This classic roasted chicken is perfect for a family dinner. Tender, juicy whole chicken with a crispy golden skin will have everyone going back for more!
In the Crumbs house, there are four main ways to cook a whole chicken. We could make chicken in a slow cooker, make an Instant Pot whole chicken, as a rotisserie chicken on the grill (with this attachment), or make roasted chicken in the oven.
Mr. Crumbs is not as big a fan of chicken in a slow cooker, and I’m not big on smelling like grill smoke from grilling chicken.
I DO have my own secret up my sleeve for a whole chicken recipe that my family absolutely loves!
It’s a classic roasted chicken in the oven!
This method makes the bird absolutely moist and absolutely delicious, every. single. time.
WHOLE ROASTED CHICKEN IN THE OVEN
Besides the fact that it’s a healthy, wholesome family meal, this recipe for a roasted chicken is also:
- Delicious, tender, and juicy with big whole pieces.
- One chicken can cover multiple meals. At least 3, but usually 5 since we rarely finish even half of the whole chicken initially.
- With chicken already cooked and chopped/sliced and portioned aside, some prep work for future meals is done.
- Roasted chicken usually means roasted vegetables, which means plenty of cooked food with fewer dishes to wash.
RECIPE CHICKEN WHOLE INGREDIENTS
This is such a great recipe with only a few simple ingredients…
- A whole chicken (4-5 pounds)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Butter (or olive oil if you are dairy-free)
- Paprika, garlic powder, Italian seasoning (or other fresh herbs)
- Roasting vegetables, i.e. carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, brussels sprouts, garlic cloves (optional)
Psst! Want to kick this roasted chicken up a notch? Try finishing this recipe with a pinch of finishing salt! I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because it doesn’t have microplastics (gross, right?) and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!)
EASY ROAST CHICKEN COOKING TIME
I’ll warn you – this is not a fast dinner. Oh no. You need to plan ahead a little bit to pull it off. It takes at least an hour to roast chicken, and if you include the prep time and resting time, you’re looking at two hours in the kitchen at minimum…
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make it.
On the contrary! This is our family’s “special dinner” and it’s my own nerdy way of thanking my family for graciously trying my frugal tactics to save money on real food, and continually eating my kitchen experiments.
HOW TO ROAST A CHICKEN
Want to know how to roast a chicken? Most of your cooking time is hands-off, which makes this an easy recipe!
Step 1. Preheat oven to 400F.
Step 2. Remove any innards from the chicken cavity and set them aside for chicken stock. Rub and massage the entire chicken with salt. Sprinkle the seasonings on top.
Step 3. In a 9×13 roasting pan, place the chicken on its side with one leg up. Surround the chicken with the vegetables, if using, or use crumpled-up balls of aluminum foil if needed to keep the chicken from falling over.
Step 4. Brush the skin with the melted butter and roast for 25 minutes.
Step 5. Using gloves or oven mitts, turn the chicken to its other side with the other leg facing up. Again, use the vegetables or aluminum foil balls to prevent the chicken from falling over.
Step 6. Brush the skin with the melted butter and roast for 25 minutes.
Step 7. Using gloves or oven mitts, turn the chicken breast side up and roast for 15 minutes more, or until the chicken registers 170F on an instant-read meat thermometer and the juices run clear.
Step 8. Remove the roasted chicken to a platter and let it stand for 10 to 15 minutes.
Store leftover roasted chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
TIPS FOR RECIPE FOR A ROASTED CHICKEN
Use a variety of seasonings. You can stick to the traditional Poultry Seasoning flavor with lemon, rosemary, and thyme. Or try other seasonings like Ranch Dressing Mix, Cajun Seasoning, or Blackened Seasoning! Just remember your leftovers will retain that flavor so plan your secondary meals accordingly. (Like all Mexican-themed meals after seasoning with Taco Seasoning Mix!)
Try roasting TWO chickens at a time. If the oven is already on, and you’re already turning one chicken, why not save time and use this recipe for a roasted chicken to make extra?
Make chicken stock! After making your oven roasted whole chicken and picking the meat off the bones, make chicken stock or chicken broth! It’s an easy way to get an additional ingredient prepped for future meals, without any additional cost.
If your family has a tendency to go back for seconds (or thirds) with a platter of meat on the table, pick apart the whole roasted chickens before serving, and save the picked chicken for other recipes roast chicken is used in. Serve each person one piece of oven roasted chicken, and let them fill up on veggies and sides, or just serve part of the whole roasted chicken at the table.
