Super simple summer roast chicken
Five ingredients, beautiful results. Let’s go.
Cooking
July 25, 2026

Good morning! Today we have for you:

A whole roast chicken sits on a white platter with caramelized zucchini and leeks. A small dish of sauce is nearby with forks and knives.
Ali Slagle’s roast chicken with caramelized zucchini and leeks. David Malosh for The New York Times

I will never not roast a chicken

By Mia Leimkuhler

There are some dishes I consider summer-proof, in that no matter how hot it is, how much shirt-flapping I’m doing, I will turn on my oven to make them because I absolutely must eat them. Melissa Clark’s summer berry buckle comes to mind, as does Yewande Komolafe’s blistered tomato dressing and some requisite batches of Lidey Heuck’s roasted zucchini. But at the top of this list is roast chicken.

This new recipe for roast chicken with caramelized zucchini and leeks from Ali Slagle needs just five ingredients — chicken, thyme, lemon, zucchini and leeks, plus olive oil, salt and pepper. The way the oven transforms each of those ingredients feels magical. The chicken gets all golden and crisp-skinned; the zucchini turns jammy; the leeks collapse into silky, frizzled strands. And the lemon? Poked all over with a toothpick or fork, it roasts inside the chicken and is then squeezed over the finished bird to release its warm, bright juices. Simple, perfect.

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Roast Chicken With Caramelized Zucchini and Leeks

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Summer, simply

Buttery peach and ricotta crostini: As Yasmin Fahr notes in her headnote, this is a perfect recipe for less-than-perfect peaches. They get sliced and seared in a hot pan with olive oil and butter to soften; a sprinkle of salt boosts their sweetness. Skip the thinly sliced jamón or prosciutto to keep these toasts vegetarian.

Frijoles charros: I suppose there’s nothing obviously summery about these porky stewed beans from Octavio Peña. There are tomatoes, but they’re the all-season, canned fire-roasted variety to mimic the smoky flavor of the dish’s traditional campfire cooking method. But since I plan to eat these outdoors in the sun with a small stack of corn tortillas and a cold Sol, I consider them summer eating.

Zucchini tzatziki: Is this cool, creamy, garlicky concoction from Sheela Prakash a dip for pita chips and cucumber spears? Is it a sauce for grilled chicken or salmon? Is it a spread for burgers or sandwiches? Yes, yes and yes.

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Rachel Vanni for The New York Times

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By Yasmin Fahr

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And before you go

Because it’s Saturday, and I think Saturday calls for something fun and a little silly, I’m sharing this episode of “Saikoro Music,” a YouTube series from the musician Ginger Root. In each episode, he challenges himself to cover a song, with elements of the cover — which song, how much he can spend on instruments, which Tokyo neighborhood he can go shopping in — decided by the roll of a die. Suspense! Heartbreak! A timeless 1999 Jamiroquai hit! It’s all here.

Thanks for reading!

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