Roast Chicken

Roast chicken is such a comfort food for our family. I like to season my whole chicken inside and out, underneath the skin and all over the outside, with a mixture of butter, olive oil, and fresh herbs and other seasonings. Additionally, sometimes I'll put lemon slices between the skin and the meat - I've done that here, more clearly viewed in a "before" picture below. I also like to roast my whole chicken on a bed of seasoned veggies, with herbs and vegetables or lemons put in the cavity. After roasting, the drippings can be used to make a gravy.

I know many feel a plain salt and pepper only approach yields a great roast chicken - and it certainly does. I just happen to prefer using bolder flavors. Use a lighter or heavier hand on the seasonings and herbs, to your preference.

Ingredients

For the bottom of the roasting pan:

2 to 3 celery stalks, cut into large pieces

1 to 2 yellow onions, cut into large pieces

2 to 3 carrots, cut into large pieces

4 or 5 whole garlic cloves

Fresh herbs - thyme, rosemary, sage, etc.

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups chicken stock

For the chicken:

One 5 to 6 pound roasting chicken

1 onion, quartered

1 lemon, quartered

Bunch of fresh herbs - thyme, rosemary, sage - any or all

For seasoning under the skin and the outside of the chicken:

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter, softened

2 tablespoons olive oil

Any or all of the following:

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs - rosemary, thyme, sage etc.

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon pepper

1 lemon, halved - one half sliced and the other half zested and juiced

Other seasonings to your preference!

Kosher salt to taste

Kitchen twine

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the celery, onions, carrots, and garlic cloves in the bottom of a roasting pan. These will serve as the "rack" for your chicken, and help flavor drippings that you may want to use for gravy. Toss all with some salt and pepper (go light on the salt). Sometimes I'll even add in some poultry seasoning, celery seed, onion powder, whatever I feel like at the time. Heck, throw in some fresh herbs too - thyme, rosemary, sage. Add the chicken stock.

Remove the giblets from the chicken. Remove any pre-inserted "timers". Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the quartered onion and lemon, and any fresh herbs you want. Leave them on the stems and just stuff them inside! Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Combine the softened butter and olive oil. Add in any or all of the seasonings and herbs listed, as well as the juice and zest of half a lemon. I would encourage using some of the finely chopped fresh herbs - they take the flavor up a notch, even though most of them are also in the powdered poultry seasoning. You could use either/or, but I like using both. I don't usually add salt here - I don't want that to dry out the meat. I will, however, put a good amount of salt on the skin in a later step!

Slip your fingers under the skin over the chicken breast - careful here, you don't want to break the skin. Once you get past the membrane, it's easy to create a pocket under the skin and over the breasts. Take a tablespoon or so of your butter/olive oil/seasoned mixture and rub it on the meat and under the skin on each breast. I also slip in some thinly sliced lemon, it gives a nice fresh flavor but like all of these seasonings is optional.

Use the rest of the butter/olive oil/seasoning mixture and rub it liberally all over the chicken. Position the chicken in the roasting pan, wings tucked under the bird. At this point, I now salt the skin liberally, it helps it crisp up and adds nice flavor. Sprinkle with pepper too.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. 165 degrees Fahrenheit is the safe internal temperature for both the white meat and dark meat on the chicken, check with a meat thermometer. Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes before slicing.

I don't baste the chicken, I don't start at a higher temperature then lower it. Those methods work fine, but I find with the sumptuous butter/olive oil mixture rubbed underneath and on the skin, the meat does not dry out.

You can use the vegetables from the pan and serve them, but I usually don't; I will remove the vegetables and use the drippings left in the pan to make a gravy.

Some prep photos:

The bed of veggies.

The prepped bird ready to go in the oven. See the lemon slices under the skin?