RECIPES ROAST CHICKEN
We like to serve this special roasted chicken dinner with these yummy sides:
- The vegetables from making the roasted chicken, usually carrots and onions at our house
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Dinner Rolls
- Kale Caesar Salad
But I also use roasted chicken for plenty of other recipes, especially if I roast more than one chicken at a time. Now that you’ve cooked your whole chickens, how about some roasted chicken recipes?
You can pull the meat off the bones and use it in:
- Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Perfect for salads like this Southwestern Chicken Salad
- Bacon Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps
- Buffalo Chicken Pizza
- Add it to Vegetable Fried Rice
- Or throw it in a soup like Tortilla Soup
OVEN ROASTED WHOLE CHICKEN FAQS
What is the temperature for a whole roasted chicken?
Roast the whole chicken in the oven at 400 degrees. It is done cooking when a thermometer inserted into the part between the leg and the body reaches 170 degrees. Having a good digital thermometer is very helpful in achieving perfectly cooked meat and poultry, which is why it makes the list of my best kitchen gifts under $10. It’s a tool every kitchen needs!
Do you roast a chicken covered or uncovered?
We are roasting this chicken uncovered in the oven.
What is the difference between roasting and baking a chicken?
Actually, it’s kind of interesting because the only difference is the wording and the parts of the chicken that you are cooking.
You ‘roast’ a whole chicken, but you ‘bake’ the parts of the chicken (breasts, thighs, drumsticks). Both cooking methods occur in the oven under dry heat.
Why is this whole roasted chicken turned in the oven?
A simple way of roasting a whole chicken is to lay the chicken on top of sliced root vegetables or balls of foil in the roasting pan.
I know, I know, taking the time to turn the chicken throughout the roasting process is a tad more work…
BUT the results are SO worth it. What you get is a delicious golden-brown bird with crispy skin that is evenly roasted on all sides and moist and juicy inside. YUM!
MORE SIMPLE OVEN-BAKED CHICKEN RECIPES
- Almond Crusted Baked Chicken
- Jamaican Jerk Chicken
- Sweet and Sticky Chicken
- 15-Minute Sheet Pan Chicken Breasts
- Chinese 5-Spice Chicken
- Homemade Chicken Nuggets
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This classic roasted chicken is perfect for a family dinner. Tender, juicy whole chicken with a crispy golden skin will have everyone going back for more!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 1 whole chicken 1x
- Category: Main Meals
- Method: Oven Roast
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 3 Tbsp butter, melted
- ½ tsp each: pepper, salt, paprika, garlic powder, Italian seasoning
- Roasting vegetables, i.e. carrots, onions, celery, potatoes (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Remove innards from chicken cavity and set aside for stock. Rinse and pat dry chicken.
- Rub and massage the entire chicken with salt. Sprinkle seasonings on top.
- In a 9×13 roasting pan, place the chicken on its side with one leg up. Surround the chicken with the roasting vegetables, if using, to help keep the chicken on its side. You can use crumpled up balls of aluminum foil if you are not using vegetables and need to prevent the chicken from falling over.
- Brush the skin with the melted butter and roast for 25 minutes.
- Using gloves or mitts, turn the chicken completely over so that it is on its other side with the other leg facing up. Again, use the roasting vegetables or the aluminum foil to prevent the chicken from falling over.
- Brush the skin with the melted butter and roast for 25 minutes.
- Using gloves or mitts, turn the chicken breast side up and roast or 15-30 minutes more, or until the chicken registers 170F on an instant read thermometer and the juices run clear.
- Remove to a platter and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes.
Notes
- Use a variety of seasonings. You can stick to the traditional Poultry Seasoning flavor with lemon, rosemary, and thyme. Or try other seasonings like Ranch Dressing Mix, Cajun Seasoning, or Blackened Seasoning! Just remember your leftovers will retain that flavor so plan your secondary meals accordingly. (Like all Mexican-themed meals after seasoning with Taco Seasoning Mix!)
- Try roasting TWO chickens at a time. If the oven is already on, and you’re already turning one chicken, why not save time and use this recipe for a roasted chicken to make extra?
- Make chicken stock! After making your oven roasted whole chicken and picking the meat off the bones, make chicken stock or chicken broth! It’s an easy way to get an additional ingredient prepped for future meals, without any additional cost.
Nutrition
- Calories: 1753
This is the BEST recipe I have every had for roasted whole chicken! The flavors of the spices make this SO good. I made it a few times last year (along with the bone broth made from the chicken carcas) and recently pulled a frozen Amish farm raised chicken out of my deep freezer and made it again tonight because I realized I was craving the flavors (and food in general after recovering from Covid and not eating much the past month!). I just throw in some potato and carrots next to it in the roasting pan and Voila! a great meal that gives us plenty of leftovers for at least 2-3 more meals.
Hi Denise!
That sounds amazing. We’re so glad you love it, and thank you for sharing with us!
