Lemon Sunshine Chicken

by Christa Upton
(South Dakota)

Recipe 44 in the Solar Hot Pot

Lemon Sunshine Chicken

I think the hardest part about this one is squeezing the lemons. LOL

The night before, mix:

3/4 c. lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)
1 T. oil
1 t. honey
1/4 t. salt


Pour over 6 pieces of chicken and marinate in fridge overnight.

10:30 am—2 T. butter: cut in pieces and put in Hot Pot, cover, set up facing the sun, set timer for 30 minutes.

Then prep:

1 small onion (chop finely)
2 cloves garlic (smash and mince)

11:00 am—onion and garlic: stir into butter, cover, set timer for 30 minutes.

11:30 am—chicken and marinade: put into Hot Pot, try to quickly spoon some of the onions over the chicken. Put baking rack and thermometer in.

Cover, adjust to sun, set timer for 60 minutes. (DONE except for adjusting to sun and checking temp!)

12:30 pm—adjust to sun, set timer for 60 minutes.

1:30 pm—check temperature without opening lid (can carefully jiggle pot to get condensation off lid).

(If temperature is NOT up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit by now, for food safety, you need to quickly bring up the temperature and finish cooking with higher heat source.)

If at least 150 degrees, adjust to sun, set timer for 60 minutes.

2:30 pm—adjust to sun, set timer for 60 minutes.

3:30 pm—check temperature (must still be at least 150 degrees or needs to be boosted with microwave and finished at higher heat), adjust to sun, set timer for 60 minutes.

4:30 pm—check temperature. If it has dropped below 150 degrees, make sure the chicken is done by inserting thermometer into thickest part of center piece of meat but not touching bone. It should read at least 165 degrees. If so, you’re good. Since it was at 150 degrees at 3:30, you know it hasn’t been under 150 degrees for more than 90 minutes, so it is good to eat, but not good to let it sit in the Pot much longer.

If it is still above 150, you are okay to let it ‘coast’ until a bit later supper (just don’t open the lid, and keep an eye on the temp). BTW, I’ve read different things about food safety in different sources, so I went with the most conservative/safest--never below 150 for more than 2 hours.

We did potatoes in our other Solar Hot Pot, and we enjoyed lots of great sun today with a few wispy clouds.

Around 5:30, our chicken Hot Pot was still over 180 degrees, and the chicken was literally falling-off-the-bone tender!

This made a LOT of juices, so we poured the juices on the potatoes (instead of butter or sour cream); YUM!!! I think I liked the juices on the potato better than the chicken. LOL But I’ve never been a huge meat person.

Other than needing salt, it all turned out good. Not quite as good as lemon chicken under a broiler but still AMAZINGLY good for low heat and no flame.