As usual, here’s the recipe, followed by my comments. This recipe is adapted from Cravings by Chrissy Teigen.
Tools
Ingredients
5-6 pound whole chicken (make sure you’re not buying one that’s pre-brined or pre-seasoned)
1 lemon (zest and the lemon)
2 whole bulbs of garlic
1 stick unsalted butter
1 package poultry seasoning (in the fresh herbs section, it will probably have sage, thyme, and rosemary)
root vegetables and an onion to go under the bird (I use carrots because Chrissy recommended those and parsnips and I don’t like parsnips)
salt and pepper
Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 350. Take your butter out of the fridge and let it soften. Don’t microwave it–you want it to be room temperature or slightly colder.
- Take all that nonsense out of the middle of your chicken. I always throw it away but I guess you can keep it if you have something to do with it.
- Season your chicken with salt and pepper inside and out.
- Make your compound butter by mixing the zest of your lemon, about half of the poultry seasoning (chopped up), salt and pepper, and one of the bulbs of garlic (minced) into the butter.
- Use your fingers to loosen the skin away from the chicken and shove the butter under the skin. This feels super weird but it’s what makes the roasted chicken taste so good so make sure you really spread that butter around. When you can’t fit any more butter under the skin rub the rest of it on top of the bird.
- Put your cubed root vegetables and onion in your pan. Put your chicken on top of it. Stuff the chicken with the lemon (halved), the rest of the garlic cloves (whole), and the rest of the poultry seasoning (not chopped up, leave the sprigs whole).
- Roast the chicken for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until it reaches 165 F when you test it with the meat thermometer (sometimes it takes longer than an hour and a half). Baste the chicken with the juices from the pan every 15 minutes.
- When the chicken is done take it out of the oven. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before taking it out and putting it on a cutting board and cutting into it. (It’s going to be really hot so be very careful.)
- Pull out the vegetables to serve with the chicken. Pour the juices from the pan into a Tupperware to save for later. When the juices cool they separate into butter and fat. You can use your fat when you reheat your leftover chicken (it sounds gross but it’s really the best way to make your leftovers taste just as great) and you can use the chicken compound butter whenever you want savory butter.
Roasting a chicken is one of those things that always seemed so adult and fancy and…difficult. I guess since it’s a whole entire bird I was intimidated by the idea. But after the election I decided that I was going to suck it up and do it. Almost every cookbook I have has a recipe for roasted chicken–maybe others are also intimidated and need some help, or maybe it’s because cookbook authors know it’s actually not that difficult and a huge hit at a dinner party.
The recipe I ended up using, and have used again since, is from (surprise, surprise) Cravings by Chrissy Teigen. I was tempted by Joanna Gaines’s recipe, but she wanted me to chill the chicken overnight after seasoning it and I wasn’t patient enough for that. The first time I made a whole chicken I didn’t check to make sure I had all the right tools and ended up having to baste with a spoon and brush (facepalm), thankfully I grabbed a baster at the store before trying a second time but let this be a warning that it’s kind of essential.
As I said, this is pretty much the perfect dish for entertaining. It’s relatively easy to make, everyone will be super impressed with your cooking skills, and it makes so much food. I always have leftovers for a whole week–which has led to me getting pretty creative about what to do with roasted chicken that’s still interesting and tasty.
xoxo,
J
It's VERY good! And so versatile.