Roast Chicken slathered with a garlic-herb-lemon butter then oven roasted to golden crispy perfection.
Juicy on the inside, and served with liquid gold pan juices loaded with flavour, this is THE Roast Chicken recipe you’ll make over and over again!
The best Roast Chicken recipe is….
….. juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside with golden skin that’s buttery and herby and garlicky with just a subtle perfume of lemon to remind you it’s there without overwhelming.
It creates its own pan juices that’s used as the sauce for the chicken. This stuff is liquid gold!
This is the chicken version of the Herb and Garlic Butter Roasted Turkey Breast I shared for Christmas / Thanksgiving last year. I’ve lost count of how many messages there were asking for a chicken version – and I’m finally sharing it!
How to make the BEST roast chicken!
The best roast chicken has garlic herb butter under and on the skin, is stuffed with lemon and herbs, roasted until it’s crispy and deep golden on the outside, and juicy on the inside.
It’s really easy to prepare a whole chicken for roasting. The trick is to use an upside down dessert spoon to loosen the skin – the shape hugs the curves of the chicken and it doesn’t tear the skin.
Then simply spoon the garlic-herb-butter under the skin then spread it from the outside. OR hold it upright and drizzle in (see photos below) – whatever you find easier!
TIP: Use most of the butter under the skin, that’s where you get the most bang for your buck. Plus, garlic burns on the skin so you don’t want too much on the surface.
After the chicken is all buttered up, place it on a bed of garlic and onion. This serves two purposes:
-
Elevates the chicken off the base of the pan for more even cooking (otherwise the underside sits in the pan juices and will cook faster); and
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Adds extra flavour into the pan juices used as the sauce for this recipe. OR used for gravy!
How to make the BEST roast chicken (cont’d)
I like to stuff the chicken with a wedges of lemon and a couple of sprigs of rosemary. Not so much for the flavour, because in truth, you can just barely taste it. It’s more for the perfume you get when you cut into the chicken so it seems like you can taste it.
And this is the reason why I do not put garlic inside oven roasted chicken. There’s no point – it doesn’t get hot enough to make any difference to flavour and just steams.
Flavour bomb set, now it’s time for the easy part – roasting.
How long does it take to roast a 2 kg chicken?
10 minutes at 220C/450F, then 1 hr 15 minutes at 180C/350F until the internal temperature is 75C/165F or until juices run clear.
The formula is: 10 minutes at 220C/450F, then 20 minutes for every 500g/1lb at 180C/350F until the internal temperature is 75C/165F or until juices run clear.
But….. I want gravy!!
OK OK, hold the tantrum! It’s all good! I have the gravy recipe in the notes.😇
But really, give the liquid gold a go one of these days…. It’s crazy good! I mean, it’s garlic butter. Infused with herb flavours and a hint of lemon. Mingling with roasted chicken juices.
Watch the video. It tastes even better than it looks! – Nagi x
More whole chicken recipes
-
Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken (set and forget!)
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Jamie Oliver’s Chicken in Milk (seriously delish!)
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Chicken Noodle Soup – from scratch!
What to do with leftovers?
Use it to make epic Bread Bowl Sandwich, Chicken Pasta Salad, Chinese Chicken Salad or toss it into a Frittata or Omelette! salad
Best of Sunday Supper Roasts
Roast Chicken recipe
Watch how to make it
Sometimes it helps to have a visual – so watch me make this Roast Chicken recipe!
Roast Chicken recipe originally published May 2016, improved May 2018. Updated for housekeeping matters January 2019, no change to recipe. It’s perfect as is! 🙂
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Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 1.75 - 2 kg / 3.5 - 4lb whole chicken , patted dry
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 3 rosemary sprigs
Butter:
- 100 g / 1 stick unsalted butter , melted
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 tbsp sage , finely chopped (Note 1)
- 2 tsp rosemary , finely chopped (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp parsley , finely chopped (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp each salt and black pepper
Under Chook:
- 1 cup / 250 ml dry white wine , or low sodium chicken broth
- 1 onion , quartered (Note 2)
- 1 garlic bulb , halved horizontally (Note 2)
Instructions
- Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
- Preheat oven to 220C/450F (standard) or 200C/430F (fan/convection). Put shelf in the middle.
- Mix together Butter ingredients. Add juice from 2 wedges of lemon.
- Place chicken in a roasting pan. Use a dessert spoon to loosen skin from chicken (see video). Do the top (the breast) and the drumsticks – not the underside.
- Prop chicken upright, drizzle butter under skin, using most of the garlic/herb sludge, but saving a bit of butter for the skin (Note 3).
