Although it may seem complicated, roast chicken is in fact a pretty fast and easy dinner. All you have to do is season the chicken well and throw it in the oven for about an hour. The resulting dish is classic, elegant, comforting, and delicious! It also fills your house with a wonderfully satisfying aroma.
When I make roast chicken, I like to use different herbs and spices. Normally I'll combine them with butter and olive oil and then rub the chicken's skin with the mixture. This technique ensures a seasoned and flavorful skin and moist, juicy interior. To check out my basic recipe that can be adapted to suit your family's needs, read more.
Original Recipe
If you have time, take the bird out of the fridge about 25 minutes before you plan on roasting it.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tablespoons fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used parsley, thyme, and basil)
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, sliced in half
1/2 cup celery leaves
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, chopped into chunks
1 celery stalk, chopped into chunks
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Combine the garlic, herbs, butter, and olive oil in a small bowl. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Wash the chicken and dry thoroughly, patting with paper towels.
- Season the cavity and outside of the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the lemon, celery leaves, and a few pieces of onion.
- Throw the remaining onions, carrots, and celery into a roast pan. This will act as a bed for the chicken.
- Rub the entire chicken with the herb butter mixture. Slide your fingers under the skin and stuff some herb butter inside.
- Set the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting pan. Tuck the wing tips under the body. Pour the chicken broth and white wine into the roasting pan.
- Place in the oven and roast until the skin is deep golden brown and crisp, about an hour to an hour and a half. To see if the chicken is done, pierce the chicken in between the leg and thigh with a knife. If the juices run clear, it is cooked. Or remove from the oven when a thermometer reads between 160 and 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cover loosely with foil and let sit for 15 minutes before carving.
Serves 4-6.
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J Brand
Mmmmm, my favorite thing is a good roast chicken with veggies. So delish!
I make fresh pastured chicken with grassfed butter, chives, parsley, sea salt, fresh black pepper and lemon juice.
1Yum! I recently had the famous roast chicken at Barbuto in NYC and it looked just like this!
2Good god this looks good.... never roasted a whole chicken before, I think I need to try this out this week...
3A good way to keep a roast chicken moist is turning it every 15 minutes and basting. Start breast down for 15 minutes. Then turn it on a side for 15 minutes and baste, then turn it to its other side for 15 more and baste again. Then turn it breast up and cook it for the remainder of the time, once again, basting. It keeps the white meat juicy and the skin crispy. Although I have found it takes a little longer to cook because you have to open the oven so much, but it's completely worth it.
4roast chicken is one of my favorite things to eat and cook! I was already planning on making it tonight and now I am going to incorporate this recipe! Thank you Partysugar!
5I just made roast chicken tonight! I use a recipe very similar to this that I got from the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook. Since its supposed to be healthy it doesn't call for butter, just the olive oil, but other than that its basically the same. I use thyme, rosemary, and sage for my herbs.
I have done a whole chicken before, but since I only cook for myself I found it was too much to eat. So instead I just buy the chicken pieces I like to eat and make the herb-olive oil mixture to rub over it and squirt some lemon juice over it and throw it in the oven. Its sooo delicious! I'm going to make some more for my boyfriend this weekend.
6You can use any leftover chicken for so many things....Chicken noodle soup....chicken tortilla soup...chicken salad sandwich...chicken and pasta...........
7It looks so good, I'm making it tonight. Thanks!
8I'm living abroad this thanksgiving and instead of making turkey, I plan on doing whole roasted chickens (Turkey is waaay too expensive in Europe). I have a convection oven so I don't foresee any huge issues, but does anyone know of any problems I might encounter if I'm trying to make 4 chickens at once?
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