How to cook perfect Roast Chicken – Roast Chicken Recipe

How to cook perfect Roast Chicken – Roast Chicken Recipe

Ever wondered how to cook perfect Roast Chicken? What is the best roast chicken recipe? Good, ’cause I’ll answer that question now.

A roast chicken for Sunday lunch or just an indulgent and hearty mid-week meal is probably one of the worlds most loved comfort foods. The perfect roast chicken screams of sitting together, whiling away a few hours and enjoying good simple food with equally good (maybe not so simple) company.

There are dozens, hundreds (maybe thousands?) of different recipes on how to cook perfect roast chicken; I’m not saying any of those are wrong; but this is how I’ve roasted my chickens for years and it never fails to keep everything succulent, tender and always delicious.

Plus I’m lazy, don’t get me wrong; I’m busy – but if I won the lottery and found myself sipping cocktails on a beach it would take a VERY LONG TIME for me to get bored of that and want to so something else. Maybe go to another beach but let’s not push it…

I digress, when I say lazy I want to make a roast dinner, especially a roast chicken dinner as easy as possible. Cooking the perfect roast chicken isn’t about showing off it’s about sharing it with people and kicking back. So I always (and I mean ALWAYS) try to squeeze in as many vegetables and potatoes into the same tray as the chicken.

So what’s the secret? What’s the magic to cooking the perfect roast chicken? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s simple to cook it covered in foil for the first hour with some wine, etc. and then remove the foil to let it brown for the last 20-30 minutes. In essence you are steaming the chicken so the breasts stay wonderfully succulent and don’t dry out but you get that fabulous crispy chicken skin. It’s all about crispy chicken skin…

Enough of my chit chat – let’s crack on with how to cook the perfect roast chicken! There is also a version of this recipe I created for David Lloyd Clubs so you can see that on their blog here.  and watch the video of me making it below, recipe is at the bottom.

How to Cook the Perfect Roast Chicken - Roast Chicken Recipe

9th November 2019
: 6
: 10 min
: 90 min
: 1 hr 45 min
: easy

How to cook the perfect roast chicken - there's a secret to cooking the perfect roast chicken and I'll explain what it is!

By:

Ingredients
  • 1 medium free range chicken
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 hard stock cube (chicken)
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 750g new potatoes
  • 250g carrots, peeled, cut into thirds
  • 250g parsnips, peeled cut in half lengthways
  • 2 red onions
  • Dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 2 tbsp cornflour
Directions
  • Step 1 Pre-heat the oven the 180cFAN.
  • Step 2 Place the stock cube in a small bowl with 50ml of olive oil and microwave for 30 seconds. Mash together to create a paste and reserve.
  • Step 3 Thickly slice one red onion and scatter in the middle of a roasting tray. Drizzle a little olive oil over the onions and season.
  • Step 4 Place the chicken on top of the sliced onions and then stuff the chicken with the bay leaves and half a dozen cloves of garlic (left whole). Halve the lemon, squeeze the juice over the top of the chicken and place the used lemon pieces inside the chicken.
  • Step 5 Scatter the carrots, potatoes and parsnips around the edge of the chicken and pour in the wine, careful not to get it over the chicken.
  • Step 6 Season with the dried oregano and a little olive oil.
  • Step 7 Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and season generously with salt, pepper and oregano. Cover tightly with foil and place into the preheated oven for 1 hour.
  • Step 8 After the hour is up, remove the foil and brush the stock cube and olive oil paste all over the chicken and place back in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until cooked through.
  • Step 9 Remove from the oven, pour the juices into a saucepan and leave the chicken to rest for while you make the gravy (you can loosely cover the chicken with foil if you want.)
  • Step 10 Mix together the cornflour and a couple of tablespoons of water to make a slurry then whisk this into the juices in the saucepan. Heat gently, stirring until thickened, and then pour into a serving jug.
  • Step 11 Serve the chicken!


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