Our simple Roast Chicken recipe is moist, flavorful, and makes a beautiful meal with little effort. It only takes 15 minutes to prep and is baked in a pan with roasted vegetables.
If you make chicken recipes as much as we do, try our Garlic Chicken, Honey Mustard Chicken, Grilled Chicken Sandwich, and Tahini Chicken Bowls!
Roast Chicken simple enough for a cozy weeknight.
Roast Chicken simple enough for a cozy weeknight.I love how effortless and fool-proof it is to make a beautiful roast chicken at home. All you need to a simple herb butter and some chopped veggies; there's no brining or complicated culinary steps involved. Best of all it's a meal your whole family will love! Remember to keep the leftover chicken carcass to make homemade chicken stock for other recipes, like our chicken noodle soup!
How to Roast a Chicken:
Prep Chicken: If using a frozen chicken, it needs to be completely thaw before using. Remove raw chicken from packaging. Remove the neck and giblets from the cavity (discard them away or use them to make chicken gravy). Pat chicken dry with paper towels.
Make herb butter by combining butter, lemon zest, rosemary, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Gently lift the skin near the chicken breasts and smear herb butter under it, on top of the breasts meat. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the outside and spread with more herb butter over the outside. Smear any leftover butter inside the cavity. Cut lemons in half and place inside.
Roast: Add chopped vegetables to the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish and drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Place chicken on top of vegetables and roast chicken uncovered at 450°F for 10-15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°F then cook for 20 minutes per pound, or until the chicken is 165°F on a food thermometer. The chicken should be golden brown and the juices should be clear and sizzling. Remove it from the oven, tent with foil to keep warm and rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.
Carve and Serve: Carve the crispy roast chicken and serve with the roasted vegetables. Use the pan drippings to make chicken gravy. We love to serve roast chicken dinner with my favorite homemade rolls and apple pecan salad.
How to Carve a Whole Chicken:
- Separate Chicken Legs: Gently pull one leg away from the body then slice through the leg meat and skin. With a little more force, pull the leg away from the body until you hear the hip joint pop out. Place a sharp knife between hip bone and the body then cut. Repeat for the other leg.
- Remove Drumsticks and Thighs: Place knife on the natural line that separates the drumstick and thigh then cut through the joint. Repeat for other leg.
- Chicken Breast: Slice along one side of the breast bone to remove one side of breast meat. Remove full breast and then slice into portions by laying skin side up and slicing into thin portions. Repeat with second breast.
Serve With:
- Cornbread Dressing
- Whole Roasted Cauliflower
- Balsamic Roasted Carrots
- Pomegranate and Pear Salad
- French Green Beans
- Broccoli Salad
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Recipe
Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 4 Tablespoons butter , softened
- 1 lemon
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 2 tsp dried rosemary, finely chopped)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3-4 large carrots , chopped
- 1 onion , chopped
- 1.5 lbs baby red potatoes , halved
- chicken gravy (optional)
Instructions
- Prep Chicken: If using a frozen whole chicken, thaw completely (1-2 days in the fridge) before cooking. When ready to roast chicken, preheat oven to 450 degrees F and adjust your oven rack so the chicken will sit in the center of the oven. Remove neck and giblets from inside the cavity of the chicken and pat dry all over with paper towels.
- Herb Butter: In a bowl combine softened butter, lemon zest and chopped rosemary. Season the outside of the chicken and inside the cavity with salt and pepper.
- Apply Herb Butter: Use your fingers to loosen and lift the skin above the breasts (on the top of the chicken) and smooth a few tablespoons of the herb butter underneath. Microwave the remaining herb butter mixture for 5-10 seconds, until softened, and smear the remaining herb butter all over the outside of the chicken, legs and wings.
- Finish: Cut the lemon in half and place inside the cavity of the bird. Add the onion, carrot and potato to the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Drizzle a little olive oil over the veggies, season them with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Place the chicken on top, and tie the legs together with kitchen twine if desired (not required).
- Roast the chicken, uncovered, at 450 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and roast for 20 minutes per pound, or until internal temperature (inserted on middle of thigh and breast) reaches about 165 degrees F. Skin should be golden brown and the juices should run clear. *Check the chicken about halfway through cooking and if the skin is getting overly brown you can cover it with a piece of tinfoil to protect the breast meat from overcooking.
- Rest: Remove chicken from the oven and tent with aluminum foil to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.
- Serve with the cooked vegetables at the bottom of the pan. Reserve the drippings in the roasting pan, if desired, to make chicken gravy.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe December 2013. Updated August 2019, September 2022 and September 2024.
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Lauren, this was the most wonderful roast chicken that I’ve ever made! THANK YOU for this recipe!
It was so easy and turned out perfectly!
The time and temps were spot on…it was perfectly cooked..usually, when my cooking time is up, it’s nearly burnt on top but still pink in leg joints and juices are not running clear..
This is a Dream ComeTrue recipe!
THANK YOU!
Do you recommend NOT to wash poultry when you remove from packaging?
Classic chicken roasting instructions; great for reference for experienced cooks as well as beginners. Well done.
Loved your recipe & explanation for the roasted chicken with the carrots & potatoes. I intend on following you from this moment on. Thanks for you help!
This is the best recipe I have found on the internet. It seriously changed my life. I, like many of us, I am sure, was making baked chicken too complicated, and the meat always came out dry no matter how many times I obsessively basted it (thinking I was making it jucier, when in fact I was drying it out by opening the oven door! And then I’d cut it right away wanting to serve a piping hot dinner, when in fact I should have let the juices rest into the meat after removing the bird from oven!) No amount of oil or butter or grease I tried could fix it the way I used to do it until this recipe came along. Simple is better sometimes, and this is one of those times. Make it easy on yourself and just do what the recipe says. It comes out so good. Thank you!! (I have made this 3 times, perfect every time just by doing what she says 🙂
It was a great experience of making chicken…I had not done anything related to cooking before. This helps me a lot to learn…I suggest all to use this recipe…
First whole baked chicken I have ever made in my life! Recipie helped so much! Never did this before, just got my own place and it is all new to me. It came out great! Thank you for saving me, the chicken, and dinner! Very easy, just follow the directions. 😀👍
I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times and chicken always comes out to perfection! Thank you thank you
I have a 10lb whole chicken. Approximately how much salt should I use? Thanks
Was just steered here by a friend who is a really good cook! Recipe looks simple enough that even I can make it — and it sounds 😋! About the nutrition information — it would be considerably more helpful if it included portion size (1/6 of a whole chicken is kinda general — just how big (or small) is that chicken? (I track macros so appreciate more specific idea of quantity. )
I made it tonight and it was fantastic. Crispy skin, juicy breast meat. The juices made for a fantastic gravy base.
Omg!! I feel like a pro making baked chicken. I did tweak the recipe a little. I love garlic so I blended a nice portion of fresh garlic with a little olive oil and smothered the chicken a few hours before I seasoned it with the ingredients from the recipe. I also added half a tsp of thyme to the herb butter seasoning. I also didn’t cook it on top of vegetables and baked it in a roaster pan. This chicken came out with crispy skin and the even breast is super juicy. I don’t mind chicken breast but don’t like when its overcooked and dry. This entire chicken came out perfect! I over served myself and over ate because I had to eat some breast because it was so delicious and juicy. This recipe is a must try!!