Olive-Oil Confit Chicken with Lemon, Potatoes, Green Olives + Herbs
If I had to pick my favorite foods, chicken, garlic, lemons, salt and olive oil would be in my top five, hands down. So, when you combine those ingredients that becomes easily one of my favorite meals. And now that the weather is much colder, eating comfort food, especially comfort food that is easy to prepare and slow roasted in the oven is truly the best. With simple recipes like this, the key is buying the highest-quality ingredients on shelves so that each one truly packs a flavorful punch. The best chicken you can afford, good lemons, good olives, good garlic, salt, and of course - the very best olive oil.
For this recipe I used Pompeian Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil because I find that it’s the best tasting, highest quality olive oil I’ve found. Good EVOO to me is one of those ingredients where you truly can taste the difference, which is why Pompeian is my kitchen workhorse and something I use in almost all of my dishes. I take comfort knowing that its family of olive oil farmers and craftsmen have been perfecting their craft since 1906, so I can rest assured that every olive that goes into a bottle of Pompeian is nurtured from grove to table.
So when you can, make sure you’re always choosing high quality, authentic olive oil because it can really change the outcome of dishes like this!
I used potatoes in this dish, but you could use any root vegetable, or a mix of vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, and beets – whatever you have in the pantry works! Sometimes if I have dates on hand, I toss them in this pot too. Whatever you choose to throw in, just make sure to save that chicken-lemony leftover olive oil for another use! Toss vegetables in it for roasting, use the leftover oil for more chicken or make the best, most flavorful dressing ever!
Olive-Oil Confit Chicken with Lemon, Potatoes, Green Olives + Herbs
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 pounds whole chicken legs, bone-in skin-on thighs and drumsticks Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
1 1/2 pounds baby Yukon Gold Potatoes, scrubbed
2 lemons, halved
2 heads garlic, left unpeeled and halved crosswise
1 cup, green Castelvetrano Olives, smashed and pitted
Parsley, roughly chopped to garnish
Preparation
1. Place a cooling rack inside a baking sheet, place chicken on the rack and dry with a paper towel and season with kosher salt and pepper, allowing the chicken to “dry” out. Ideally this is done the day before, keeping the chicken in the fridge uncovered, but can also allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes while you prep the rest of the recipe. The more time the chicken sits, the crispier the skin will be.
2. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Arrange chicken in a large braising pot or baking dish (something that is big and deep enough to hold 2 cups of the Pompeian Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil). Scatter garlic head halves, potatoes, lemon halves, crushed olives among the chicken pieces, nestling everything in there.
3. Pour the Pompeian Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the chicken and potatoes and season with salt and pepper. The olive oil should come to at least halfway up the chicken, ideally it is just about covered. It is ok if the garlic, lemons, potatoes and olives are not covered.
4. Place in the oven, uncovered, and roast for about 90 minutes to 2 hours. This will depend on which chicken pieces you selected, as the whole legs will take longer. Remove from oven and preheat broiler.
5. Use tongs to carefully remove chicken from pot and place, skin side up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Add potatoes and lemons to baking sheet and broil until chicken skin is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove, and let rest for 5-10 minutes on baking sheet.
6. Place chicken, potatoes, lemon wedges, on a platter, scattering olives over top. I like to encourage a big squeeze of roasted lemon juice over my chicken and potatoes, and my kids like to use the leftover oil juices for their potatoes.
This post was sponsored by Pompeian Robust Extra-Virgin Olive Oil. Thanks for supporting!