The Perfect Roasted Chicken

Roasted Chicken is a great recipe to master. The recipe I'm sharing is very basic and makes the perfect roasted chicken that focuses on the chicken flavor. It's flavorful, juicy, and tender.

Not only will you get a delicious roasted chicken but you'll also have the ingredients to make Chicken Stock  and Gravy from scratch. Creating good food from scratch doesn't have to been overwhelming or too time consuming. There is a beautiful flow in the kitchen when you're cooking from scratch, especially when you are using as much of the ingredients as possible, nothing goes to waste.

I'll make this chicken on a weekend when I have a little extra time. We eat what we want (usually with gravy, mashed potatoes, and veggies) and then save the rest for meals during the week. Once I save the meat I will set up my stock pot (or a crock pot) and simmer the bones overnight to make Chicken Stock (I'll have that recipe for you later this month). If I don't have time to make stock that night I will freeze the carcass until I can make it (you can also do this with the pan drippings). Having good chicken stock on hand is a life saver. I like keeping some in the freezer for when someone has a cold. I don't think there is anything better when your sick than homemade chicken soup.

Try this recipe as-is first, then you can play around with adding herbs and spices to create your signature flavor. I love using Onion oil or Garlic oil in this recipe and letting that add flavor to the chicken.

The Perfect Roasted Chicken

Print Recipe

• Author: Alycia Louise
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 2 hours
• Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 6 LB Whole chicken (Thawed and giblets removed)
• 2 TBS Oil (This is a great place to use a flavored oil like onion oil.)
• 3 cup Water or Stock
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Set up your roasting pan. Place the Chicken on the roasting rack and truss the legs together with twine, then coat in oil. Its best to pour the oil over it, and using you hands, spread the oil all over the chicken.
3. Next evenly distribute the salt and pepper over the chicken. Then pour the water or stock into the bottom of the roasting pan. 
4. Roast in the oven for about two hours. The skin should be golden brown and the internal temp should be 165F.
5. Remove from oven, cover with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving. 
6. Reserve the liquid in the bottom for gravy or adding flavor to stock.

Notes

A Roasting pan is a must, it helps the chicken cook evenly and allows you to collect the drippings without getting the bottom of the chicken soggy.  

Cooking twine is also useful in the kitchen. This recipe uses it to truss the chicken legs together. How do you truss a chicken? I grab about a 6-8" length of twine and loop the center of it around the tail, then take one side of twine and wrap it around one leg then repeat with the other side of twine and leg. I then pull it tight and tie the ends of twine together.

 

Please note that these are Affiliate links. If you decide to purchase using these links I will earn a commission which helps keep this blog running, Thank you!