Roasted Chicken, or oven-baked chicken, is one of my favorite dishes.
The preparation is minimal. What is there not to love about that? The stove is clean. Most of all, the oven does it all. A dish that is a fail-proof dinner. It is the perfect Sunday night dinner as the family gathers around to close a week and welcomes the week ahead.
Sunday night dinner at our house is sacrilegious and welcome. This roasted chicken recipe has and continues to grace our table often.
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In this Article
- I love the simplicity of this recipe.
- Here are a few helpful tips for the ingredients needed to make this oven Roasted Chicken
- Equipment needed
- Cooking tips and step-by-step instructions to create this excellent Roasted Chicken recipe
- Substitutions and variations
- What to serve with your roasted chicken?
- What can you prepare with leftover chicken?
- Storage and re-heating instructions
- If you enjoy this delicious roasted chicken recipe, look at my other recipes.
- Roasted Chicken
I love the simplicity of this recipe.
Feel free to improvise if you do not have all the ingredients I used with my recipe. Below I have a few substitution suggestions for you.
A beautiful golden chicken from the oven, presented on a lovely platter, makes everyone welcome and look forward to the dinner ahead.
Here are a few helpful tips for the ingredients needed to make this oven Roasted Chicken
This is a quick introduction. Please read the recipe for complete instructions.
Chicken: A four-pound chicken will satisfy a family of 6 for dinner. Make sure the wings are still attached and the breasts are even.
Garlic: It always gives a great flavor to all your meats. If you like garlic, do not be shy to add as you like.
Leek: The great vegetable that is in the onion family. It looks like an overgrown green onion but has a milder and more delicate flavor than onions. Use the white base and part of the light green. You can discard the deep, thick green upper stalk.
Yellow onion: softer in taste and caramelizes nicely.
Lemons: Make sure that they are juicy.
Fresh thyme: GIves the chicken a subtle flavor.
Chicken stock: Sodium-free is my choice as I do not want to add extra sodium to my diet.
Salt and pepper: Use generously
Olive oil: use a good quality oil
Equipment needed
I only recommend what I use and love.
Sharp knife for slicing the leeks and lemons
Roasting pan where you will be baking your chicken. Make sure that your chicken fits perfectly in it and that you have room to add m
Serving platter to present your beautiful tender chicken.
Cooking tips and step-by-step instructions to create this excellent Roasted Chicken recipe
This recipe takes no time to prepare, and since the oven does all the heavy lifting, you will, I am sure, enjoy this recipe.
Rule of thumb when cooking a chicken in the oven: 30 minutes at 375F per pound.
I always like to check the chicken and remove any remaining feathers.
- First of all, preheat your oven to 375F
- After rinsing your chicken, generously season the cavity with salt and pepper and insert a couple of peeled garlic cloves. Add more if you use more.
- Slice the leek, white, and light green parts and place them in your roasting pan. Spread them evenly.
- Evenly place the rest of the garlic and the sliced onions with the leeks rounds.
- Deposit the whole chicken, breast side up, over the onions and leeks.
- Drizzle the olive oil over it and rub gently all over. Be ver generous and season with salt and pepper.
- Add the sliced lemon, fresh thyme, and chicken stock around the chicken and place it in the hot oven.
I do not thigh the leg drums together; this will allow it to bake faster.
Occasionally baste the chicken with the juices that are accumulated in the pan. Add more chicken stock if it becomes dry.
Poke the chicken between the leg quarter and the breast occasionally to allow all the juices to run out of your oven-roasted chicken.
Once you poke your chicken and no longer juices are running, your chicken is close to be ready.
Substitutions and variations
Sometimes we do not have all the ingredients on hand, and a trip to the store is not in the cards.
This dish is so simple that you will likely have all the ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator.
Below are some of my substitutions:
- Leek can be substituted with shallots. If neither is on hand, the yellow onion will do as well.
- Thyme can be substituted with rosemary.
- Chicken broth with vegetable broth.
