Lately we’ve been enjoying roasted chicken for a nice Sunday dinner.  I love that we can use the leftovers for another recipe like Hawaiian Haystacks, or in a soup or salad.  Plus you get the bonus of being able to use the bones to make homemade broth.

I’ve always been a little queasy when it comes to handling an entire bird, and then if you have to pick off any pin feathers or remove the neck or something…oh please!  Lately though I’ve been getting more brave and we have a butcher nearby that sells fryer chickens that have all the insides removed so I don’t have to be so grossed out plus they haven’t been raised with hormones or antibiotics so it’s a win win!

A really important thing to remember is to let the bird sit for about 20 minutes after you take it out of the oven.  If you cut right into it all of the juices will run out, if you give it time to rest, those juices will stay in the meat making it that much better and more moist!

Making your own roasted chicken is a great alternative to buying one at the grocery store because you get to control all of the ingredients.  You don’t have to worry about your bird being injected with anything sketchy like maltodextrin, flavorings or hydrolyzed soy protein.

Enjoy!

Basic Roast Chicken

1 4-5 pound roasting chicken

1 bunch of fresh thyme

1 lemon cut in half

1 bulb of garlic, cut in half crosswise

3 T. butter

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. Rinse chicken inside and out, remove giblets if still there! Remove any excess feathers and pat dry.  Place on your pan. I used the bottom of a broiler pan…nothing fancy.

3. Liberally salt and pepper inside and outside of chicken. Stuff cavity with all lemon, garlic and thyme.  Brush the outside with melted butter, use your hands if you don’t have a silicon brush.  I like to do it under the skin as well as on top of the skin.

4. Tie legs together and tuck wings under body (optional in my book!)

5. Cook for about 90 minutes or use a meat thermometer in the breast, it should register 170 degrees F. 90 minutes has always worked great.

6. If you feel like it’s smoking a bit in your oven or the skin is getting too brown cover with tinfoil for the last 30 minutes or less.

7. Remove from oven and let it sit for 20 minutes while covered with tin foil.

8. Slice and serve with roasted veggies and garlic rice.

*To make roasted veggies just wash and cut up any vegetables you have on hand.  I used a couple potatoes, carrots, onion, whole yellow tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash.  Grate a couple cloves of fresh garlic over it, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  This is by no means a precise recipe!  Put this pan in the oven after the chicken has been in for 30 minutes and just keep an eye on it.  You may want to toss it around at about 30 minutes and then let it go for another 30, so for about an hour total, I try and time it so it’s done when the chicken is done.