When I look back over some of my postings, I noticed I never included a roasted chicken recipe, so I’m blogging about one today.
I did some online research until I came to a roasted chicken recipe by Ina Garten which looked delicious. I’ve modified her roasted chicken recipe a bit to match my family’s tastes.
Be sure to use butter to coat the outside of the chicken. Because the butter gives the skin a nice brown crispy look.
Ingredients for a Whole Roasted Chicken
- 5 to 6 Pound Whole Chicken
- One Lemon Cut into Wedges
- Large Handful of Fresh Thyme
- 1 White Part of a Leek Thoroughly Washed, (no green stem parts)
- 3 Large Yellow Potatoes
- 5 to 6 Peeled Carrots cut into large slices
- Half of a Medium Sized White Onion roughly diced
- 1 Tablespoon of Melter Butter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Rinse and pat dry chicken.
- Stuff the chicken cavity with a large bunch of thyme and lemon wedges.
- Brush outside of chicken with butter. Tie the legs together with a piece of cooking twine.
- Generously salt and pepper the chicken.
- Spray roasting pan with nonstick spry. Place the cut up carrots, potatoes, leek and onion evenly over the bottom of roasting pan.
- Put the chicken on top of the vegetables so that the juice will drip down and flavor the roasting vegetables. Tuck the chicken’s wings in under the bird.
- Roast for about one and a half hours. Use a meat thermometer to check if it is done. If you slice the area between the breast and the thigh, the juices should run clear.
- When done, remove from oven, and cover with a piece of aluminum foil to keep it warm. Allow the bird to rest for about 20 minutes. This will keep the juices in the bird.
Stuffing the chicken cavity with fresh lemon wedges and thyme will pop up the flavor.
Ending Notes and Cooking Tips
The below photograph shows the nicely roasted chicken and vegetables for dinner.
The thing I learned is that you need a roasting pan not a roaster to get the skin nice and brown. The sides of this pan must be low enough for the chicken to brown but not so low that the juices will overflow. The pan was lined with aluminum foil for easy clean up.
The roasted chicken meal turned out great tasting and picture perfect. But be sure to remove the twine holding the legs together before serving.
We enjoyed every bit of it and then had roasted chicken wraps for dinner the next day. The chicken was yummy and with no waste.