Yesterday was the first official day of fall, and I decided to kick it off with my classic roasted chicken. Classic roasted chicken is a comfort food that many people seem to be afraid of making at home. While you have to get over the initial hump of dealing with the whole bird instead of just breast or thighs, the preparation for this meal comes together in minutes. The hardest part about it is waiting for it to be ready!
The crispy roasted and perfectly seasoned skin paired with the succulent meat and roasted vegetables based in the chicken drippings make for a home cooked meal to inspire the nostalgia of childhood. This classic roasted chicken is perfect for a weeknight meal, or to serve a crowd!
NOTES: If you want to make this on a weeknight after work, prep the bird the night before and leave it in the fridge so you can pop it in the oven when you come home and have a wonderful meal about an hour and a half later with no extra work!
Also, don’t throw away the leftover chicken carcass! Throw it into a crockpot with some onions, garlic, and carrots to make an amazing stock. See my recipe for bone broth/stock here!
Classic Roasted Chicken ingredients:
- 1 4-5lb whole chicken
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 5 little red potatoes
- 1 bulb fennel
- 1 parsnip
- 3-4 carrots, depending on size
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 1 ½ tsp herbs de Provence
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ stick room temperature salted butter
- 2 tbs olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Start off by taking the giblets out of the chicken. They often come in a little bag inside the cavity, so just remove it and discard. Next, rinse off the chicken in cool water, both inside the cavity and on the outside, then pat completely dry with a paper towel. Set the chicken aside and start cutting the vegetables.
These are the veggies I like to use, but you could really use anything you want. Chop the potatoes, fennel, carrots, and parsnip into bite size pieces. Save the ends that you cut off of the veggies as you will use these to fill and flavor the cavity of the chicken.
Coat the chopped veggies with ½ tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp herbs de Provence, and ¼ cup canola oil, then place all the veggies at the bottom of an 8×8 inch baking dish. The key to this classic roasted chicken is using a small enough baking dish so that everything gets caramelized, but doesn’t burn.
Next focus on the chicken. Mix the softened butter with the remaining herbs de Provence. Lift up the skin of the chicken on top of the breast meat, and spread the butter between the skin and the meat so the butter bastes the chicken to crisp up the skin and keep the meat juicy.
[See how-to video for details]
Once you have the butter under the skin, take your leftover vegetable ends along with the 3 garlic cloves and quartered lemon and stuff everything into the cavity of the chicken.
Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in your baking dish. Drizzle the chicken with 2 tbs olive oil, and half a teaspoon of kosher salt. You can put the chicken in the oven just like this, or you can tie the chicken legs together. I personally like to tie the ends of the chicken legs together. All you have to do is take a piece of kitchen twine and tie the two ends of the chicken drumsticks together. This will help keep all the veggies in the cavity, and make for a nice presentation.
Stick a meat thermometer set to 165 degrees into the thigh, and pop the chicken into your 425 degree oven until it beeps. It should take about an hour and a half.
Just to be safe, once I pull the chicken out, I usually stick the thermometer a few more places to make sure that the entire bird has reached 165 degrees. If you find a place that hasn’t, keep the thermometer in that location, and put the bird back into the oven until it comes up to temperature.
Once your chicken is completely cooked, let it rest for at least 15-30 minutes to let the juices settle. This will ensure that your chicken stays moist.
Once your classic roasted chicken has rested, carve it and enjoy!
