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Easy Roast Chicken Recipe

Whole Roast Chicken flavored with garlic, butter, and herbs, then oven roasted to a golden, crispy, and juicy perfection! EASY, simple to make, and flavorful, this is the BEST roast chicken, and it’s perfect for weekend or weeknight dinners.

Whole Roast Chicken on a serving plate.

Whole Roast Chicken

A succulent roast chicken recipe smothered with butter, garlic, and herbs is for anyone who wants to know how to roast a whole chicken with just a handful of ingredients. Roast Chicken is a complete meal that requires minimal prep work with fantastic textures and flavors. 

Prepare your side dish of choice, and you get yourself a complete DINNER. You can also shred the chicken and use it throughout the week for salads, soups, and sandwiches. 

How To Cook a Whole Chicken

Oven Baked Chicken Breasts are great for an everyday meal, but a whole baked chicken is a nourishing and comfort-food classic that you just can’t ignore. 😍 

  • First, grab a 3 to 4 pound bird and remove the giblets inside the chicken’s cavity. Then, get some paper towels and dry off the skin. Dry skin results in crispier baked skin.
  • Next, place chicken, breast side UP, on a rack set over a shallow roasting pan or jelly roll pan. Most of the time, I use this  jelly roll pan and rack
  • Brush the chicken with melted butter and rub garlic all over the chicken.
  • In a small bowl mix together salt, lemon pepper, dried basil, and dried thyme. Take this seasoning mix and rub it onto the chicken. 
  • Add salt inside the cavity, too, and put some garlic cloves in there, as well as half of a lemon and fresh rosemary sprigs, or any other fresh herbs that you have on hand. Don’t crowd the cavity with too many things because that can result in uneven cooking.
  • Tie the legs together with kitchen twine, and tuck the wings under the body of the chicken. Then, roast, uncovered.
Whole Roast Chicken

How Long To Roast a Chicken

  • It will take anywhere from one hour to one hour-and-a-half for the chicken to cook. Chicken is done when its skin is golden, juices run clear, and when internal temperature reaches 165˚F. To check for doneness, use an Instant Read Thermometer.
  • When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven, baste the chicken with the juices, and let rest for about 15 to 20 minutes before cutting.
Sliced Roast Chicken

Side Dishes to Serve with Chicken

How To Store Leftovers

  • Carve out all the meat and let completely cool.
  • Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for 4 days.

More Roasted Chicken Recipes

ENJOY!

Whole Roast Chicken on a serving plate.

Roast Chicken Recipe

Katerina | Diethood
Simple Roast Chicken flavored with garlic, butter and herbs, then oven roasted to a golden, crispy, and juicy perfection! 
5 from 37 votes
Servings : 4
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 1 hr 15 mins
Resting Time 20 mins
Total Time 1 hr 40 mins

Ingredients
  

  • 3 to 4 pound whole broiler-fryer chicken
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning, or you can also use fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 lemon, quartered
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 450˚F.
  • Remove giblets from inside of the chicken’s cavity.
  • Thoroughly dry the chicken with paper towels.
  • Place chicken, breast side UP, on a rack set over a shallow roasting pan or jelly roll pan.
  • Brush the chicken with the melted butter.
  • Sprinkle or rub minced garlic all over the chicken.
  • In a small bowl, combine salt, basil, thyme, and lemon pepper; rub onto the chicken.
  • Add some salt to the inside of the cavity and fill the cavity with lemon slices, rosemary, and garlic cloves.
  • Tie the legs together with kitchen twine, and tuck the wings under the body of the chicken.
  • Roast, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
  • Reduce oven temperature to 350˚F and continue to cook until done, about 1 more hour and 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165˚F.
  • Remove from oven and baste the chicken with the juices.
  • Let rest for about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Notes

  • Cooking Temperature: You can roast a chicken at any temperature; however, in my opinion, it’s best to preheat the oven to 450˚F, roast the chicken for ten minutes at that temperature, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350˚F. In all my testing, I found this was the best method for crispy skin but tender and juicy meat.  
  • Instant Read Meat Thermometer: To avoid dry chicken, use this critical tool. Chicken is done cooking when the internal temperature registers at 165˚F.

Nutrition

Calories: 443 kcal | Carbohydrates: 5 g | Protein: 31 g | Fat: 33 g | Saturated Fat: 12 g | Cholesterol: 145 mg | Sodium: 627 mg | Potassium: 367 mg | Fiber: 1 g | Sugar: 1 g | Vitamin A: 490 IU | Vitamin C: 18.6 mg | Calcium: 43 mg | Iron: 2.1 mg | Net Carbs: 4 g

Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.

Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American, American/Southern
Keyword: chicken dinner, how to roast chicken, keto dinner idea, keto friendly recipes, low carb chicken, roasted chicken recipe, whole chicken recipe
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85 comments on “Easy Roast Chicken Recipe”

  1. Avatar photo
    Deanette Russell

    I have an 8.3 pound chicken. How much more time would I need to allow for full cooking? Thank you!!

  2. 10/10 recommend! Wow! Flavor bomb. Put it over a deeper roasting pan and added parsnips, carrots and sliced onions on the bottom so they soaked up all the juices. Winner winner chicken dinner!!

      1. Avatar photo
        Cindy Mahoney Crawford

        Just made for Easter dinner. It was absolutely delicious! My family loved it! Thanks so much for the excellent recipe.

        1. Katerina - Diethood
          Katerina Petrovska

          That’s great to hear! I’m very happy everyone loved it! Thank you for chiming in! 🙂

  3. Me and my wife will have a dinner date tomorrow and this one will be an addition to our table. Thank you so much for sharing.

