicken) around 3.5-4 pounds works best. Individual pieces such as all thighs or a combination of thighs and legs can be used too.
- Salting overnight. To get maximum flavor and juiciness, I recommend salting the chicken overnight. If you are in a rush, remove the chicken from fridge, pat dry, and salt for at least 1 hour before roasting.
- Pan size. A 14-inch stainless steel pan can fit all of the chicken, but if you don’t have one, use a large roasting pan.
- Leftovers. Broiled lemon chicken can be saved in the fridge for up to 3 days and can be reheated in the microwave or oven.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This is definitely a keeper! The family loved it! Very simple, straightforward recipe. I followed it exactly with one exception, I put the legs and thighs back in the broiler for a little better texture. I usually use Bell and Evans chickens, but you referenced another brand you used for this recipe. Why brand was it? Thanks for sharing the recipe!
We’re glad you enjoyed it, Joe! The brand we’ve been trying is called LaBelle Patrimoine.
I discovered this recipe many years ago and it’s one of my favorite chicken dishes. Now I’m wondering to save time to use a rotisserie chicken, and just do the lemon sauce part. Anyone tried it?
Made this tonight for the family, and being asked to make it again this week by my pickiest eater.
Outstanding recipe and dry brining the chicken overnight was a good move, and used a 4lb Natures Promise bird from Stop and Shop.
So glad you enjoyed, Duane!
Delicious! Followed recipe as outlined… turned out perfectly!
Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed!
This was an incredible Sunday night dinner with friends. Came out perfectly. I kept it on low broil for an extra 5 minutes to get the finish perfect.
So happy you enjoyed, Robert!
What does broil on low mean? The broiler on most ovens only says broil. There is no low or high broiler knob.
Nancy spector
Most ovens do have a low and high broil setting, but if your doesn’t, just broil and the key is to just watch the chicken closely as it’s broiling to ensure it doesn’t burn. We will often keep the oven open when broiling to watch and get it just right.
This was fabulous! Great taste and we loved the crispy skin. I used chicken leg quarters that I had in the freezer. Yeah, we missed out on some breast meat, but I didn’t have to carve up a bird and didn’t have to worry about different cooking times. Don’t waste your money on overpriced chicken. I paid 99 cents a pound at Shaw’s (on sale). The taste tester should be sent to his room with no supper for only giving this an eight. Haha!
Glad you enjoyed, Pete!
Tried it and as a mediocre cook my family didn’t believe how tasty it was. Thanks
So glad to hear that!
Delicious . Didn’t change a thing. Turned out just as pretty as a picture
So happy you enjoyed!
Very nice recipe. I like the ratio of lemon juice you used. I really like the pan you used to make this dish. Would you share the name of the pan, manufacturer and size?
Thank you.
MIckey Zalusky
Hi Mickey, it’s a winware 14 in pan and is in Jim’s shop linked here on the website. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Very delicious! I put this in my dinner rotation. Very flavorful.
So glad you enjoyed, Mary!
More realistic that Rao’s I have their two cookbooks, and in their recipe it calls for 2 cups of fresh lemon juice. That was a no-no for me…seems like a waste. I love lemon anything but two cups in any recipe is just wrong. Supposedly it was/is one of their most popular dishes, so I can only imagine they have a full-time lemon juicer.
Would the initial cooking time at 500 degrees be the same if using just thighs or breasts
Yes, just cook to 160°F for breasts, and the thighs can be cooked longer to 185°F
Sorry, what I wasn’t clear on is whether or not chicken pieces would be done faster than the half chickens that get cut up later in the recipe.
It shouldn’t make much of a difference, but again, you’re cooking to internal temperature more than time, so keep an eye on the internal temp of the chicken and you should be good.
How do you get
6 pieces from
1/2 chicken
1 leg, 1 thigh, and the breast is cut into 4 pieces – one of which had the wing. See photo number 6.
That looked like a LOT MORE that a TBL Spoon of Oregano…and that Pepper looked like more too.
PS: I’m of Greek heritage and Oregano is in my blood…Oh, and 2 breasts …
PPS: I live in NYC for a few years and RAO’S WAS FANTASTIC!!!
All that said… This can ONLY be a GREAT TASTY Chicken dish!!!