Description
Oven roasted chicken is an absolute classic that is both amazingly good and quite easy to succeed with. Nancy Lopez-McHugh with the recipe.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 whole chicken
- 1/2 tsp salt & pepper, of each
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp of
- each
- dried basil, oregano, thyme , rosemary,
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1 chicken bouillon cube ( look for a low sodium and without MSG )
- 1 cup (250 ml) warm water to dilute bouillon in
- 1 large baking pan
- sharp knife
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200c /392f. In a small bowl combine all the spices, dilute bouillon cube in warm water. Trim away excess fat from the chicken around the bottom and legs. This fat normally is how the chicken legs are held together but I don’t care for the extra fat so I discard it.
- The first step is the trick to giving the chicken a lot of the flavor with the spices. Breast side up, either with a knife or using your hand (if they are small enough) you need to separate the skin from the breasts. With either your hand or a couple of fingers rug some of the spice mixture into both the chicken breast, and then rub spice mixture on top directly on the breast skin. Next try to do the same on the drumsticks, make a small incision for a couple of fingers and rub as much spices underneath the skin. Use the remaining spice mixture to rub and cover the entire chicken top and bottom. If you left the excess fat around this area, cross the drumsticks then put it in the roasting pan.Otherwise just place the chicken in the roasting pan.
- Pour a quarter of the liquid into the pan. Reserve the rest of the bouillon, you will add it gradually as the chicken cooks and the liquid in the pan begins to absorb. Roast the chicken in the center of the oven. I check on it every 30 minutes, the fat will begin to melt off and collect in the pan. Spoon up that liquid/fat mixture and pour it over the top of the chicken. Half way through the cooking time, flip the chicken over and cook for 30 minutes (pour some of the collected liquid from the pan again), after 30 minutes flip again then finish roasting breast side up again. I cooked this chicken for 2 hours (cooking time depends on weight, higher weight = longer cooking time.
- Once roasted the necessary time place the chicken on a cutting board and allow to cool for 5 minutes before carving. Serve with fresh seasonal vegetables, mashed potatoes, warm dinner rolls and a glass of wine. Now that’s a meal!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: American