      1. Made a chicken roast for the first time ever and decided to use this recipe.. did not disappoint at all!😍 this is by far the best roast chicken I’ve ever had. So tender and juicy and full of flavour. Amazing

  4. Super yummy and juicy, I made this after I got over a nasty bout of a stomach bug, we didn’t even have any for left overs, which was such a same I was hoping to eat some for breakfast.

  5. Was looking gor a new recipe for baking a whole chicken and came across this five-star recipe. Am so glad I did as this was absolutely mouthwateringly delicious! This recipe deserves 10 stars. I had leftover herbs from a Rachel Ray recipe and I’m like this recipe is as good as her recipe. Move over Rachel!! Katerina is intown!

    1. Katerina - Diethood
      Katerina Petrovska

      Hi!
      There’s a couple things you can do to make a makeshift wire rack. One, roll up several pieces of foil into a ball and put them on the bottom of your pan, then set the chicken on top. You can also use a spare baking rack, or cooling rack, if you have one available. But, a rimmed sheet pan or a cast iron skillet will also work.

  6. This was amazing. Thank you so much for the recipe. No need to wait for room temp butter was my favorite part, everything was easy, and the chicken was a hit!!!

  7. Am a woman of few words and this chicken was and is out of this world😍😘😍😘the crowd went wild.thank you

  8. Avatar photo
    Becky Alcantar

    I look forward to making this chicken tomorrow night for dinner. My chicken is a big guy weighing in at 6 lbs. Would you happen to know how long it would take to cook or get to that internal temp of 165?

    1. Katerina - Diethood
      Katerina Petrovska

      Hi!
      Rule of thumb, per say, suggests that it takes chicken about 20 to 30 minutes per pound to cook. So, possibly 2 hours, but please use an Instant Read Thermometer to check for doneness. When temperature at the thigh registers at 165˚F, chicken is done.

    2. thank you so much for adding the WW points at the bottom! i was so happy to see them there. can’t wait to have this for dinner tonight!

      1. Katerina - Diethood
        Katerina Petrovska

        You are welcome! 😊 If you look on the sidebar of my site, right under “Recipe Key”, you will see the color-coded WW points – Blue, Green, Purple, and Freestyle; click on the one that you follow and it will give you a list of recipes with those points.

  9. Avatar photo
    Wood Boat Woman

    Wow. My truck driver husband is a hungry bear when he comes off the road. I made this chicken, put some cilantro and lemon with potatoes and carrots inside and in the pot, and he loves it. It’s one of his favorite meals now. He’s a picky eater. Thank you so much!!

    1. I made this for our dinner yesterday and my husband said and I quote “I think this is the best roast chicken you have ever made yet”
      I like to experiment on different recipes that’s why he said that.
      Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. ❤ I don’t have fresh lemon and fresh rosemary so I used onions and minced garlic to stuffed it and and I seasoned the insides with the same seasoning that I used to rub the chicken with.

  10. Wow!!! I made this last night for dinner using a 3.5 lb. organic chicken, it came out so moist, juicy & tasty! I was a little pressed for time so I condensed a few steps by combing the melted butter, garlic and herbs before rubbing it all on. I rubbed some under the skin and tucked a few lemon slices under there too. My oven did the job in 65 minutes total, came out perfect and the family loved it- thanks so much for sharing such a great & easy recipe 🙂

  11. This recipe is really good. I added 1/2 onion inside and Carrots and celery. It was really nice flavor and so juicy and tender.

  12. Hello! This is going to prob sound like a weird question but if I roast some sweet potatoes in the oven (in a different pan) while making this chicken will it change anything ? Will I need to keep the chicken in longer 😬

    1. Katerina - Diethood
      Katerina Petrovska

      Hi!
      You can put the potatoes in the same pan with the chicken, if you like, and if you have enough room. But, no, you won’t have to cook the chicken longer than suggested in the recipe.

  13. So you roast it at 450° for 10 mins then reduce heat to 350° and cook for another hour and ten to fifteen mins

  14. Hi making this delicious recipe it says in the recipe cook uncovered for first 10 minutes does this mean cover till cooked or leave uncovered for remaining time pls thanks j

  15. Can’t wait to use this recipe. Don’t forget to keep the bones and extra to use to make for your own homemade chicken broth for other future meals too! That way you are using up the entire chicken, bones and all 🙂

  16. I rarely comment on food blogs, but this recipe has been my go to fave for my chicken for the last 3 times. My husband offered to make the chicken this last time and I told him don’t touch it, my recipe is better than his!!!

  17. Yum yum yum! Super quick to prepare for a week night! It’s in the oven and my whole house smells delicious! Thanks for sharing!!

    1. I’ve never made a whole chicken before so I was nervous. This was so delicious! The kids have already asked me to make it again. Bonus: whole house smells great while it’s cooking!

      1. Perfect recipe.. I have a great herb garden , so I love recipes calling for rosemary, parsley, thyme etc.. I also added a bunch sprig of oregano inside the chicken. My 5 year old asked for seconds. Yay..

  18. Avatar photo
    Jacquelyn Hastert

    I love how much flavor is packed into this roasted chicken! It’s also so easy that this would work any night of the week.

  19. Avatar photo
    Jacque Hooper

    Love how easy this was to make and it lasted a few days too! Great recipe for busy weeknights and delicious too!

  20. Avatar photo
    Dorothy Reinhold

    Is there anything better than a roasted chicken? So good! This is going on the menu this week.

  21. What a jaw dropping recipe! Served this for dinner and it has instantly become a family favorite recipe in our home! Delicious!

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