Yield: 4 people
Roast Chicken: A Perfect Weeknight Meal
Roast Chicken: A Perfect Weeknight Meal
Ingredients
- 1 4lb(2kg) whole chicken
- 3-4 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp salt, to taste
- 1 tsp white or black pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp thyme leaves, fresh or dry
Equipment
- 1 baking dish or roasting pan
Instructions
Preparing the Chicken
- Take the chicken out of the refrigerator.
- Heat an oven to 225C or 450F.
- Start by removing any packaged parts from the inside of the bird. Sometimes the liver, neck bones, and other organs are stored inside the bird.
- Combine salt, pepper, and thyme in a small bowl or cup.
- Spread the seasoning all over the bird, both inside the cavity and outside.
- Using your fingers separate the skin of the breast from the meat, trying to not rip/tear the skin, and season under the skin.
Under the skin of each breast place 3 slabs of butter.
Replace the skin down and cover as much of the breast as possible.
If making an all in one meal with vegetables under the chicken follow these steps (optional).
- In a roasting pan pour 1-2 cups of white wine, 1 few tablespoons of olive oil, garlic, bay leaf, and root vegetables such as yellow potatoes, onions, parsnips, or carrots. Season with salt and pepper. See recipe for roast potatoes above.
Roasting the Chicken
- If you are not roasting the chicken with vegetables I like to pour 1-2 cups of water into the roasting dish or pan. This helps keep the bird moist. You can also line the dish or pan with tin foil and skip the water.
- Place the chicken on top of the vegetables or in the roasting dish/pan if not using.
- Once the oven has reached 225C or 450F, place the pan with chicken into the oven on a center rack.
- Roast the chicken for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, check on the chicken by inserting a meat thermometer into the breast. The target temperature is 165F or 74C.
- Reduce the temperature of the oven to 200C or 425F.
- Drizzle olive oil over the top covering the breast with a thin layer of olive oil. Return to the oven and roast for another 15 minutes.
- If after 60 minutes total the breast meat is still under 165F, cook for an additional minute for every 2.2 degrees F the temp is below 165F. As an example, if the temperature of the breast meat is 135 F when you check after 60 minutes then you have 30 degrees F to go. Divide the 30 degrees F by 2.2 to determine how much time is needed, which is approximately 15 minutes of additional cooking time in this example.
Once the chicken reaches the desired 165 F, remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes. This is a good opportunity to finish off any sides.- To serve, slice up the chicken by removing each breast, and removing the legs, thighs and wings by cutting at the joints.
Notes
For a 4 pound chicken (~2kg chicken) the cooking time will vary depending on how cold the chicken is when cooking begins. If you took the chicken out of the fridge right before starting this recipe it is probably 35F-40F. On average the temperature will increase by 2.2 degrees F every minute when cooking at this 450F. If the chicken was 35 degrees F at the start and the final temp we want is 165 degrees F in the breast meat, then this is an increase of 135 degrees F. The total cooking time will be approximately (165 - 35) / 2.2 = ~60 minutes. If the chicken was taken out of the refrigerator a few hours before, it likely warmed up to room temperature ~65 degrees F, so the cooking time will reduce by ~15 minutes.
Did you make this recipe?Tag @savourthetrip with hashtag #savourthetrip on Instagram. We love to see what you make!