- Drizzle / smear remaining butter all over surface of the chicken. Squeeze over juice of 2 lemon wedges.
- Stuff used lemon wedges and rosemary inside chicken.
- Tie drumstick ends with string and tuck wing tips under the chicken.
- Sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.
- Place onion and garlic in the pan, place chicken on top. Pour wine around, drizzle chicken with oil.
- Transfer to oven. Roast for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 180C/350F (all oven types). Roast for a further 1 hr 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 75C/165F or until juices run clear when pierced at the join between the drumstick and the body. Baste twice (30 min then at 1 hr), spooning pan juices over skin.
- Rest for 15 minutes – don’t cover, skin becomes wet.
- Serve with pan juices (see video for how to carve). I discard onion but use the garlic in the pan. See notes for side suggestions & how to use carcass for incredible homemade broth!
Recipe Notes:
50 g / 3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp / 40 g flour (any white)
2 cups / 500 ml liquid from pan topped up with low sodium chicken broth Melt butter over medium heat, add flour, stir for 1 minute. Add half the liquid while whisking. Once incorpoated and lump free, add remaining liquid. Continue cooking for 2 minutes, stirring regularly, until gravy thickens. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 5. COOK TIMES: 10 minutes at 220C/450F, then 20 minutes for every 500g/1lb at 180C/350F until the internal temperature is 75C/165F or until juices run clear. This assumes the chicken was taken out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. If it’s fridge cold, add another 10 minutes to the cook time. 6. TYING DRUMSTICKS: I find it easiest to use one piece of string, wrap string around one leg, then yank the other leg closer and wrap string around that one to. Then once string is around both of them, it's much easier to handle to use the string to pull then together then wrap the string around both of them tightly so they are crossed over each other. 7. CARCASS and leftover bits/juices: Scrape it all into a pot or slow cooker, add water so water is about 2.5cm / 1" above chicken. Add 2 tsp Vegeta or chicken stock powder or 2 crumbled cubes, celery, carrot and a few garlic cloves (chunky pieces) and a few sprigs of fresh herbs like thyme/rosemary/parsley OR 1 tsp dried herbs. Simmer 1 hour / slow cooker 6 hours, strain. Pick out/off bits of chicken to use in soup. Use as incredible broth for Chicken Noodle Soup or Chicken Rice Soup. 8. SIDES: Roast potatoes (cut, toss in olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs, roast under chicken for 40 minutes), mashed potato or cauliflower, or garlic bread. Also try Potatoes au Gratin or Easy Cheesy Potato Bake - can make ahead then reheat in oven quickly. Pictured on the very edge of photo in post is this Kale Quinoa Salad (I often have it on hand as it lasts for days and days). Other great salads: Corn Salad with Avocado and Tomato, Roast Pumpkin Spinach Salad, a garden salad with Italian or French Dressing. 9. Nutrition assumes 1.2kg / 2.4lb of meat, remainder is bones discarded. Also assumes all pan juices are consumed which they probably won't be, also you lose some in the onion/garlic/discarded chicken.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Like a mohawk – gone wrong. (Aftermath of a knee operation he had back in May 2018 when this recipe was first published…)
I’ve roasted a lot of chickens and I thought my recipe was good until I tasted this Oh my goodness this was incredible. The white meat was juicy and tender. The flavor of the herbs and lemon all worked so well. The gravy using the pan juices was perfect. This is the recipe I’ll be using for the rest of my life.
Excellent !
Hello Nagi and crew of fans, I have to repost a review of my chicken disaster of last week, 11-21-22. Chicquita the Chicken fought bravely for her skin but she was roasted regardless. I only criticized my technique, not that recipe. After I finally decided I knew which end should be up, into my dinosaur of a stove for 2.5 hours. Done beautifully at 2hr. 45-< 350 5.2# bird. I mishandled Chickie but she took it well after all. I managed to feed several folks and my kittens. Thanks for putting up with my review madness. I think I might need adult supervision in the kitchen. *I'm 71*. Still, this one was excellent I should have taken a photo. So tasty, moist, I made dinner on the Solstice!
Before I get chopped, my 2 stars is for myself, not Nagi (Hi, Ya-It’s florida Flap now. I think I destroyed a perfectly lovely chicken today, I felt totally defeated by this thing. However, Ms. Thing is still in the oven, because I really think she owes me at least some decent parts.
I clearly have anatomical info on humans, having studied them all my professional life. I think I might need a brush-up on anatomy of poultry. Butt up, head down-it was embarrassing but I could not tell one end from the other.
