Oven Roasted Whole Chicken with Potatoes & Garlic | Family Meals for Holidays
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Continental
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-5 Servings
 
Ingredients
  • 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
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 190 C / 375 F and place the wire rack at the centre of the oven.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Next flip the chicken over and drizzle the remaining half of the spice mix on this side and massage it in to coat evenly.
  8. When you are happy with the chicken marination, set it aside while you get the cast iron skillet ready.
  9. Take your cast iron skillet and brush oil over the surface. Then spread the potato pieces on the skillet.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. Place the marinated whole chicken over the potatoes and garlic keeping the breast side up.
  13. Now insert 2 lemon halves inside the cavity of the chicken. This will ensure that the internal part of chicken is also nicely flavored.
  14. 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.
  15. Place the cast iron skillet with chicken, potatoes and garlic inside the preheated oven and roast them for 1 hour and 20 minutes. **
  16. 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.
  17. Your oven roasted whole chicken is done! Carefully carve out the portions starting with drumsticks and thighs.
  18. Then cut through the chicken breasts which would have turned out insanely juicy and flavorful!
  19. Serve up your best ever whole roast chicken with roasted potatoes & garlic on the side along with your favorite holiday drink! Enjoy!
Notes
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.
Recipe by Flavor Quotient at https://flavorquotient.com/2024/12/oven-roasted-whole-chicken/