I love roasted chicken. I’ve been making it for many years now, and its rustic simplicity is always appealing. Plus, whole chickens tend to be pretty cheap, and often go on sale. Another bonus is that if you’re cooking for one or two, you’re left with lots of leftover meat that you can use for salads, sandwiches and all other sorts of recipes. This whole chicken cost $4.87 and made 5 servings at 97 cents per serving.
Roast chicken takes a little time, but is otherwise really easy: crank up your oven to 375, and while it’s heating up, get your chicken ready. The possibilities here are endless. You can smother the outside in harissa
This time, I used NoMU’s Smoky Peri-Peri Rub
Once you’ve got the prep done, put the chicken in the oven. There are a couple schools of thought here. one says put it in breast down for the first 20 or so minutes, so the underside of the bird gets more cooked through; the other says put it in breast side up and just leave it. Lately, I’ve been putting the breast side down first, as it seems to keep it from drying out a bit more, and it gives the thighs and legs some more direct heat. Either way, plan on letting it cook for about an hour. I can’t say exactly an hour, because a lot really depends on your oven. The best way to know when it’s done is with an instant-read thermometer. The government says you should cook chicken to 180 degrees, but if you want to do that, skip making the chicken and chew on your shoe instead. I usually shoot for about 160 at the deepest point of the breast, then take the chicken out and let it rest for about 10 minutes, during which it will continue to cook inside, despite being outside the oven.
Yum yum. Serve it with your favorite vegetables on the side. I usually like to keep things simple and just have some salad and steamed broccoli or something, and if we’re feeling particularly decadent, we’ll have gravy as well.
If you’ve got leftovers, you could do something like a curried chicken salad, or use it to make the awesome Chicken and Leek Pie we featured a few weeks back.
Silly question – do you squeeze the lemon on or in the bird, or just put the halved lemon in the “cavity?” Thanks!
Just stick it in the cavity — as the chicken cooks, the juice will come out and work its way into the meat from the inside.
Been doing some roast chickens lately too – been brining mine starting in the morning so it is ready to cook that evening. Made Congee (rice porridge) with chicken with the last bits of leftovers – another really economic easy meal.
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