Week Night Herby Roasted Chicken
Roasting a whole bird can sound intimidating but it is seriously simple and its harder to mess up than you think!
Its a great meal prep staple, a more affordable way to include pastured - free run chicken in your diet (a whole bird can cost you the same as 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts.. but guess what, fat is essential to health, crispy seasoned skin is delish and theres way more meat on a whole bird)
You can use the leftovers for protein on a salad, wraps, sandwiches, soup, chicken salad, tacos etc.
And then make some gut loving bone broth/ stock from your bones.
No food waste!
I pick up my pasture raised, grass fed meat and wild fish from FAMOUS FOODS in Vancouver. It’s legit, locally sourced, affordable prices. Your fave new grocery store, you’re welcome!
So how to roast your perfect chicken…
You will need:
one whole chicken (organic and pasture raised if possible)
fresh or dried herbs, use any one you like or a combo of the following tarragon, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano (fresh rosemary, tarragon and thyme would be my top choice but any will do)
one large fresh lemon, halved
a few fresh garlic cloves
fresh cracked pepper
sea salt
garlic powder to taste
paprika to taste
1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper (skip if you don’t like spice)
a little avocado or olive oil, or butter/ghee
a mix of root vegetables such as baby potatoes and carrots, turnips, yams to make a bed at the bottom of your roasting dish
(you can skip these veggies if you want to make an entirely different side or just make a solo chicken but they turn out wonderfully flavoured cooked this way)
How to do the thing:
1. Preheat your oven to 425 f
2. In a medium-large casserole dish or deep roasting pan spread out your washed and chopped root veggies, drizzle with 1 tbsp oil, season with sea salt, pepper, a few shakes of garlic powder and your herbs of choice, toss.
3. Spatchcock your chicken (method below) or leave as is. If your chicken has a neck inside its cavity, remove this and save for bone broth or discard it.
4. Peel your garlic cloves and shove them inside or under your bird with your halved lemon and 2 tbsp of your herbs (if they are fresh and whole you can used a large sprig, you will remove it after so don’t be shy)
5. Place your chicken on top of your root veg breast side down and season well with additional herbs, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, salt and pep. Flip to breast side up and repeat with seasonings. Be generous with the seasonings especially your salt! Finish with roughly 1 tbsp drizzle of oil or a few pats of butter to the top for extra crispy skin!
6. Pop that in your oven, roast for 45 - 90 minutes until internal temperature is 165 f. Time to roast well depend on the size of your chicken. Using a meat thermometer is a game changer for ensuring meat is cooked perfectly and not overcooked, they are so simple to use.
7. Once the internal temperature is 165 remove pan from oven, unless if at this point the skin is not as crispy as you like turn oven to broil for 2-5 minutes until crisp, keep an eye out because crispy to burnt can happen very soon and you do not want to over cook your juicy chicken.
8. Allow your cooked chicken to set for a minimum of 10 minutes before carving.
Tip:
Save all your bones and veggie scraps from carrots, celery, herbs, onions and garlic in a freezer bag, add to it whenever you have scraps until you have enough for stock!
Spatchcock:
If you want to cook your chicken more evenly and with less time you can try a spatchcock method where you simply cut out the back bone to lay the chicken flat (as it is in my photo) do this before seasoning.
Heres how:
Take whole chicken and place breast side down on a cutting board then cut back bone out with kitchen scissors, cut along backside around the entire spine and remove the backbone. (be sure to save this and freeze it for later use such as a broth instead of throwing it out).
Enjoy!
