Holiday season has officially started and new year’s eve is almost knocking at the door! At this time, all you need is a fail-proof oven roasted whole chicken recipe that would be perfect for your family dinners!
If you haven’t ever roasted a whole chicken in the oven maybe because you were worried if it would cook perfectly or not, I am here to guide you with my guaranteed oven roasted whole chicken recipe today!
We love whole roast chicken in our family! I have made this fancy meal quite a few times and a couple of them have already made it to my blog, one with even a video!
This whole chicken roasted in the oven on a bed of potatoes, garlic and any other veggies of your choice makes a complete family meal that you can enjoy this holiday season!
Just add a simple salad on the side with your favorite drink and you are settled with the most balanced yet celebratory meal with your friends and family!
What is Oven Roasted Whole Chicken?
I know the name is absolutely self-explanatory, but I would still like to share my narrative of what I desired to share through this classic holiday recipe!
Whole roast chicken has been around for ages and there would be zillions of recipes available on the net which becomes more popular around this time of the year.
I, too, have a few whole roast chicken recipes in my blog already. So what’s new am I planning to share in today’s oven roasted whole chicken?
Let’s find out!
How is this oven roasted whole chicken recipe different from my other whole roast chicken recipes?
The best thing about this oven roasted whole chicken is that it is the simplest whole roast chicken recipe that can possibly be but without compromising the taste whatsoever!
You don’t need a long list of ingredients for this one! There is just one magic ingredient which you can either make at home or can conveniently pick up from your supermarket!
This magic ingredient is nothing but my holy grail Italian seasoning! This spice mix has saved me on more occasions than all other ingredients combined!
A good quality olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper – that’s all you need to spice up your oven roasted whole chicken along with potatoes & garlic cloves!
Another thing I had done differently in this recipe was to use a cast iron skillet to roast my whole chicken instead of a baking tray.
Cast iron heats up uniformly and retains heat for a longer time which keeps the chicken warm until you are ready to serve it up.
But you can replicate the same recipe in a regular baking tray; so do not worry if you don’t have a cast iron skillet (as I know these utensils sometimes feel too heavy to handle!).
Ingredients for Oven Roasted Whole Chicken
Whole chicken: You will need a fresh whole chicken with the skin on. I usually get the chicken on the same day that I am planning to roast it as I don’t prefer using frozen chicken for this recipe.
Here in our local markets, the average size of a dressed skin-on whole chicken is 1 kg which is approximately 2 pounds and that’s the size of my oven roasted whole chicken too that you see here.
If your chicken is bigger in size, double up the amount of spices and seasoning as required along with the oil. A bigger chicken will need a good amount of oil in order to prevent it from drying.
Potatoes: If you haven’t ever had roasted potatoes with your whole roast chicken, you have definitely missed something!
Potatoes with their skin on become unbelievably crispy and delicious when roasted under the whole chicken as they absorb all the flavorful juices that drip off from the bird during roasting.
I used baby potatoes cut in half. You can use regular potatoes cut into bite-sized chunks about 1-inch in length.
But definitely keep the skin on as the skin makes the exterior super-crispy retaining the tenderness of the potatoes inside.
Garlic: Use lots, and I literally mean lots of garlic cloves spreading them around the chicken on top of the potatoes.
When these garlic cloves get roasted along with the potatoes, they make everything unbelievably tasty!
Extra-virgin olive oil: Olive oil is one of the key ingredients in this oven roasted whole chicken recipe as it not only acts as a source of fat but also as a flavor booster!
Potatoes roasted with garlic in olive oil & chicken juices is another level of deliciousness with all the spices complementing beautifully with each other.
Italian seasoning: Keeping things simple has been my mantra these days when I plan to cook something tasty as well as good for our body!
Like many other recipes, Italian seasoning comes to my rescue here too!
A generous amount of this seasoning mixed with salt and pepper will create that much-desired magic without any hassle whatsoever!
Lemon: Couple of fresh lemons will add a burst of freshness to your oven roasted whole chicken.
Insert 2 halves inside the cavity and throw in the other lemon, cut into half, over the potatoes.
Salt & Pepper: Seasoning your whole chicken for oven roasting might seem a little tricky as you may get confused with the amount of salt to be used for perfect seasoning.
For a 1 kg / 2 pound chicken you will need about 1 and ½ tablespoons of salt, if you are using regular table salt.
Sprinkle about half a tablespoon inside the cavity of the chicken and massage the rest on the outside. Use pepper as per your taste.
Pro tip: It may seem too much salt for some, but do keep in mind that some of the salt will fall off the skin and since there is no gravy or liquid, salt will not get a chance to dissolve.
Hence a little more than usual.
How to make Oven Roasted Whole Chicken?
Step 0: Preheat the oven to 190 C / 375 F and place the wire rack at the center of the oven.
Step 1: First and foremost, you must start with a fresh whole chicken. Frozen and thawed whole chicken would not produce as good a result as you expect.
Step 2: Wash the whole bird thoroughly and then pat it dry using kitchen towels. Ensure all the moisture is wiped off the skin of the chicken.
Pro tip: The drier the skin of the chicken, the crispier it will turn out. Also the dry skin ensures all the marinating ingredients stick to it nicely!
Step 3: Before you start working on the chicken, prepare the dry rub for the chicken by mixing salt, pepper and Italian seasoning in a small mixing bowl.
Step 4: Now drizzle olive oil over the chicken and preferably using your hand, massage the chicken so that it is nicely coated with oil all over the surface.
