Roasted Whole Chicken is my husband’s favorite meal. We have cooked a lot of them over the years and tried a lot of different recipes. We often use the simple method described below and the chicken comes out juicy and tender every time.

I often make a couple of roast chickens on Thanksgiving instead of turkey because they are so simple to prepare, juicy and absolutely delicious!

Recipes you might also enjoy

Oven Roasted Cauliflower

Super Easy Chicken Divan

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients needed

Whole chicken
2 large onions
lemons or oranges
olive oil
salt and pepper
garlic powder
herbs.

*For the herbs, I buy the poultry mix herb package (you can find it in the produce section) that includes rosemary, thyme, and sage.

How to prepare a Roasted Whole Chicken

Get a baking dish that the chicken fits in nicely, do not squish the chicken to make it fit. Coating the baking dish with non-stick spray first really helps with clean up!
Cut up the onions into large slices and make a layer in the bottom of your roasting dish. Reserve a few pieces of onion to put inside the cavity of the chicken.
Cut the lemons or oranges into pieces and set aside with the reserved onion and the herbs.
Mix the salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a small dish to have ready, about 1 teaspoon each. If there isn’t someone by to help, I often put the olive oil in a separate dish too. That way I can grab everything I need for the chicken without washing my hands a dozen times.
Place the chicken on top of the layer of chopped onions. Put the reserved onion and a few slices of the lemons or oranges inside the cavity. Place the remaining citrus around the chicken. You can also squeeze a little of the citrus juice over the chicken.
Coat the chicken with the olive oil and rub with the salt, pepper, and garlic mixture. Tuck the herbs in the cavity.
Now you can wash your hands.
Put the chicken in a 375-degree oven and cook until the temperature reaches 165 degrees. On average my chickens take about 1 1/2 hours to cook. The time will vary depending on the size of the chicken.

Roasted Whole Chicken

Finally, when the chicken is done remove it from the oven and let it set 10 – 15 minutes before cutting.

This method produces a juicy roast chicken every time. The bonus is that the recipe is simple and the clean up is a breeze.

How about a dessert recipe?

Simple Fresh Peach Cobbler

Possibly The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy!

Comments

Jessica Jarrell

February 11, 2015 at 5:52 pm

Gorgeous picture! I love the idea of chicken for Thanksgiving! 🙂

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  February 12, 2015 at 1:54 am
  
  Thank you! Roasting chicken really worked well for us this year. 🙂
  
Dina Felicetti

January 20, 2015 at 11:04 pm

My boys and I Love baked chicken, I love the flavor combination (Italian girl loves garlic) so this will be on our Sunday dinner rotation! I also would like to Thank you for coming and linking up at #TheWeekendSocial. Please be sure to come back this week starting Thursday at 9PM EST on KitchenDreaming.com ! I hope to see you there! Pinned

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  January 23, 2015 at 11:13 pm
  
  Thanks for the great link up party. I hope you enjoy the chicken! 🙂
  
KC the Kitchen Chopper

January 19, 2015 at 8:40 pm

I loved this the first time I saw it. Thanks so much for sharing at The Weekend Social. Pinned. FYI, by my choice, this was my final week as cohost of TWS. Please stop by http://www.KitchenDreaming.com to link up Thursday 9:00 PM EST.

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  January 23, 2015 at 11:12 pm
  
  Thank you. 🙂
  
HeiLin (Heidy McCallum)

January 16, 2015 at 4:26 am

Thank you so much for sharing on our #PureBlogLove Link party, I am always amazed at your posts and wanted to personally thank you. I pinned this to our board. You ROCK!!!
XoXo
Heidy

- Cook This Again
  
  January 16, 2015 at 2:38 pm
  
  Thank you so much! Your #PureBlogLove Link party is awesome! 🙂