Roast Chicken With Caramelized Zucchini And Leeks

By Ali Slagle

Updated July 27, 2026

  • David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist. Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
1 hr 35 min
Rating
5(215)
Comments
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For this five-ingredient roast chicken dinner, stuff a chicken with a whole lemon and a bunch of thyme, then roast it alongside long planks of zucchini and leeks. Sizzling the vegetables in the chicken’s rendering fat yields a sweet, rich, jammy tangle. (The secret to delicious zucchini is to cook it until it’s tender and dark brown.) Squeeze the roasted lemon from the chicken cavity onto the sheet pan to scrape up all the browned bits for a chickeny, lemony pan sauce. Round out the meal with crusty bread and a big green salad. If you can’t find leeks, use two red onions cut into one-inch wedges.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 1 (3½- to 4-pound) whole chicken, patted dry

  • Kosher salt and black pepper

  • 1 bunch thyme

  • 1 lemon

  • 3 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise

  • 3 leeks, trimmed and quartered lengthwise

  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (1 to 4 servings)

18 grams carbs; 319 milligrams cholesterol; 1114 calories; 36 grams monounsaturated fat; 15 grams polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams saturated fat; 79 grams fat; 4 grams fiber; 1675 milligrams sodium; 83 grams protein; 7 grams sugar

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.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 425 degrees. On a sheet pan, season the chicken all over with salt and pepper, about ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt per pound of chicken. Stuff the cavity with the thyme. Using a fork or toothpick, puncture the lemon all over. Add to the cavity. If time allows, refrigerate the chicken, uncovered, for up to 24 hours, which will lead to crisper skin and juicier meat.

    1. Step 2

      When ready to cook, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Add the zucchini and leeks to the sheet pan, pulling the leeks apart a bit. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the chicken and vegetables with the oil and rub to coat. Arrange the chicken in the center of the pan and the vegetables in an even, crowded layer around it.

    1. Step 3

      Roast until the vegetables are deeply browned and tender (even burnt in spots) and a thermometer inserted into the  chicken breast reads at least 155 degrees and the thigh at least 165 degrees in the thickest parts, 50 to 60 minutes. Halfway through, baste the vegetables with the juices. 

    1. Step 4

      Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to rest for 10 minutes before carving. Transfer the vegetables to a platter. Use tongs to pluck the lemon out of the chicken, cut it in half, and squeeze it (with tongs because it will be hot!) onto the sheet pan. Use a fish spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits on the sheet pan. Pour the drippings into a small bowl to serve over the carved chicken and vegetables.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
215 user ratings
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Comments

Diana

Agree. Sadly, the NYT recipes and comments are not what they used to be. I learned a lot from NYT, and prepare some of my old recipes daily - it is the reason why I am a good cook today. The comments taught me new techniques as a young (wanabee) cook. I am afraid what we have now is different. I revised the recipe to read: "If time allows, refrigerate the chicken, uncovered, for up to 24 hours, which will lead to crisper skin and juicier meat. When ready to prepare, heat oven ..."

SG

The recipe tells you to preheat the oven and then refrigerate the chicken for up to 24 hours ! Would it not be much more sensible to reverse the order of the instructions so no one is preheating the oven for a day or so ?

Peggy

STEP 1: How long do you roast the chicken @ 425??

AB

Soooooo delicious. Used a 5-pound chicken (all that was on offer at the market) so added the vegetables after 30 minutes and, after an hour, turned the oven to convection mode to draw the water out of the zucchini for the remainder of the time it took to reach the correct internal temperature for the chicken. Results were spectacular! (If you don’t have a convection oven and you’re using a large chicken—add the vegetables a little sooner so they caramelize.). Thank you, NY Times and Ali Slagle.

Alan

The salting of the chicken and waiting 24 hours is the same as the Zuni Cafe roast chicken I’ve cooked for years. So, as I do with that one, I stuffed a sprig of thyme under the skin over both breasts and thighs. In order to get that nice crispy skin I roasted it on convection for the first 1/2 hour. Taking into account the comments about the veggies, I roasted those on a separate sheet pan for that first half hour. Then I added the veggies to the chicken and finished roasting. Delicious!

Allison

With this recipe I would cook the chicken and veggies separately. I cook my whole chickens at 350 for 2 hours (after generously coating with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme.). I would cook the veggies in a separate pan for at least an hour on 350, or for less time on 400, turning a few times to ensure they do not get soggy. Plan to try this tonight and I think it will turn out great!

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