I used to think that making a roast chicken was really, really fancy. The kind of thing Betty Crocker types did for their families on special occasions. And then I tried this simple recipe and turns out, roasting a chick is really easy!
Easy steps to Roast a Chicken
1 – Buy a whole chicken. Most whole chickens are around the same size, but as long as you have a meat thermometer to check the meat, size shouldn’t be too big of a factor when purchasing a chicken.
2 – Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
3 – Remove any giblets/neck/etc that may be hiding in the cavity of the chicken.
4 – Rub olive oil all over the chicken. This will create crispy delicious skin.
5 – Put olive oil in the bottom of your pot, place chicken in the pot.
6 – Chop one small yellow onion and 5+ cloves of garlic.
7 – Sprinkle onions and garlic around the chicken. Avoid putting the onions directly on the chicken, rather place them around the chicken. Keeping them on the side will allow for the onions to cook down and create a delicious “gravy” to pour on your chicken. Warning: conventional gravy will never taste good after you’ve had this!
8 – Avoid adding extra vegetables. It’s tempting to add other vegetables to your pot, but they will dry out the chicken. If you want extra veggies, you can roast them in a separate pan with olive oil.
9 – Pour extra olive oil over the onions on the side of the chicken. No need to salt or pepper the chicken, it will turn out delicious with just these few ingredients.
10 – Cook for approximately 1 hour (may need up to 1 hour 20 min for a larger chicken), or until cooked to 180 degrees F. Cook the chicken in an uncovered pot, this allows the skin to get crispy.
Tip for taking the chicken’s temperature: Make sure you put the thermometer in the center of the meat and take the temperature in several places. More dense pieces of meat require a longer cook time. Also be sure that you don’t poke the thermometer through the chicken (so it’s taking the temperature of the empty inside cavity of the chicken).
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What you’ll need
- Large pot [Cast iron pots are the best for roasting a chicken –> Good news: Costco sells these cast iron pots for a bargain ~ $90.00 (usually $275.00). If you don’t already own a cast iron pot, you can opt for a less expensive, traditional roasting pan as well.]
- Olive oil
- Chicken
- Garlic and yellow onion
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(Photo credit: vociferous. via photopin cc)
