Deceptively easy and magically delicious whole Roast Chicken recipe with vegetables is a simple, satisfying one-pan meal for the whole family to enjoy! Make it ahead of time for meal prep!
I’ve confessed this in the past, but I’m all about bone-in chicken. Roasting a whole chicken in the oven or making it in the pressure cooker, like my Instant Pot Garlic Herb Rotisserie Chicken is a surefire way of ending up with perfectly tender meat!
Plus, in addition to high-protein meals for days, you’re left with the chicken bones with which to make Bone Broth!
Wins all around!
Let’s get straight to this adventure, because I have all sorts of tips for you, my friends! After all, if you’re new to roasting a whole chicken, or if you haven’t had good luck in the past, everything you need to know about ending up with amazing, juicy and tender oven roasted chicken is right here!
Tip for AMAZING Roast Chicken:
The trick to perfectly tender meat each and every time is to dry brine it overnight.
If you’ve been around my site a while, you may have seen this method in the past. I dry brine my Thanksgiving Turkey, Prime Rib, Beef Tenderloin, and more! Even steaks benefit from a dry brine!
Dry brining is super easy and requires very little thought, time, or effort, yet makes all the difference in a delicious meal. If you’re new to the concept, don’t worry…we’ll get into it soon!
Making Chicken and Vegetables in One Pan:
One of my favorite parts about this one-pan meal is you end up with amazingly tender and juicy chicken and delicious roasted vegetables all in one shot.
The key to ending up with both perfect chicken and perfect vegetables is adding the vegetables to the roasting dish after the chicken has been roasting for about an hour and has about 30 to 40 minutes left.
So let’s get right to it, starting with the ingredients.
Roast Chicken and Vegetables Ingredients:
Whole Chicken: Buy a whole chicken from the grocery store. I like to go with a 4 to 5 pound organic chicken.
Sea Salt: Sea salt is used to both dry brine and season the chicken. Dry brining ensures the meat turns out with perfectly juicy and tender texture! No dry or overcooked chicken here!
Lemon: It is customary to stuff a chicken with lemon and/or onion or garlic. Some people stuff the chicken with a whole (uncut) lemon, but I like to chop mine into 4 chunks. Feel free to stuff fresh herbs inside the chicken, too!
Avocado Oil: Because we’re roasting at a high temperature, we need a quality oil with a high smoke point to ensure the skin of the chicken doesn’t burn. For this reason, I use avocado oil. Algae oil also works! Some people use melted butter – I haven’t tried this, but I’m sure it’s delicious!
Paprika, Garlic Powder: Paprika, garlic powder, and sea salt make for amazing seasonings for any meat! You may have noticed I use this combination of all of my animal proteins (and I sometimes toss in some onion powder). Use your favorite seasonings to change it up!
For the Vegetables: I use onion, sweet potato, asparagus, and heirloom carrots (you can use regular large carrots).
Use any combination of your favorite roasting vegetables. I recommend sticking to hearty vegetables like potato, onion, cauliflower, broccoli, leek, bok choy, garlic, etc, rather than going with vegetables that have a higher water content, like zucchini or tomatoes. This ensures the vegetables hold up well during the roasting process and don’t generate a lot of excess moisture.
Whatever vegetables you use, you will coat them with avocado oil, sea salt, and any seasonings you like to make an amazingly comforting side to go with your roast chicken.
How to Make Whole Roasted Chicken:
Dry Brine the Chicken:
For best, most tender, juicy results, dry brine the chicken overnight. To do so, remove the chicken from its packaging, remove the giblets (you can cook them later if you’d like! I do.), rinse the chicken inside and out, then pat it dry with a paper towel.
Place the chicken in the same dish you’ll be using to roast it (I use a large 13 x 9 inch casserole dish). Sprinkle the whole surface (top, bottom, sides, etc) with sea salt and place the dish in the refrigerator, leaving the chicken open to air. Dry brine for at least 1 hour, ideally overnight and up to 24 hours.
Cover the Chicken in a Slurry:
When you’re ready to roast the chicken, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Cut a large lemon into 4 chunks and place it inside of the body cavity.
Mix together the avocado oil, paprika, and garlic powder in a small bowl until well-combined, creating a “slurry.”
Cover the whole chicken (top, bottom, sides, etc) in the slurry, using your hands to spread it evenly over the whole chicken.
Leave the chicken at room temperature while the oven preheats, or better yet, perform this process 1 hour before you roast the chicken to allow it to come to room temperature.
Roast the Chicken:
Roast the chicken for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear when poked, and the internal temperature reaches 160 to 162 degrees F (165 is considered fully cooked by the FDA. Don’t worry, the chicken continues to cook as it rests when it comes out of the oven). I like to pull it at 160 to 162 so that it doesn’t overcook.
About 30 to 45 minutes into the roasting process, remove the casserole dish from the oven and baste it by using a spoon to pour its fat and juices all over it.
