Green Goddess Roasted Chicken Recipe (2024)

By Melissa Clark

Updated Feb. 28, 2024

Green Goddess Roasted Chicken Recipe (1)

Total Time
1¼ hours plus at least 6 hours marinating
Rating
5(3,229)
Notes
Read community notes

Green Goddess dressing — a creamy, piquant blend of herbs, garlic and anchovies — is good to eat on salad. And it’s wonderful as a dipping sauce for vegetables. But its best use may be as a marinade for roast chicken. The mild chicken absorbs all the zippy flavors of the dressing, to emerge from the oven fragrant and golden, flecked with green. To intensify the herbal flavor, some of the green goddess mixture is set aside to use as a sauce. You could even pour a little on a salad or some vegetables on the side, and enjoy the best of all the Green Goddess variations in one savory bite.

Featured in: Chicken Offered to the Green Goddess

Learn: How to Roast Chicken

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have

    10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers.

    Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Print Options

    Include recipe photo

Advertisem*nt

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • cups buttermilk or plain yogurt
  • 1cup packed basil leaves
  • ¼cup packed chives
  • 2garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2anchovy fillets (optional)
  • 1scallion, white and green parts
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
  • 2teaspoons coarse kosher salt
  • 1teaspoon black pepper
  • 1(4- to 5-pound) chicken, halved through the breast and back bones, patted dry with paper towels
  • 1 to 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

864 calories; 61 grams fat; 18 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 26 grams monounsaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 69 grams protein; 1302 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Green Goddess Roasted Chicken Recipe (2)

Preparation

Make the recipe with us

  1. In a blender, purée buttermilk, basil, chives, garlic, anchovies (if using), scallion, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper until smooth.

  2. Step

    2

    Put chicken halves in a bowl or large heavy-duty resealable plastic bag and cover with three-quarters of the Green Goddess marinade. (Save the rest to serve as a sauce.) Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to overnight.

  3. Step

    3

    Heat oven to 500 degrees. Remove chicken from the marinade, shaking off as much liquid as possible, and lay the halves on a rimmed baking sheet. (Discard the used marinade.) Pat chicken tops dry with paper towels and drizzle with oil. Roast until cooked through, about 30 to 45 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving, with some of the reserved sauce if you like.

Ratings

5

out of 5

3,229

user ratings

Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

Karen

I make this with thighs and roast them for about 25 mins at 500. It makes the house smell so good. The longer I marinate the chicken, the more succulent it is. I try to buy the best buttermilk I can; it seems to make a difference. This has been a winner in my house and for guests. The hardest thing to remember when I want to make it is that needs time to marinate.

Betsy R

What makes this recipe great is not the chicken right out of the oven. That is very good, but the next day, use the out-of-this-world Green Goddess dressing instead of mayo for a great chicken sandwich! Squishy white bread sops up the dressing best. Layer the dressing on both sides of the bread with sliced white meat in between. Super!

David Morton

500ºF? That was way too hot for my oven. The chicken was pretty well cooked at 20 minutes ... 148ºF internal temperature at the breast. I finished it at 350º for seven minutes and the chicken was perfectly cooked. The Green Goddess dressing was superb! A definite keeper ... but keep an eye on the temperature!

Lynda Chitwood

I have prepared this twice and both times it was fantastic. The first was with boneless skinless breasts, but it didn't marinade as long. A few days ago, I marinated chunks of boneless skinless breasts for a full day and grilled them on skewers.... So yummy and succulent!!
I prefer greek yogurt for this and it makes the marinade super thick and tangy.
Going to become one of my go-to chicken dishes!

DFM

Absolute MUST to line the baking pan with foil
This is a mess
I don't understand why Melissa omits this important point.
Taste very good

Jill

I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I had pounded to make them a consistent thickness. After marinating the chicken, I baked it uncovered at 375º for 45 minutes. It was the hit of my party--flavorful and succulent.

Christina

This was a nice change in our roast chicken preparation. The chicken came out with great crispy skin and was extremely juicy and tender. Two things to note: I don't have a blender so I made the sauce in a food processor and it came out find. The taste seemed a bit sour at first but mellowed out nicely in the fridge. Second thing is that you may need to lower the temperature to 400 as to not over char the chicken.

Minou

Use chicken thighs and cook for 25 minutes.
Line pan with foil.

Annie Nord

I thought it was too salty, and I usually find things not salty enough. The next time I made it I used one tsp.

Peter C

I made this the other day exactly minus the anchovies. I'll add that next time since it needed a little salt. I cooked this at 400 degrees for 40 minutes and then did 500 for about 8 minutes. I also marinaded for a full 24 hours. My pan was a little scorched but the bird was succulent and so moist. Delicious. Also, use a good blender for the dressing otherwise you'll get basil leaves that aren't fully processed. I'm sure this contributed to the scorching in my case. Otherwise, fantastic recipe.

