Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables
Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables It's a meal perfect for a casual weeknight family dinner, or a meal fit for company alike. Pop some vegetables in the bottom of the pan, and you've got a totally delicious, totally easy side to serve up alongside that beautiful bird, too. That's a whole lot of deliciousness from just one pan!
You know what they say about roasting a chicken, right? ... That it's one of those things every cook should be able to do. Fortunately for us cooks then, roasting a whole chicken truly is quite simple.
While it may seem daunting to some, with just a few easy prep steps, that chicken is ready to pop in the oven ... and then it's pretty much ready to take care of itself from there.
And the added beauty of a roasted chicken dinner?
It's a meal perfect for a casual weeknight Tuesday dinner, or a meal fit for company alike. Not to mention when you pop some vegetables in the bottom of the pan, you've got a totally delicious, totally easy side to serve up alongside that beautiful bird. All from just one pan.
First, be sure to thoroughly pat dry the entire surface of the chicken with paper towels. Drying the moisture from the skin helps the chicken roast better, avoiding any "steaming" of the skin ... which could leave it less-than-crisp.
Next, rub that bird all over with about a 1/4 cup of canola oil, vegetable oil, or softened butter to help that skin turn golden brown and crisp up. Be sure to get it everywhere for the best result!
If you're truly going for the absolute crispiest skin you can get, allow the seasoned chicken to rest uncovered in the refrigerator for about an hour. Along with the added benefit of letting the seasoning flavors penetrate into and meld with the meat, this allows more moisture to dry from the skin, creating a crisper result.
Finally, cooking temperature will impact the crispness of your roasted chicken's skin. You can roast a chicken "low and slow" {at 300℉ for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours}, or "high and fast" {at 425℉ for about an hour} ... choose "high and fast" for the crispiest skin.
Now when it comes to cooking up juicy breast meat, be sure to truss your chicken. Trussing protects the chicken from too much heated air entering the breast cavity while the chicken cooks, therefore "protecting" the breast meat from cooking too fast.
True trussing can certainly be an elaborate process, but I use a simple "cheater" method of just tying together the chicken's legs at the ankles with a piece of cooking twine and tucking the wings up under the breast. While this isn't a true full-on trussing, it gets the job done.
Once that bird does its thing in the oven ... which, at this point, requires very-little-to-no-attention from you ... you'll have a beautiful dinner to serve up. Worthy of a weeknight family dinner or a company's-coming meal alike.
Believe me, it's a whole lot of deliciousness from just one pan!
Thank you for stopping by . We'd love to have you back soon!
Yield: about 6-8 servings
Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables
Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables is a meal perfect for a casual weeknight family dinner, or a meal fit for company alike. Pop some vegetables in the bottom of the pan, and you've got a totally delicious, totally easy side to serve up alongside that beautiful bird, too. That's a whole lot of deliciousness from just one pan!
prep time: 15 Mcook time: 60 Mtotal time: 75 M
ingredients:
- 1 (3 to 4 lb.) whole chicken
- 2 to 3 tsp. kosher or sea salt
- 2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1/4 c. canola or vegetable oil {or softened butter}
- 2 tsp. dried rosemary or thyme
- 1 orange, unpeeled & quartered {or you can use a lemon}
- 1 onion, peeled & quartered
- 2 to 3 potatoes, cubed
- 2 to 3 onions, halved & each half cut into wedges
- 3 to 4 carrots, sliced
instructions:
How to cook Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables
- Remove chicken from the packaging. Check the body and neck cavity for giblets, removing and discarding if there are any {or save them to make gravy or broth, if you'd like}. With paper towels, thoroughly pat both the outside and inside of the chicken very dry. {Drying the moisture from the skin helps the chicken roast better, and creates crisper skin.}
- Rub the entire outside of the chicken with oil {or softened butter}. Season both the outside and inside of the body cavity generously with salt and pepper. Be sure to get under the wings, under the thighs, and on the bottom too!
- Season inside the chicken by loosely placing orange and onion quarters inside the cavity. {Cramming the cavity full will hinder even roasting and increase the cooking time, so be sure to only loosely put a few items within the cavity.}
- Tie the chicken's legs together at the ankles with a piece of cooking twine and tuck the wings up under the breast.
- Place vegetables in the bottom of the pan. Place chicken in the pan on top of the vegetables.
- Roast chicken at 425℉ for 50 minutes to 70 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, being sure to not touch the bone, registers 165℉ and the juices run clear.
- Once done, remove chicken from the oven, loosely cover with aluminum foil, and let chicken rest for 15 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat.
- Use a sharp knife to carve into drumsticks, thighs, and breast pieces. Place on a serving platter, along with the roasted vegetables from the bottom of the pan.
TRACEY'S NOTES
- A roasting pan with a rack allows air to circulate all around the chicken while it cooks, helping the skin brown all over. However any oven-safe pan that comfortably holds the chicken, such as a rimmed baking sheet, casserole dish, or cast iron skillet, will work.
You might also like these other tasty dinner recipes:
Affiliate links are included in this post. I receive a small amount of compensation for anything purchased from these links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting when you shop at Amazon.com
.
.Read more..