A staple of the South, creamy cheese grits with a kick of heat are the ideal side dish for a Christmas party or barbeque. My mother-in-law’s home always had them out on the table. an authentic family custom.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 1 whole roast chicken |
Ingredients
- 1 (4 pound) whole chicken
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ½ onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, cut into 4 pieces
- ½ lemon, cut into 4 pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Remove giblet packet from cavity of chicken and pat bird thoroughly dry with paper towels. Place 1 tablespoon butter into chicken cavity, sprinkle salt and black pepper into cavity, and stuff cavity with onion, celery, and lemon pieces. Loosen skin over breast and thigh of chicken with your fingers and insert garlic slices under the skin. Place the chicken breast side up on a rack set into a roasting pan.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat; add dried parsley and Italian seasoning. Pour half the butter-herb mixture over the chicken and rub the seasoned butter onto all parts of chicken. Reserve remaining butter mixture.
- Roast chicken in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then remove and turn chicken so breast side is down. Pour remaining half of seasoned butter over the chicken, brushing it over all parts of the bird. Return to oven and roast an additional 10 minutes.
- Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roast chicken until skin is crisp and brown and the juices run clear, 1 hour and 20 more minutes. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh, not touching bone, should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Let chicken rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes before serving.
- Covering the chicken while it’s resting will ruin crispy skin.
- Simmer the giblets and make gravy from the pan drippings.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 444 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 145 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 41 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 172 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 29 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’ve made this before–I actually had a roast chicken with veggies at a Chicago restaurant and this recipe came the closest. HOWEVER, after lining my pan with foil I placed leeks, mushrooms, quartered spuds, some short stubby pieces of carrots and garlic cloves underneath the v-rack. One pot–many veggies, terrific flavor. AND I’m making it again tonight. What does not get eaten in terms of veggies will get pureed and dumped into a broth with some cream for a creamy vegetable soup. This is definitely a winner.
I’ve been searching for the perfect roast poultry recipe for years and I’ve finally found it. Juicy meat, crispy skin, thank you so much, Susan! I’ll be checking out your other recipes.
Unbelievable results! I think I’ve tried everything short of air-frying a whole chicken and I can never get quite the result I want. This method is a game changer! Perfectly-cooked chicken each time, reliably so, and absolutely the juiciest of any recipe no matter what I’ve basted with or brined with. Beautiful brown skin as well. I’ve been roasting chicken wrong my whole life, but it was worth it to come across this recipe!
I followed it as written but had to make 1 substitution. I didn’t have any parsley so I subbed some Herbs de Provence. It came out beautifully! Only 1 suggestion – Cut up some fresh veggies and add them to your oven to roast as appropriate for a complete cooked meal. (Yep. Didn’t even occur to me ’til 20 minutes before the timer went off. Won’t make THAT mistake again!) My corn on the cob’s in the foil. Will definitely cook my chicken this way from now on. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Very good…Very moist…if yours tuned out dry, it’s not the recipe.
I made this just as the recipe stated, however I had to cook a little longer for potatoes to be done. Great roast chicken!
OMG this recipe is the best! Followed directions exactly and had rave reviews from picky eater. This is going in my recipe box for the only and best way I will roast chicken ever again!
I don’t use the garlic and substitute italian parsley for celery. I like to do 15 minutes for the breast-down part of the 450 roast. The family keeps begging me to make this again and again so I keep making it. Definitely a better recipe than the one I was using before.
I will definitely make this again. Cook time was perfect. I let it dry out in the fridge unwrapped for a day before I made this, and I added a tablespoon more of butter after I basted it the first time. A great recipe!
Very good, would definitely make it again. Great flavor
This is THE BEST roast chicken recipe I have ever made, and I’ve been making various roast chicken recipes for 30+ years. I followed the recipe to the letter except I used fresh parsley from my garden instead of dried, and I roasted the chicken in my convection oven rather than a conventional one. THANK YOU FOR THIS WONDERFUL RECIPE.
Delicious! I was getting tired of recipes heavy on the ultra spicy side. This recipe renders an extraordinarily moist chicken with a lovely bouquet of subtle flavors that don’t require a tall glass of milk to wash down. Served with fresh veggies – sauteed squash & onions, and roasted asparagus. Yummmm!
Followed the recipe without changing anything…was curious as to how the breasts would turn out cooking the bird breast side down. Very good flavor and lots of juice in the finished meat. Breast skin was somewhat soggy but this was expected and not a disappointment. Will be adding this recipe to favorites!
Excellent!
Excellent!!!!! Very tasty!!! I made mine in a cast iron skillet and it was superb!!! During the baking part I put chunky cut up potatoes and carrots and onions with a small handful of cut up celery I had left from the stuffing. I mixed up those ingredients with course ground pepper, sea salt, dried parsley flakes and olive oil and s but of butter. I put all that around the chicken, outed a little chicken broth around the edges then baked for the rest of the time. My house smelled like a gormet chef had been there and the food was delicious!!! Great meal for company too!!! !!!!
Amazing! Rub it with what you like, stuff what you like inside, this high temp then low temp breast down technique is the best ever! You seriously can’t go wrong!
This is a great way to roast a chicken. I made for my 12 year old daughter and I tonight and it tasted great. I added some mushrooms and made gravy with the pan drippings using some Wondra making it even easier.
This was easy to make and very moist, even the white meat.
VERY MOIST
Very yummy! I wasn’t sure the skin on the breast would be crispy enough, but it was. Thanks!
Best chicken recipe ever! I’m not a big chicken fan but I loved this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly other than adding some paprika to the skin with the other spices. This was so moist and flavorful. I wasn’t sure about the garlic but put it on anyway and I’m glad I did. This was literally the best chicken I’ve ever eaten. I will definitely be making this again.