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(243)
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
243 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??

EllenJ

Made this in a roasting pan and spatchcocked the chicken. I put the cut lemon and the thyme under the chicken. The zucchini and leeks were delicious! They were less exposed than they would be on a sheetpan, so I put them back in while the chicken rested. The thyme and lemon would infuse the dish more if I had kept the chicken whole, but the chicken was still tasty. I did brine the chicken overnight, dried it off, and put it in the fridge uncovered for a couple of hours for crispy skin.

Gibby

I love roasting vegetables with a whole chicken to soak up the schmaltz, and the simple combination of leeks, zucchini, and thyme, plus the lemon (which my mother always put into the cavity to tenderize the chicken but which I hadn’t done in a long time) was a welcome change from my usual thinly sliced green cabbage plus or minus mushrooms. The thyme lent a really nice flavor to the whole. I added a handful of fingerling potatoes sliced lengthwise with the cut side against the roasting pan and the vegetables and chicken were done at the same time, despite other commenters’ problems. I should say that I wrnt by internal temperature at breast (165) not the clock. Will make again.

Gibby

I’m always glad to find ways of preparing kale,sonce it is a good source of calcium. But this didn’t knock my socks off. It was OK. Maybe I should have used a blender to ensure the the dressing emulsified. It was good, but lacked complexity—some umami that the mustard didn’t provide. I might make it again but I might want to add something to the dressing—Worcestershire? Anchovies dot of anchovy paste? Something with more depth and earthiness.

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