How to roast a chicken is one of those basic food lessons that I personally do not know well enough. My grocery store had some little fryer chickens (mine was 2.5 lbs) and it was Friday night and I was tired. I just wanted to put a dinner together, put it in the oven, forget about it but maybe learn something along the way.
I turned to Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) at the Food Network for inspiration. Her husband Jeffrey’s favourite food in the world is roast chicken so I knew hers would be made with love. The only problem is her chicken weighed between 5-6 lbs which is significantly larger than my chicken. I followed an online chart to figure out cooking times but that ended up being useless. In the end I tried to do what the French do, cooked the chicken until it is done.
No fancy flavourings here. I wanted a basic roast chicken so I had salt, pepper, thyme sprigs and a bulb of garlic which I cut in half.
It is very important to season the entire chicken including the inside which was also filled with the garlic and thyme.
With a little melted butter I oiled the outside of the chicken and then seasoned it liberally with salt and pepper. I also tied the legs together and tucked the wings under which ended up popping up anyway. I lay the chicken on a bed of seasoned and oiled vegetables and roasted it at 400F for one hour. With a meat thermometer I checked the chicken and it was not ready and did not look it either. I put it in for another half hour after adding some white wine and chicken broth to the pan. When I took it out I was still not a 100% sure it was cooked all the way through but then I am really paranoid about having my chicken cooked. At this point it had been in the oven as long as Ina’s 5 lb chicken so I figured it had to be done by now!
It took so long some of the veggies scorched but they were cooked and the roasted potatoes were delicious. I let the chicken rest on a plate covered with aluminum foil, removed the vegetables and made an easy pan gravy.
Please note that Jessica commented saying you should never put glassware on the stove like this! Normally I used a different pan and got lucky this time so don’t do this at home!
I put the same dish on the front and back elements of my stove and added some chopped shallot and garlic. After a minute or so I added a little balsamic vinegar followed by chicken broth which I used to scrape up the bits off the bottom.
I added about 1 tsp of cornstarch to 2 tsp of chicken broth, mixed together and then added it to the broth and flavourings and whisked it all up until it turned into a gravy.
The chicken looked fine when I removed the chicken breasts but just to be sure I did a trick my Mom showed me once, I added the meat to the gravy and let it cook a little longer just to be sure.
This chicken was so tender and delicious! I served it with the roasted vegetables which made a wonderfully comforting dinner on a cold winter’s night. My only complaint about roasted chicken is not being able to figure out how long to cook it for but considering I had no idea how long to roast it, I am amazed at how perfectly it turned out!
Whoa girl – stop with the good stuff already! No, don’t stop – I’m just kidding. But can you believe my husband abhors roasted anything? But I am thinking I could make this anyways and give him a hamburger to go with the gravy and stuff. And that gravy looks to die for!
Dianne
Hi Suzie –
I just wanted to let you know that in the future you should not put that glass dish directly on your stove elements. It’s very dangerous – glass can handle heat, but not direct heat. By putting it right on the element you’re risking the dish cracking or popping, which would be very bad for you. The last thing you want is molten hot, shattered glass everywhere.
Jessica
You know, I’m glad you posted this. I have never even attempted to roast a chicken – paranoid that it will be raw and result in food poisoning!
I always overcook chicken; fry it until it’s hard and burnt, boil it until it’s rubber….so paranoid. The only way I’m courageous enough with chicken is to pan fry it (enough?) and then leave it in a crockpot for hours!!
Yours looks yummy…and I love the gravy hint!!
Dianne, my husband doesn’t like roasted vegetables, guys are so funny. Me? I love them so this was a treat!
OK, make a note Jessica about not using the glassware just in case. I usually use my stainless steel roasting pan, you learn something new every day.
Thanks for letting me know Boho Mom that I am not the only one cooking the heck out of my chicken!
Hi, Suzie. This look yummy. Occasionally, for dinner, I’ll roast a large chicken (8-9 lbs), enough for the whole family. I’ll then serve it with veggies, potatoes, and stuffing. Makes for a feast that I think brings the family together, but is fairly simple to make, what with all of our crazy schedules.
-TimK
lovely!
another good way with chicken is to blend butter with lemon zest and thyme, rub this under the skin and over the top and then put a couple of halved lemons in the cavity and roast, basting as it goes. this tastes amazing!
This chicken looks delicious. Making me hungry, looking at this.
Roast chicken is just delightful isn’t it? And pretty easy meal too, save the ‘is it cooked?’ moments – I have those too with anything I cook in the oven!
I learned that when you stuff the bird it increase cooking time too… who knew?