The Perfect Roast Chicken
I can’t remember if I have ever posted but this, but if I have here it is again!
I love making roast chicken, it is so easy and I love changing up the herbs and other flavorings. It does take a bit of time to cook but the prep time is minimal and the end product is so worth the wait. I like to make roast chicken on Sunday nights so we can eat on the leftovers over the coarse of the week. Recently I also roasted some potatoes and carrots in the pan as well so dinner was pretty much done all at once…and only one dish to clean. I love that!
The Perfect Roast Chicken
1 roasting chicken (size doesn’t matter too much, I think mine are about 5 pounds)
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 lemon
3 shallots or half an onion
2 springs of fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
If roasting veggies as well:
2 pounds of potatoes
3 or 4 carrots
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. If roasting veggies, clean them up and cut into cubes. Place in the bottom of a glass 9×13 inch pan. Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil (not to much as the veggies will cook in the chicken juices).
3. Remove the nasty bits from the inside of the chicken and rinse chicken in cold water. Pat dry. Place chicken on top of the veggies.
4. Place the lemon, shallots/onions, and rosemary in the cavity of the chicken. Salt and pepper cavity. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
5. Rub the outside of the chicken with softened butter. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken. (You can also add other herbs and spices if you like, I have a lovely lavender mix that I like to use)
6. Place the dish in the oven and roast for about 90 minutes. The skin should be nice and brown and the juices should run clear. Whole poultry should be cooked to 180° F (82° C) - measure the temperature in the thigh.
7. Remove chicken from pan and let chicken rest for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the veggies in the chicken juices and allow to roast another 10 minutes until crispy.
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March 5th, 2007 06:41
Thank you for the recipe. I love making roast chicken. There’s something very confort food about it. Even though Alton Brown doesn’t recommend it, I love making a rice stuffing for my bird with raisins and pignolis.
March 31st, 2008 08:52
hey,
im 19, and im about to make my first roast chicken. im going for a slow roast.. about 4 hours at 200 degrees. all the recipes ive seen for roast veggies say about 30 minutes at about 450. so i was wondering, is it okay to raise the temp of the chicken for the last half an hour? or will it dry out or spoil a good slow roast
answer soon please, im planning on making it this week!!
thanks.
and that chicken looks soooooooooo goooooood
April 8th, 2008 16:58
Hey Fariya,
Your “slow roast” is way too cool to start with. Even when I cook on my smoker, the minimal temp is 225 to 250. 200 is barely “poaching” the poor bird.
200 will also probably never get the bird to the required 170-180 degrees of doneness, that temp is simply not high enough above the required finishing temp.
And you also never get crisp skin, you need to be in the 400s to do that, then turn down to the 300s to finish.
May 18th, 2008 04:02
Hi Fariya,
You certainly can cook @ 200 and I think its the best and easiest may of roasting most joints so that you retain all the juices inside the bird and not in the roasting tin - 3 tips though.
1) Do get a meat thermometer as its important that you do heat the meat through to 180 degrees and most oven thermometers are inaccurate.
2) Put the chicken in a hot oven to kill surface bacteria then after 15mins turn down to 190 - 200. When the chicken is almost done - say 170-175 degrees take it out, crank up your oven to 400. When the oven is hot put the chicken back in (and any veg you want to cook). Take the chicken out after 15mins or so. If you leave the chicken in while the oven is heating up you may find that it all the juices are released before you crisp up the skin
3) Leave chicken to rest covered in foil for up to half an hour whilst the veg are cooking and you are making gravy.
I’ve roasted turkeys at this temperature.
OK its taken 24 hours but its incredibly moist. Lamb is also fantastic done this way ( at 160 degrees) for 5 - 7 hours.