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Easy Roast Chicken
What you need
- 1 - whole chicken (+/- 4lbs.)
- 2 tsp salt (can be combined with onion and garlic powder if desired)
- 1/2 onion, halved or quartered
- 3 - 4 garlic cloves, lightly pressed
- 1 lemon or orange, halved or quartered
- 2 - 3 tbl olive oil
- 1 tbl brandy (optional)
- 5 - 6 sprigs fresh rosemary or substitute any combination of chopped
fresh herbs
How to make it
- Preheat oven to 450º
- Bring chicken to room temperature (about 70 degrees - remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to preparation)
- Remove giblets from cavity. Discard giblets or set aside for another use.
- Wash chicken and dry with paper towels.
- Rub cavity with salt* and insert onion, garlic, lemon or orange and 2-3 sprigs rosemary.
This should be loosely packed not stuffed tight.
(*You can omit salt step if chicken has been brined.)
- Place 1 or 2 rosemary sprigs in base of baking dish
- Place chicken on roasting rack, breast side up in the pan
- Combine oil, brandy and the leaves from 1 sprig rosemary
- Brush oil mixture over all
- Place in preheated and reduce heat to 350º immediately
- Turn chicken breast side down after 30 minutes
- Roast another 30 minutes then turn breast side up for remaining time
- Calculate 20 minutes per pound to derive total cooking time
- About 5 - 10 minutes before done, begin checking for temperature.
Chicken should cook to an internal temperature of about 180 - 190 in the thigh.
- When temperature reaches 180, remove from oven and let stand 15 - 20 minutes before carving.
For extra flavorful and moist chicken, I often brine the
chicken overnight before roasting. This is just wonderful and well worth trying. It's very easy. Click here for brining instructions.
Substitute a combination of sage leaves and thyme sprigs in place of the rosemary for variety.
Note - if roasting chickens 6 lbs or more reduce
minutes per pound to 15.
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