Oven Roasted Whole Chicken

This simple oven roasted chicken recipe literally screams Sunday dinner at the farm. 10 minutes of prep and 1-1/2 hours in the oven makes for a delicious fuss-free Sunday meal. With its crispy skin, juicy chicken, you’ll never buy store-bought rotisserie chicken again!

You’ll love having the left-overs from this oven roasted whole chicken recipe in your refrigerator for salads & sandwiches because you’ll be able to use the leftover meat for recipes that require cooked chicken (if there is any left!). Knowing how to roast a chicken is a basic skill that has a multitude of uses. As a main meal or in it’s left over form, it’s the classic American meal.

Served with a starchy side dish of potatoes or fresh bread and some oven roasted root vegetables (carrots, brussels sprouts, parsnips). You will love this recipe so much you’ll be roasting chicken every week. The results is a perfectly crispy skin, totally juicy chicken and happy family! I’d suggest either using the pan juices right away for a gravy or reserving them to add to a batch of broth later.

Oven roasted chicken is a classic comfort food. In a pinch, a Costco rotisserie chicken is nice, but will never come close to home made. Simply the aroma that this permeates throughout the house is reward in itself. This is the one you want. It is the best chicken you’ll ever make.

When making this recipe, feel free to tweak it to your taste. Add some sage, thyme or rosemary in your seasonings when rubbing on the outer skin. Toss an onion quarter or sprig of your favorite herb into the cavity as an aromatic. Try new ideas. I love to sprinkle with some garlic powder or onion powder too!

How to Roast a Chicken:

• Remove the giblets if there are any included – these are the organs (liver, heart, etc) usually in the cavity of your chicken, be sure to remove these. My husband loves it when I put these in the pan along side of the chicken and bake them too. It gives him something to much on whole he is painstakingly waiting the 15-20 minute “rest time” for the chicken.
• Pat dry the entire chicken, inside and out – I use paper towels for this.
• Season the chicken – salt & pepper, paprika and whatever other creative twist you want to add on the outside of the bird.
• Add your aromatics – if using
• You can truss the chicken now if you want to – (tie the legs tightly together with kitchen string, tuck the wing tips under and place the chicken breast side up) I usually skip this part.
• Cook at 450 for 15 minutes before lowering to 350 for an additional 20 minutes per pound. (165F is the desired temp)
• Let it rest – Let your chicken rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.

When you roast a whole chicken you want to be sure to pay attention to the size of the chicken. Weigh it prior to dressing it for cooking and plan for 20 minutes per pound.

The roasted chicken will also produce the most amazing pan juices in the roasting pan. Once you spoon off the excess fat you can serve the pan juices over the chicken breast meat or you can thicken it with a bit of cornstarch whisked with cold water that you heat up in a small saucepan to make a quick gravy.

To serve the chicken let it sit once it comes out of the oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. This will lock in the juices and be sure that it is holding an internal temperature of 165 degrees (use a meat thermometer to be sure) for at least 5 minutes for food safety (Per the USDA).