Maria

I have contacted the Cooking site twice over the course of this fall/winter 2015to request confirming the nutritional analysis ... to date no reply. Either the site is flooded with requests for clarification/info, or my request was tossed. The site is not living up to its claim to answer all requests. 1192 calories per serving? What gives?

LH

My entire family found this delightful.

Notes:

Clean your oven the day before you make this if you plan to follow the recipe exactly, with blast furnace temperature. Otherwise the fire department may show up at your house.

Note that the dressing, while delicious, is quite thin, especially if you use all buttermilk. Replace some of the buttermilk with a dollop of mayo if you like a less runny dressing. I doubled the dressing amount to enjoy it on salads the following days.

Janine Gross

Fantastic flavor and color! Roasted at 450 for the first 35 minutes then at 500 for an additional 8 - 10 minutes. Watch carefully at the end so skin doesn't burn. Lining pan with foil is a must. Will use leftover dressing on salad and roasted potatoes. Thank you, Melissa!

Kathryn

My go-to roast chicken recipe from now on, when I'm not using my puny old city oven. Amazing flavor and it came out perfectly using a 4 lb chicken. My city oven set off the fire alarm and filled the house with smoke (you need a REALLY clean oven to avoid the smoke). I made this also in a newer, cleaner oven and there was no smoke at all at 500 degrees. I substitute with whatever greens I have on hand, parsley last time tasted great.

LH

PS:
DEFINITELY line the pan with thick aluminum foil.

Cutta

This is THE ONE. The very best way to roast a chicken. Melissa, I’ll never quit you!

jj

as others have said or implied, bake a chicken at 500F, and the smoke will result in the fire department arriving. in my well calibrated Jenn Aire, 400F for 60-75 min will be easy and smokeless. Pro tips: reach between meat and skin to separate skin but leave on bird for ultimate crispy skin, and marinate in a ziplock, on a plate for safety, and the delicious will be on bird and not in a puddle on bottom of bow.

Annie

Added halved Brussels sprouts and added cat half down 15 min into cook time. Crunchy from chicken fat!

Sisi

Very good recipe. I loved the taste of basil in the chicken from the marinade. Marinated for 2 days. Cooked in at 400F.

Lanie

Out of this world! I only marinated for about 90 mins. Rubbed marinade under skin. Prepared on Weber gas grill: indirect heat with two outside burners on high. Middle burner off or on low to keep temp at 500.

me

Sub 1-2 T Worcestershire for anchovies1-2 T MayoSub Greek yogurt 1 tea DijonSoak minced garlic in juice of 1 lime w/ lime zest 2-3 c basil1 c cilantro

Keri

We prepared this in our pizza oven, for my mother in laws 85th Birthday party! Woo, 5 stars fabulous from all of our guests. AND its easy and presents beautifully also! Thank you Melissa Clark

Susan H

Add the set aside green goddess dressing to 1/4 cup mayo and a Tbs or two of buttermilk, to use as a sauce when serving. also cook at 475° (not 500)

Susan

Using a silicone mat works even better than foil.

helen langston

Ate with the buttermilk green goddess slaw. On some naan. So messy. So perfect.

MELE

I make this using Samin Nosrat's Green Goddess Dressing recipe instead; I blend together everything but the mayo, then use part of it to marinate the chicken (acidic yogurt is better for a marinade) and then add the mayo to make a beautiful, luscious sauce for salads, sandwiches, etc. Doing an overnight marinade is beneficial for this recipe, and personally my oven doesn't do 500 degrees well but at 400 or 450 it seems to be just as good! You can always broil it briefly if you want a little char

RMJ

The marinade is absolutely delicious and I would eat it on anything and everything, but hardly any of the flavor permeates the chicken, even after a full 24 hours. Next time around I’ll still make the full batch, but I’ll save all of it to use as a dipping sauce/salad dressing/etc (it does still need at least a few hours in the fridge for flavor and consistency IMO) and just marinate the chicken in straight buttermilk and salt. Best of both worlds.

Michele

I tried this recipe and ended up with a few black spots on otherwise green chicken. Maybe it’s because I had boneless skinless breasts? The dressing is good, I’ll use it on salads, but not sure about the 500°. Did everyone use chicken with skin and that’s what was so nice and brown?

Safight

Add pan drippings to reserved dressing for a creamy and savory gravy.

Andrea

I was completely disappointed in this flavorless chicken recipe. I followed the recipe, marinated for 8 hours and it was bland.

Private notes are only visible to you.

Green Goddess Roasted Chicken Recipe (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Jerrold Considine

Last Updated:

Views: 5635

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (78 voted)

Reviews: 93% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Jerrold Considine

Birthday: 1993-11-03

Address: Suite 447 3463 Marybelle Circles, New Marlin, AL 20765

Phone: +5816749283868

Job: Sales Executive

Hobby: Air sports, Sand art, Electronics, LARPing, Baseball, Book restoration, Puzzles

Introduction: My name is Jerrold Considine, I am a combative, cheerful, encouraging, happy, enthusiastic, funny, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.