Silly question, but do I leave the chicken uncovered in the oven or cover it with foil?
Uncovered Michelle!
Plus, I have never left a comment for anything but you really deserve to know how much we appreciate you. I have noticed that you reply to messages too, so I know you’ll see this. Being a child from the 60’s myself, and having old fashioned parents from the 30’s, I am not really into the new world of Internet communities. One of my sisters and I were the first to go to college… my moms family is of Italian immigrants arrived here just over 100 years ago and they were poor farmers so my grandparents only went to school to 3rd grade! My grandmother was the oldest of 9 kids so she had to stay home to help raise her siblings and my mom and her brother were the first ones fluent in English as their first language and she finished high school! My how far we’ve come! My kids started playing educational computer games when they were 3 yrs old when the Internet was brand new and by the time they were 10 they could do full power point presentations, program any type of technology in the house, and could even figure out brand new technology before I could! I only just started using Pinterest this year and it even inspired me to get a Facebook account, though my daughter informed me that Facebook isn’t “IN” anymore. Lol
Anyway…. it’s nice to know that there’re some good communities on the Internet, though the jury is still out on Facebook, I’ve only used it 3 times since I got on it a couple months ago, and all I did was take over my daughters old account so it already had our relatives and church friends on it. So I didn’t have to set up anything, just looked at everybody else’s posts and “liked” and reposted. I don’t know where they find all those little pics with wise sayings on them! ( I forgot what my daughter calls those… ) And they post sooooooooo many every day. It took me two hours just to look at 2 days worth of posts!
Yes, I read every single one of them! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment Becky, and it warms my heart to hear that you think Crumbs is a positive community – that’s one of the reasons we continue to write every week!
Oops! I forgot the stars! Lol
I absolutely LOVE this cooking method! Last summer, I had my 3 teenagers take turns cooking one meal each week. I opened up my Pinterest page with several recipes of different main courses I had picked out already. My 15 yr old son said he wanted to serve rotisserie chicken and the only rotisserie cooking capability we had was a built in feature of our toaster oven, but it wouldn’t even hold a 6 lb chicken. So I picked this recipe out for him and it turned out better than any chicken I had ever cooked. Everybody liked it so much he cooked it twice! And since school has started, I have used this recipe almost every week! I’m a full time homemaker and I’m not homeschooling anymore so I have plenty of time on my hands to get stuff done while they’re at school and then I have at least 2 hours to devote completely to dinner while they do their homework. My kids are such picky eaters and my husband and I are on a fairly strict diet of protein and fruit and veggies with tiny portions of rice, but no other grains, so this recipe is PERFECT. And it’s so good, my husband even eats some potatoes soaked in the juices of the chicken and just plans ahead of time to have no carbs that day so he can have everything in the turned chicken rotisserie meal. Plus, he even bought me this really cool roasting pan with a removable metal rack that cradles the chicken and its large enough for 2 medium chickens or 1 very large turkey and there’s plenty of room under the rack for the potatoes and veggies. (It’s a 13.5″ X 18″ X 3.5″ pan with large handles from Costco.) Thank you so much for revolutionizing our kitchen! So far, this is the only recipe that nobody complains about. It was always spaghetti until my 17 yr old, then 14, decided he doesn’t like anything made with tomatoes and my husband and I could only have a small portion of rice pasta. I never thought I could find a recipe that would replace spaghetti night!
My dad has a pan similar to what you mention and he loves it too – so glad you guys enjoy this recipe so much! I love hearing the feedback when families enjoy my recipes! And to officially replace spaghetti night, now THAT’S a compliment!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was great! The whole chicken was moist and the skin tasted amazing!
So glad you enjoyed it Hannah!
It’s not all in Mr. Crumbs’ head!! I have thought for a long time that slow cooker meals have a “slow cooker” taste, too!
LOL, I know he’ll feel happy knowing he’s not alone!
I found you through The Nourishing Home and I’m so glad! This chicken was delicious! I’ll make this again for sure!
I’m so glad you liked it! Kelly is so wonderful – she’s been a blessing to me in both blogland and the real world. Welcome to Crumbs Susanna – I’m happy to have you!!
Sorry if this seems like a silly question… When do the seasonings get added? I see that the 1 T salt is supposed to be rubbed over the bird before putting it in the pan. Do the other seasonings get sprinkled on after the melted butter?
