Most of us are familiar with the beautiful sight of a golden-brown turkey on the table for thanksgiving. How often do we see a whole chicken though? It is easier, faster, and you don’t have to worry about thawing it for a week. Knowing how to roast a whole chicken is a great skill and it can make for a super easy dinner. The leftover meat can be used in other recipes, and it can save money!
What are benefits of roasting a whole chicken?
It is so easy!
I am all for a recipe I don’t have to babysit. I can quickly chop up some vegetables, toss those in a pot, place a chicken on top, and add some oil and spices. Thats it! Then I walk away while it cooks. It is one of my “easy button” dinners and the whole family loves it.
Leftovers
We are currently a family of three, (soon to be four). It’s myself, my husband, and our toddler. If I make this for our dinner and roast vegetables with the chicken and we have sourdough buns or potatoes with it, we still have a ton of leftover chicken. I allow the chicken to cool then with a sharp knife (or my hands) remove the extra meat from the bones. I have found that I can pull off some of the smaller bits better if I use my fingers because then none is getting left behind.
The chicken usually will have 4-6 cups of meat on it depending on the size of the bird and how much you can pull off the bones.
The bones don’t have to be wasted either. Once I pull off all the extra meat I can, I toss the bones in a stock pot with some herbs and vegetables and create a wonderful homemade chicken broth. It is so nutrient dense and packed with flavor. Then I have that to add to soups or cook with rice.
Saves money
Getting a whole chicken from the grocery store, farmers marker, or local butcher tends to be cheaper than if you were to get all those cuts of meat individually. There are the two breasts, two wings, two legs. Then there are all the bits of meat that aren’t sold individually because they aren’t as pretty. Such as the bits along the back and near the neck.
Since you aren’t paying for someone else to do the work of cutting the bird up, you save money.
Why not just get a rotisserie chicken?
They are usually decently priced, you can buy them warm and ready to go, and they taste good. So why bother going through the effort of cooking your own chicken when you can just pick one up at Costco or the grocery store? Well, there are a few reasons.
Additives – If you look at the ingredients of a rotisserie chicken it isn’t just going to say chicken and spices. There are things like carrageenan to thicken the sauces, polysorbate 80, and natural flavors. These things are linked to health problems such as allergies, gut problems, heart issues, and a host of other health concerns.
Plastic – Rotisserie chickens are most often sold in disposable plastic containers or cheap plastic bags. They are usually put into these containers while still hot and then are stuck somewhere to keep them warm. This allows the toxins in the plastic to leach out and contaminate the chicken. Plastic isn’t something you want to be using on a regular basis, especially not for warm or hot food!
Organic – If you want your food to be organic or locally sourced, you can be in control of that when you cook your own chicken. You can pick the one that looks the best at the grocery store or talk with a local farmer about the living conditions of the birds. When you but a rotisserie chicken they are almost always inorganic and covered with inorganic ingredients.
Ingredients
This is what I use to make mine, but feel free to experiment with other vegetables, herbs, and spices to get it just the way you want it
Chicken – I like to wait until the organic chickens go on sale at our local grocery store and buy several of them to toss in the freezer. Each bird is roughly 4 pounds. There isn’t anything all that special about the chicken as long as it is a whole chicken. If you haven’t bought one before it will be just like a thanksgiving turkey, but smaller. The feet, feathers, neck, and head will have been removed and it will be clean. There is often a bag of organs inside that you can cook up or discard depending on your preference.
Oil – I use extra virgin olive oil and just drizzle a little bit over the vegetables and over the chicken to keep it from drying out.
Onion – Yellow, white, and purple onions all work well for this recipe. These not only get chopped up and placed beneath the chicken but are also tucked inside to provide more flavor.
Carrots – These provide some flavor but also make for a great side to serve with the chicken since they are all cooked at the same time.
Potatoes – Totally optional, but just as with the carrots, it is a super easy side, and they taste amazing. Yellow potatoes are easy because the skins don’t have to be removes. Another delicious option is russet potatoes.
Herbs – I am a huge advocate for fresh herbs, but dried will work well too. Some of my favorites are thyme, oregano, and rosemary.
Garlic – Adds tons of flavor to the chicken and the vegetables!
How to roast a chicken
I do want to apologize to those whole like following a specific recipe to the letter. This is a recipe I have made dozens of times and every time I make it a little bit different. It all depends on the spices I have a taste for, the herbs and vegetables we have on hand, and what I plan to use the leftover meat for. It is very much a measure-with-your-heart kind of recipe, but I did get measurements down. Just have fun with it and know it will turn out great!
I start out by cleaning and chopping the carrots and onions. If I am adding potatoes, I clean peel and chop those as well. Bite sized chunks is the size I go for. Set one half an onion aside.
All the chopped vegetables are placed into the bottom of a Dutch oven, or stock pot. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix so the oil and spices are evenly distributed. Add any herbs or spices desired.
Rinse off the chicken and place it over top of the vegetables in the pot. (If there is a bag of organs, remove those before rinsing the chicken.) Chop the half onion in half again and tuck both pieces into the body cavity of the chicken along with a few crushed cloves of garlic. Add a few sprigs of fresh herbs or a teaspoon of dried herbs in as well.
Drizzle more oil over the chicken and dust with salt, pepper, and other spices. Top with a few springs of rosemary or thyme.
Cover the pot with the lid and place into the oven for an hour. Check the internal temperature of the chicken with a meat thermometer by sticking it into the thickest part of the chicken breast. The chicken needs to be cooked to 165 degrees.
Remove the lid and place it back into the oven until cooked through. This allows the skin to get crispy and a beautiful golden brown. If the thermometer was already reading at least 165 degrees then you may place it under the broiler to crisp up the skin if desired.
Allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes then remove the chicken from the pot and serve! The vegetables can be served with the chicken for the easiest dinner!
Remove any extra meat off the chicken bones once it has cooled all the way. It can be reheated and eaten as is or added to another recipe.
Any leftover vegetables (except for potatoes) and the chicken bones can be easily turned into a lovely broth. Any of the juices at the bottom of the pot can be added to the broth as well!
If you like this recipe I would so appreciate if you took the time to comment and give it five stars! Thank you so much!
This fast and easy recipe yields a tender and juicy chicken and a side of roasted vegetables. It is delicious and can easily be adjusted to fit your taste making it a soon to be family favorite! This recipe can easily be changed and adapted to fit your flavor preferance and taste. Feel free to get creative and add lemon wedges, hot peppers, a different spice rub, etc. The vegetables in the recipe are the ones my family enjoys the most. Substitute for others if desired. I do recommend keeping the garlic and onions because they add so much flavor. When checking the chicken at the one-hour mark, if the vegetables are looking a little dry or are golden brown, add a half cup or so of water to the bottom of the pot to keep them from burning. Whole Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
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