I have some time to wait, in the meantime, have a pleasant “Season”; and be sending the US some of the light as our Summertime draws nearer. I’ll let you know how the bird turns out; I probably own the entire poultry nation a sincere apology. Poor thing croaked twice. Sorry, not sorry. Brightness, for all!
Flap/Florida
“Go, Gators” (it’s mandatory)!
That’s not right giving the recipe 2 stars when the blame is on you and not even knowing how it turned out yet -_-.
Holy mother of god Nagi, this recipe is completely insane! I have never had roast chicken as good as this and I’ve cooked a gazillion roast chicken dinners in 53 years of life but this is next level.
We had it with crispy smashed potatoes (I added garlic and fresh thyme to the butter, OMG) and salad. We tried the pan juices rather than make a gravy and my god you are right on that. 👏 The pan juices are better than any gravy and I make insanely good gravy!
My husband said it’s the best roast chicken he’s had in his life and I’m quite a good cook. I have used herbed butter under the skin before but not with the garlic and lemon. I usually cook roasts atop onion and garlic, like your recipe, but I haven’t used the wine in the dish (i usually use water, never again though).
We couldn’t stop eating it, thank god I cooked a huge bird and scaled the recipe up because I was planning to make another two dishes from the leftovers, looks like it’s going to be one more dish and a broth from the carcass for Asian dumpling soup.
This roast chicken recipe even trumps my buttermilk marinated roast chicken.. I salted (with Kosher salt) the bird the day before so with your garlic, herb & lemon butter the meat was so juicy and succulent that we had to use napkins to clean our little piggy faces from all the delicious juices.
Once again I thank you for sharing your incredible recipes with us and I am eagerly awaiting your book that I have pre-ordered. Your recipes never cease to surprise and delight me. Much love 💕
Hi Nagi, this sounds amazing! I have made the slow cooker roast chicken a few times and love how easy it is. Wondering if I could do the ingredients for this recipe but use the slow cooker roast chicken method from your other recipe? Many thanks!
If you wait until the butter has cooled enough to remain in a liquid state but much thickened you can avoid this issue. I hope you tried the pan juices as opposed to a gravy for this, Nagi was right, the pan juices are so, so good that gravy is a waste of time with this recipe. 😊
The butter mixture came out from the other end of the chicken as I was pouring it under the skin! Anyone else had that problem? So butter burnt in the pan straight away, pan juices didn’t really turn out. Otherwise nice.
Absolutely divine, that sauce is lick-the-plate-delicious!
This was so very delicious. Thank you!
Nagi, I’ve done this brilliant recipet before on it’s own but I usually want to roast chicken with vegetables (parnsip, pumpkin, carrot, baby spuds) in the same pan – is this recipe suitable or would the vegies just steam in the wine rather than get nice and roasted? If so, how about a recipe for good old one-pan roast chicken and vegies?
Finally I found a perfect roast chicken recipe. I should have known as I have been using Nagi’s recipes for a number of years now. It was the juciest and tastiest I have ever made. Barely could stop myself from snacking while cutting.
We had the corn, avacado, and tomato salad with it (along with the requisite mashed potatoes and gravy) and the significant other said, “I didn’t know we were having a gourmet meal tonight!”
Bravo, once again, Nagi!
Made this for Easter dinner and it was great. Going to do it again today. Friends have a farm and gave us a fresh chicken so it deserved this recipe to be the best!
I roast a chicken almost every week and I’ve had some plenty good results in the past, but this recipe is on a whole other level. Husband would not stop raving. Toddler and baby both scarfed down generous helpings. “Tender and juicy” doesn’t suffice to qualify HOW GOOD this chicken is. I was concerned the skin-loosening part would be a hassle, but it wasn’t much extra work and the spoon was very effective.
My oven really does its own thing and I almost always have to adjust time and temperature, no matter what I’m cooking in it. For this chicken, it looked dark golden and done so I ended up cutting the heat off about 10 or 15 minutes from the scheduled finish time according to the weight and just let it finish as the oven coasted, and it was perfection. Gravy? Honestly, the pan sauce is so much better than any gravy you could make with it. You’d just be dulling the flavor with flour and more liquid. I did have to add some (home made) chicken broth early on in the roasting because there wasn’t enough liquid in the bottom of my huge pan, but by the end, there was a gorgeous little sea of flavor down there. I’d gone 50/50 dry vermouth and chicken broth for the liquid, since vermouth has more flavor than regular wine. The smell while cooking was swoon-worthy.
Make this, seriously.
Wow Rachel – you are making ME hungry!! N x