- Lemons can be substituted with oranges or grapefruits.
- Adding some white wine will give it a nice deep flavor
What to serve with your roasted chicken?
Chicken is an open, clean canvas that it can be served with so many different grains or vegetables.
Pasta, rice, and couscous are always the perfect side dish.
Roasted vegetables are so much fun, and you can prepare them alongside the roasted chicken in the oven.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts and Cranberries .
or Roasted Carrots with Orange Brown Butter and Sage
What can you prepare with leftover chicken?
Chicken leftovers never last longer than a day, as there are a million different ways you can enjoy them besides the usual sandwich.
A quick chop and add them to mixed green and a light vinaigrette.
And, of course, you can cut up all the pieces and add them to your Vegetable Chicken soup.
Storage and re-heating instructions
Store in a glass container in the refrigerator for up to a couple of days.
If you do not foresee preparing the rest of the chicken immediately, you can freeze the leftovers.
Re-heating:
Place the remaining chicken in an oven-proof container, and add a couple of tablespoons of chicken broth and butter.
Cover with aluminum foil and place it in a preheated oven at 350F for about 20 minutes.
If you enjoy this delicious roasted chicken recipe, look at my other recipes.
Equipment used to create this recipe
Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 pounds roaster chicken
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 leek, top green leaves removed
- ½ yellow onion, peeled and sliced thin
- 2 lemons, sliced on thick slices
- fresh thyme
- 1 cup chicken stock
- salt
- pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Put a rack in the middle of the oven and pre-heat to 375° F.
- Rinse the chicken and sprinkle the cavity generously with salt and pepper. Insert in the cavity a couple of the garlic cloves, half of the fresh thyme sprigs, and 2 pieces of lemons.
- Slice the leek in small rounds and rinse if need be. Place on the bottom of a heavy baking pan. Add the sliced onions and garlic.
- Place the chicken on top of the leeks and onions. Drizzle lightly the outside of the chicken with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Add the lemon slices all around it and the fresh thyme. Add the chicken stock.
- Baste occasionally and poke the chicken legs and breast to let out the juice.
Nutrition
Giangi’s Kitchen provides nutritional information, but these figures should be considered estimates, as a registered dietician does not calculate them.
- Course: Dinners, Poultry, Sunday Night Dinner
- Cuisine: French
- Season: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
- Type: Affordable Gourmet
Did you make this?
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Originally published on March 5, 2020.
Alex
Winner winner, I’m so glad I had this chicken for dinner!!
Giangi Townsend
I am glad too.
Enjoy!
Gen
What a beautiful and delicious roast chicken. I love that you added leeks! I’ll be doing that from now on.
Giangi Townsend
Enjoy!
Kris
We loved the touch of lemon and thyme. It came out so tender and flavorful. Another winner in our books!
Giangi Townsend
Thank you, so happy you like it.
Nicole
This turned out incredible. The chicken was so tender and moist and flavorful. I cannot wait to make it again.
Giangi Townsend
I am so pleased you enjoyed it.
Thank you for your feedback and making my recipe.
Addison
This roasted chicken came out so tender and juicy! My whole family really enjoyed this recipe.
Giangi Townsend
Thank you for your feedback, so happy everyone enjoyed it.
Rebecca
For some reason, I always assumed that roasting a whole chicken would be difficult or cumbersome in some way. Holy smokes, was I wrong! This recipe made the whole process so ridiculously easy I’m kicking myself for not trying it sooner. Thank you so much!
Giangi Townsend
This recipe is as simple as it gets. I am glad you enjoy it.
Thank you for stopping by my corner of the web.
Elizabeth S
This roast chicken was so moist! I followed your suggestion to substitute leeks for shallots. I also added a few more garlic cloves because I love a lot of garlic. I was super nervous about roasting a whole chicken but I will definitely make this again.
Giangi Townsend
Yes!! So happy to hear that. Thank you for your feedback and so glad you added your own touch to this dish.