Can’t wait to try this! Thanks. 🙂
Not a silly question at all considering I didn’t mention that, lol! They get added with the salt, but you can add them with the butter too. As long as they make it on the bird, you’re good. 🙂 Hope you guys enjoy it! 🙂
Thanks for the shout out and the good laugh. I’m SO going to try your turned roasted chicken. Okay, so not to pick sides here, but Mr. Crumbs has a point … real roasted chicken has a different flavor and texture than slow cooker roast chicken, but hey, my slow cooker recipe is pretty tasty, especially if you broil-crisp the skin after it’s done cooking. Yum! Okay, so now I’m hungry. I’ll be putting your twist on chicken-roasting into next week’s meal plan. Can’t wait to try it out! Such a great idea! xo
Just out of curiosity, how big is your typical whole chicken?
This is my hubby’s favorite meal, though I’ve never cooked it on it’s side. He’s weird about cooked carrots (loves them raw, but cooked? Heaven forbid) but will tolerate them when they’re cooked in the chicken juices. He would also never eat chicken noodles soup until I made stock out of the bones and extra bits of the roasted chicken and threw in some shredded leftover dark meat and the carrots. We can usually stretch this out for at least five meals (there are only two of us, though we do eat more than we should).
A good idea for the leftover chicken is to make sandwiches with a good creamy cheese (like provolone), shredded chicken, and homemade pesto. I make pesto using Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Appetite for Reduction cookbook, which uses beans instead of most of the oil. Even if you aren’t vegan, I can absolutely recommend that cookbook for people that are trying to convince their spouse that not only hippies are vegetarians.
I agree with using leftover chicken for sandwiches! We like our grilled, and often make the same combination you mentioned, but add tomato as well. It comes out like caprese salad with chicken… and in between two slices of butter homemade bread?! Oh my goodness. Amazing!
Thanks Liz! I’m sure it will come out delicious!!
Thanks for sharing … Can’t wait to give it a try for tomorrow’s dinner! I think I’ll add a honey lemon glaze to the last turn.
Ooh – sounds good!
P.S. I always cook my bird breast side down so they side w/ most meat (and driest meat), is nice and juicy!
You’ve got a couple more mouths to feed Emily, so I understand wishing for 2 meals! Welcome to Crumbs! I look forward to seeing more of you! Thank you for the compliments! 🙂
Wow… stretching 1 bird to 3-5 meals is AMAZING! and here I am with 2 birds in the oven right now hoping I’ll be able to stretch it to 2 meals! We have 6 kids and the 11 yr old and 9 yr old boys (the oldest 2) eat as much as my hubby who’s an arborist and does hard physical labor outside in the freezing weather all day! I can’t wait to read what more you’ve got to say on stretching food out! Also, your chicken sounds great!
Hey Emily! I’ve been there and done that. Actually, we had another child 7 yrs after our 6, so we had 9 eating- and the 5 yr old boy decided he needed to eat as much as the 17 yr old football player! Now I’m down to three kids. A few months ago I felt I had finally arrived :-), While dad was out of town,I brought home a Costco rotissorie chicken. We had it for dinner with lots of veggies and grains. I put a little of 1/2 of it into bags for something later, and I made the remains into cashew chicken wraps(see recipe on this sight), using extra cashews because they’re getting old. Then I made bone broth! 5 meals! Actually, it ended up I combined the 2 bags and made chicken salad later in the month.
But the truth is, you’re feeding lots of mouths, and some of them are really hungry. Food (any kind!) is expensive when you’re feeding in bulk. If you don’t already, buy everything you can in bulk, especially meats, bean, and grains. See if there is a local food co-op you can join. Look for stores selling reduced bread (either free standing or dollar tree). I planned my menus so that we had a soup night, beef night, chicken night, cheese (and/ or noodle)night, bean night , and leftovers night. We used to do a pizza night, but I discovered I was buying delivery pizza too often. English muffin pizzas might be a cheap option, though, if you have a discount bread store. In the summer we had “Farmer’s dinner”- whatever veggies I found really cheap, or grew when we gardened, usually with cheese sauce to throw on our potatoes.
The bottom line is that for years my grocery budget was much higher than my house payment. But that’s okay. Keep looking for cheap, healthy sides to serve along those whole chickens, and you may find yourself getting 5 meals (out of 2 birds of course!).
May I ask what the difference is when you cook the bird on its side? I’ve never heard of that before.
It allows each side of the dark meat to get browned while allowing the natural juices to flow downward into the breast meat. It helps to keep the breast meat moist, which is a big problem with oven roasted birds.
I also think that a lot of things cooked in a slow cooker have a “crock-pot taste.” Especially meat. That was until my regular crock -pot broke and I surged on a ninja crock-pot. It’s amazing and no more crock-pot taste. Definitely worth the investment.
Aha – thanks for the tip Kelly! I didn’t ours had that taste, but his memory is from having many crockpot meals in his childhood. I’ll have to experiment a bit more with our own machine. I know our bread doesn’t taste like crockpot because he eats it, lol!!