Note: Check on the chicken periodically (but avoid opening the oven too frequently!) to make sure the skin isn’t burning. If it begins to burn at any point, cover the chicken with foil for the rest of the cooking process.
Prepare the Vegetables:
Here comes the fun part.
While the chicken is roasting, chop the vegetables and place them in a large mixing bowl.
Drizzle the vegetables with avocado oil and sprinkle with sea salt and oregano. Use your hands to toss everything together until the vegetables are well coated with oil and seasoning. Allow the vegetables to sit and “marinate” until you’re ready to roast them.
When you pull out the chicken to baste it, transfer the prepared vegetables to the casserole dish, around the chicken.
Place the casserole dish back in the oven and continue roasting another 30 to 40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables have reached your desired doneness.
Allow the Chicken to Rest:
Remove the casserole dish from the oven and cover the chicken with foil. Allow it to rest for 20 minutes. This process allows the juices to distribute through the chicken and ensures it has an amazing texture when you eventually cut into it. If you cut into it too early, the texture of the breast will be grainy.
Serve the chicken and vegetables and enjoy!
How Long To Roast A Chicken:
For a 4 to 5-pound chicken, you will need 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes at 425 degrees F.
If you’re roasting at 350 degrees F, you will need about 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes for a 4 to 5 pound bird.
The best way to check if the chicken is cooked through is to use a meat thermometer to test the internal temperature. Stick it into what appears to be the thickest part of the breast. Take the bird out of the oven when it reaches 160 to 165 degrees F.
Note that 165 is technically considered completely cooked, but the chicken continues cooking after it comes out of the oven and will increase in temperature between 3 and 5 degrees.
If you roast at 350 degrees F, you will need to increase the oven temperature for the last 15 to 20 minutes to 430 degrees in order to get crispy chicken skin.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Use ¼ cup of melted butter instead of avocado oil if desired.
- Incorporate your favorite spices or dried herbs – onion powder, chili powder, Cajun seasoning, dried rosemary, oregano, ground cumin, and lemon pepper are all wonderful options.
- Stuff the chicken with onion and/or garlic in addition to or instead of lemon.
And that’s it! Let me know how your whole oven roasted chicken turns out!
Ingredients
- 1 4-pound whole chicken
- Sea Salt
- 1 large lemon, chopped
For the Slurry
- 2 Tbsp Avocado Oil
- 1 Tbsp Paprika
- 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Vegetables:
- 1 red onion
- 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped
- 1 large sweet potato, chopped
- 1 crown broccoli, chopped
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 3 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp dried oregano, optional
Instructions
- Place the chicken in the same dish you’ll be using to roast it (I use a large 13 x 9 inch casserole dish). Sprinkle the whole surface (top, bottom, sides, etc) with sea salt and place the dish in the refrigerator, leaving the chicken open to air for at least 1 hour, ideally overnight and up to 24 hours.
- When you’re ready to roast the chicken, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Cut a large lemon into 4 chunks and place it inside of the body cavity.
- Mix together the avocado oil, paprika, and garlic powder in a small bowl until well-combined, creating a “slurry.”
- Cover the whole chicken (top, bottom, sides, etc) in the slurry, using your hands to spread it evenly over the whole chicken.
- Leave the chicken at room temperature while the oven preheats, or better yet, perform this process 1 hour before you roast the chicken to allow it to come to room temperature.
- Roast the chicken for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 40 minutes (adding the vegetables about 2/3 of the way through), or until the juices run clear when poked, and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
- Note: Check on the chicken periodically (but avoid opening the oven too frequently!) to make sure the skin isn’t burning. If it begins to burn at any point, cover the chicken with foil for the rest of the cooking process.
- While the chicken is roasting, chop the vegetables and place them in a large mixing bowl.
- Drizzle the vegetables with avocado oil and sprinkle with sea salt and oregano. Use your hands to toss everything together until the vegetables are well coated with oil and seasoning. Allow the vegetables to sit and “marinate” until you’re ready to roast them.
- About 30 minutes before the chicken is finished roasting (so about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes into the roasting process), remove the casserole dish from the oven and baste it by using a spoon to pour its fat and juices all over it. Transfer the prepared vegetables to the casserole dish, around the chicken.
- Place the casserole dish back in the oven and continue roasting another 30 to 40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables have reached your desired doneness.
Notes
Nutrition
Desiree
Thursday 18th of January 2024
Love this recipe! The chicken comes out moist and delicious with crispy skin!
Julia
Friday 19th of January 2024
Yaaay! I'm so thrilled to hear you enjoyed it, Desiree! Thanks so much for the feedback - I appreciate it! xoxo :)
Shirley
Monday 3rd of May 2021
We love roasting a whole chicken, but we have gotten into a slump. This chicken looks delicious, and may revolutionize our same ole same ole.
Julia
Monday 3rd of May 2021
It's just so great, right?! I hope you love this version...dry brining is a real game changer! xo