How to Make a Simple Roast Chicken Recipe

About once a month I like to make a whole chicken for dinner. Everyone loves this fall off the bone rotisserie chicken and I can usually get 2 meals out of it. Since I make it so often I needed to find a simple roast chicken recipe that required little prep work.

I usually make this once a month so that I can use the carcass to make a super healthy bone broth to pressure can for later use!

There is nothing better then having your own canned bone broth on your shelf for all your recipes. When you are making your own bone broth and getting it into your diet, you are building your deep immune system.

This goes beyond just eating healthy foods.

Building that deep immune system is crucial to the health of your body and reducing the frequency of getting sick.

Want to learn how to make and can your own bone broth? See how I make healthy bone broth and pressure can it for my shelf. 

Now let’s talk about how to make the best roast chicken recipe. 

In the oven or the crockpot?

About a year ago I shared a lemon herb butter roast chicken recipe on here. It is delicious and we love that one too! This is just another simple way to cook a whole chicken. I always go back and forth between both recipes depending on my mood and how much time I have.

Both of these recipes can be made in the crockpot or in the oven. I prefer to do it in the oven because I take the lid off and can get crispy skin during the last hour of cooking. But I have made it in the crockpot too when I am pushed for time and won’t be home all afternoon.

This simple roast chicken recipe is best when cooked on a lower temperature and slowly, which is why I like to do it in the oven starting at about 2pm in the afternoon.

Cooking it this way, let’s the chicken produce so much juices that you don’t have to worry about it drying out. 

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I like to make this simple roast chicken recipe in my dutch oven with the lid on. Whatever you use you want to make sure it has a lid and this Dutch oven is my favorite. I use this Dutch oven for so many things like baking sourdough bread, making soups, frying chicken or fish, and even rendering tallow!

The beauty of using a dutch oven and cooking this roast chicken in the oven, is you can simply take off the lid in the last 45 minutes or so to get a crispy roast chicken.

Now let’s talk about what you will need!

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, the size doesn’t matter much, just big enough to feed your family!
• 1-2 onions quartered
• garlic salt to taste
• lemon pepper or black pepper to taste
• dried thyme to taste
• 1 quart water (or less)

How to Make This Simple Roast Chicken Recipe:

1. First thing is quarter your onions and place at the bottom of the pan or Dutch oven. If you are using large onions one might be enough, otherwise use 2 small onions. You are creating kind of a shelf so your chicken isn’t sitting on the bottom of your pot. 
2. Take your thawed whole chicken and run it under cold water to wash. I wash the cavity of the chicken as well. Pat it down with paper towels to dry it. Place it on top of the quartered onions, with the legs and breast side up.
3. Liberally sprinkle the chicken with garlic salt, lemon pepper, and dried thyme to taste. I don’t measure this, I just put a good amount. You can also use fresh herbs. Really, you can season your chicken up with whatever you like. But these are the spices and seasonings we like.
4. Add about a quart of water, or less, to the bottom of the Dutch oven. You just want your chicken to be up off the bottom of the Dutch oven and adding water also helps the chicken to stay moist and produce all the juices.
5. Place your lid on and stick it in an oven at 275° for 2-3 hours. The cook time will depend on the size of your whole chicken. 
6. At the 2 hour mark, check the internal temperature of your chicken. If it is around 130-140 degrees you can move onto the next step. If it is below that, keep cooking it slow until it reaches that.
7.  If you are ready to move on, remove the lid and up your oven to about 400°. Cook for an additional 30-45 minutes. The higher temperature will help the outside of the chicken to crisp up.
8. Now check your internal temperature, in the thickest part of the thigh, until it reaches 170° before removing from the oven.
9. Place on a cutting board and let the chicken rest for a minute. 
10. It should fall right off the bone or you can use a sharp knife to slice thin pieces off. Our favorite sides are a bed of rice or roast potatoes to make a complete meal. 

Cooking your roast chicken this way makes juicy chicken but also lots of pan drippings and juices left over. One of our favorite things is to take the chicken out of the Dutch oven when it’s done and use the pan juices to make a lemon sauce to pour over the chicken and some rice. It’s so delicious!

What to do with leftover chicken?

If you get a big enough chicken and have lots of chicken left over after dinner, there are different ways to use it up. I like to throw the left over chicken pieces in a salad the next day for lunch or even use the leftover chicken in my homemade chicken taquitos.

You can also take the chicken and make a chicken salad to go on sandwiches or throw it in some pasta alfredo. 

I always try and use up what I have without wasting and this recipe is no exception! One of my favorite things to do is take leftovers and recreate a whole different meal with it. The possibilities are endless on what you can do with the leftovers.

​What to do with the carcass?

The best part about this meal is that you use all of it. There is nothing that goes to waste and 1 whole chicken is used for many meals. That is not just the meat part but the chicken broth you can make out of the carcass to use in future meals.

I always take the chicken carcass and throw it into a ziploc bag after dinner and pop it into the fridge. I usually will make up my broth the next day. If you know that you won’t be able to make broth the next day, pop that bag in the freezer until you are ready to use it!

I don’t worry too much about getting all the chicken pieces off of the bones. I do the best I can and then throw the rest in the bag.

If you need to know how to make super immune boosting chicken bone broth check this out!

Enjoy this healthy and simple roast chicken recipe and then don’t forget to whip up a batch of some super healthy bone broth afterwards! If you don’t pressure can, you can freeze your bone broth for later use, I did that for years before I learned to pressure can. 

Other easy chicken recipes you may like:

• Shredded Chicken Tacos
• Quick Lemon Herb Chicken and Potatoes
• Pepperoncini Chicken Sandwiches