Garlic and Lemon Chicken in Advance

Asked by happycookkarin. Answered on 12th July 2015

Full question

I would like to make this dish for a friend whose child is ill. This means I will cook it on one day and bring the dish over the day after. What do you advise me to do - how can she heat it up without making the dish extra dry? Should I shorten my cooking time so she can finish the dish in her oven? Thank you!

Our answer

Nigella's Slow Roasted Garlic And Lemon Chicken (from Nigella Summer and on the Nigella website) is a very popular dish, however it is best served hot straight after cooking and we do not believe that it will reheat very well. Leftovers are best served cold.

If you did want to try reheating the chicken then it would be best to use 8 skin-on and bone-in chicken thighs rather than a cut up chicken as thigh meat is moister and would be less likely to dry out. Unfortunately it will be quite difficult to crisp up the chicken skin again as the chicken should be reheated on a lower heat (about 150c/300F) and should be covered with foil for reheating. If you wanted to make something that can be easily reheated we would suggest a braised dish or stew. Portions can be reheated individually in a saucepan or microwave and also frozen for convenience. We would suggest maybe trying Nigella's Coq Au Riesling (from Nigella Express) or Spring Chicken (from Kitchen but made without the lettuce. Both of these recipes can be found on the Nigella website. The recipes use alcohol but this can be replaced with an equivalent amount of chicken stock. Make sure that you cool and refrigerate any dishes made in advance as quickly as possible (and within 2 hours of making) and that the dish is reheated until piping hot all the way through.