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Chicken Salmoriglio
Salmoriglio, a sauce/marinade from southern Italy (specifically, Calabria and Sicily), is a simple mixture of extra-virgin olive oil, lemon, garlic and herbs. For this oven-cooked recipe, we make a fragrant base of grated lemon zest, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, then use some to season bone-in chicken thighs and the rest as the foundation for the salmoriglio that sauces the finished chicken. Rather than use the juice of fresh lemons to make the salmoriglio, we squeeze lemon halves that have been roasted with the chicken. The oven heat mellows the acidity so the sauce has a subtle sweetness and a more restrained tartness.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t skip the step of cutting slashes into the chicken. The cuts allow the seasonings to get into the meat for better flavor throughout and also help speed the cooking.
45 minutes
Ingredients
-
1
tablespoon grated lemon zest, plus 2 lemons halved crosswise
-
2
medium garlic cloves, finely grated
Directions
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01Heat the oven to 475°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Grate 1 tablespoon zest from the lemons, then halve the lemons and trim off the pointed ends so the halves sit stably with cut sides facing up; set the lemon halves aside. In a small bowl, stir together the zest, garlic, dried oregano, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Measure 1 tablespoon of the lemon-garlic mixture into a large bowl. Stir 4 tablespoons of oil into the remaining mixture; set aside.
Reviews
August 12, 2026
Friend says “:Best Chicken I’ve Ever Had!”
Have made this recipe for several years now, and it is always a big hit with family and guests. I always double the marinade since I usually make a large sheet pan full of chicken thighs. It is just as tasty the next day if guests have not begged to take home a plate !
January 19, 2026
Don't squeeze the lemon
I gave this five stars because, overall, the dish was delicious. However, I found that when I squeezed the roasted lemon half over the chicken, it turned the taste bitter. Also, I served this over watercress. The net time I'll use arugula.
June 6, 2025
Delicious!!!
This is wonderful and easy. Absolutely delicious! I made it exactly as written. Next time I’ll double the sauce since there wasn’t as much as we would have liked for all the chicken pieces. Also there’s really only a very small amount of spice rub for the chicken pieces so I’ll probably double that too. One instruction I found confusing - it says to “slash the chicken to the bone on both sides. ” I found the video after I made this (I didn’t see a link to the video in the recipe and only saw it when I searched the recipe title). The slashes are made perpendicular to the bone, which should probably be included in the instructions. I still don’t know what “both sides” refers to since, in the video, she only slashes the top. If you were to turn the thighs over and slash the other side you’d cut through the chicken and end up with little strips.
January 4, 2025
Loved this!
I made this tonight with the 1. 5# of chicken I had in the fridge. Cut everything in half and followed it exactly. What a terrific dish! It was so flavorful and baked up quickly at that high heat. I took the skin that I trimmed from the thighs and slow rendered it in a small skillet and served these cracklings with the chicken. I will definitely make this one again and again.
November 29, 2023
Hubby adored
Next time I’ll decrease salt — I minced garlic finely vs grating. I usually try a ‘new experiment’ at least weekly and rarely repeat soon …. But hubby wants this dish next week for sure. Super easy, very flavorful. Might try a mixture of arugula & spinach vs watercress which is difficult to source for us. Excellent recipe tyvm
I halved the recipe. There was very little marinade in the large bowl so it didn't make sense to roll the chicken around. I just spread what I had out on the tops of the chicken. Other than that it was delicious. What did I do wrong? With 3 lbs of chicken and 3 tbs of marinade doesn't seem like it would have been different.
I was so excited to make this recipe, but my oven started smoking after ten minutes! It looks like the honey-oil mixture burnt. I had to take the tray out, move the chicken to a new pan, and put them back in at 375 to finish cooking. Did no one else have a problem with the 475?
Hi Eva -
We are so sorry this didn't work for you! We aren't sure what went wrong since, as you have noted, others haven't had this issue and you can see Rosie make it in the linked video and she didn't have issues either. Did you make sure to slash the chicken down to the bone and rub the seasoning mixture deep into the slashes? We wonder if there was too much of the seasoning mixture on the exterior that may have burned on the pan. If so, it may be that your oven is running too hot. In the future we would recommend lowering the temperature to 450 degrees and cooking the chicken a little longer, following the visual clues for doneness.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
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Very simple to make, with lots of flavour. I added other raw veggies to the salad.