How to make a perfectly roasted chicken. It doesn't have to be complicated. I hear people say they eat more boneless skinless breast because they don't know how to cook a whole chicken. If you can relate to that, I believe it's just as easy as to throw a chicken in the oven as it is to unwrap and bake a frozen pizza. In both cases you unwrap something, put it in the oven and then clean up the dishes.
All you need is thawed meat & some basic seasonings, and it's way more nutritious and satisfying then the boxed pizza in my opinion.
After learning a few easy techniques you will be confident to grab more pasture raised organic whole chicken at your favorite local farm market instead of isolating only boneless skinless chicken breast from it's delicious remaining counterpart. Breasts also need a lot of added fat to, shall I say, bring it to life..., but when cooking a whole chicken everything comes in-one, which makes for needing only a few ingredients and is what gives it so much flavor which is what I look for in my no-fuss-farm-kitchen-cookin'. I've got things to do rather then slave in the kitchen all day and I know you do too, so let's keep it simple folks!
I will teach you a few farm kitchen secrets that will yield crispy skin on the outside and juicy tender meat on the inside EVERY TIME. It's way easier than you might think. You don't even have to know how to properly cut it up. Plus, think of that nourishing, cozy and healing bone broth you get to make after as a bonus, but if the chicken you get has no bones then there's no broth! Cooking a chicken that is skin-on, bone-in and from a farmer you trust makes a huge difference in flavor!
My Chicken Process
After cooking my chicken, I will pick the meat off the bones, put the meat in the fridge for chicken salad or soup the next day and throw the bones in the crock pot for broth making. No parts go wasted. (I will be posting another blog about broth making!)
How to Perfectly Roast A Chicken Ingredients
One medium whole Organic Pasture Raised chicken
2 tablespoons Avocado oil or Organic Grass-Fed Butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning blend or Thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
How to Perfectly Roast A Chicken Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Pat the chicken dry.
Drizzle with two tablespoons melted oil or butter.
Sprinkle on the garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, Italian seasoning blend and freshly ground black pepper.
Bake for one hour.
I try to baste it a few times if I remember, but it still comes out lovely if I forget.
All the juices inside the chicken should be clear, not pink, whenever you cut into it. If it is not all the way done, just bake it a little longer.
The skin should be crispy and the inside juicy.
One whole chicken serves our family of 4 for two meals. It also yields a half gallon of homemade chicken broth.
Instapot and Crock Pot are a couple other simple options too, though will not yield crispy skin. I am more than happy to write instructions for those if you would like. I often rely on my crock pot to cook my chickens too. :)