Step 5: Once chicken is nicely massaged with oil, drizzle half of the dry rub on one side of the chicken. Give a good massage again so that the spice mix is evenly distributed.
Step 6: Next flip the chicken over and drizzle the remaining half of the spice mix on this side and massage it in to coat evenly.
Step 7: When you are happy with the chicken marination, set it aside while you get the cast iron skillet ready.
I prefer to oven roast my chicken on a bed of potatoes which I have already explained why.
Step 8: Take your cast iron skillet and brush oil over the surface. Then spread the potato pieces on the skillet.
Step 9: Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper over the potatoes. Then give a good mix either by hand or using a spatula to evenly coat each potato with oil & seasoning.
Step 10: After mixing, spread out the potatoes over the skillet keeping them in a single layer. At this stage, sprinkle the garlic cloves over the potatoes.
Pro tip: When potatoes and garlic get roasted beneath the whole chicken, they soak up all the juices from the chicken that trickles down making them insanely tasty!
Step 11: Place the marinated whole chicken over the potatoes and garlic keeping the breast side up.
Step 12: Now insert 2 lemon halves inside the cavity of the chicken. This will ensure that the internal part of chicken is also nicely flavored.
Step 13: It’s time to tuck the chicken properly for even roasting; tuck in the wings below the chicken breast and twine the legs using either a kitchen twine or aluminum foil.
Step 14: Place the cast iron skillet with chicken, potatoes and garlic inside the preheated oven and roast them for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Pro tip: To check the doneness of the chicken, check if an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breast registers 75 C / 165 F.
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, make a cut at the thickest part of the chicken breast using the edge of a knife; if the juice runs clear with no traces of pink, chicken is cooked through.
Step 15: Take the skillet out of the oven and allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. This will give chicken enough time to finish cooking using the remainder heat.
Step 16: Your oven roasted whole chicken is done! Carefully carve out the portions starting with drumsticks and thighs.
Step 17: Then cut through the chicken breasts which would have turned out insanely juicy and flavorful!
Pro tip: This oven roasted whole chicken would easily serve 3 to 4 adults for a perfect holiday meal.
Since it was only for the 2 of us, I saved the roasted chicken breasts for the delicious chicken salad sandwich for our next day’s lunch!
Step 18: Serve up your best ever whole roast chicken with roasted potatoes & garlic on the side along with your favorite holiday drink! Enjoy!
More delicious holiday recipes from Flavor Quotient
- Spanish One Pot Chicken and Rice
- Thigh Spiced Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken
- Winter Special Potato, Carrot & Lamb Stew
- Whole chicken - 1, skin-on, bone-in (about 1 kg/2 pounds in weight)
- Extra-virgin olive oil - ¼ cup
- Italian seasoning - 2 tbsp
- Salt - 1 & ½ tbsp (or to taste)
- Pepper - 1 tsp
- Baby potatoes - 20, cut into halves with skin on
- Garlic - 20-25 small cloves or 15 large cloves
- Lemon - 2, each cut into halves
- Preheat the oven to 190 C / 375 F and place the wire rack at the centre of the oven.
- First and foremost, you must start with a fresh whole chicken. Frozen and thawed whole chicken would not produce as good a result as you expect.
- Wash the whole bird thoroughly and then pat it dry using kitchen towels. Ensure all the moisture is wiped off the skin of the chicken.
- Before you start working on the chicken, prepare the dry rub for the chicken by mixing salt, pepper and Italian seasoning in a small mixing bowl.
- Now drizzle olive oil over the chicken and preferably using your hand, massage the chicken so that it is nicely coated with oil all over the surface.
- Once chicken is nicely massaged with oil, drizzle half of the dry rub on one side of the chicken. Give a good massage again so that the spice mix is evenly distributed.
- Next flip the chicken over and drizzle the remaining half of the spice mix on this side and massage it in to coat evenly.
- When you are happy with the chicken marination, set it aside while you get the cast iron skillet ready.
- Take your cast iron skillet and brush oil over the surface. Then spread the potato pieces on the skillet.
- Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper over the potatoes. Then give a good mix either by hand or using a spatula to evenly coat each potato with oil & seasoning.
- After mixing, spread out the potatoes over the skillet keeping them in a single layer. At this stage, sprinkle the garlic cloves over the potatoes.
- Place the marinated whole chicken over the potatoes and garlic keeping the breast side up.
- Now insert 2 lemon halves inside the cavity of the chicken. This will ensure that the internal part of chicken is also nicely flavored.
- It’s time to tuck the chicken properly for even roasting; tuck in the wings below the chicken breast and twine the legs using either a kitchen twine or aluminum foil.
- Place the cast iron skillet with chicken, potatoes and garlic inside the preheated oven and roast them for 1 hour and 20 minutes. **
- Take the skillet out of the oven and allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. This will give chicken enough time to finish cooking using the remainder heat.
- Your oven roasted whole chicken is done! Carefully carve out the portions starting with drumsticks and thighs.
- Then cut through the chicken breasts which would have turned out insanely juicy and flavorful!
- Serve up your best ever whole roast chicken with roasted potatoes & garlic on the side along with your favorite holiday drink! Enjoy!
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, make a cut at the thickest part of the chicken breast using the edge of a knife; if the juice runs clear with no traces of pink, chicken is cooked through.
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Oven Roasted Carrots and Broccoli | Easy Roasted Veggie Recipe
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