How to Make Perfect Roast Chicken

Move over turkey. Your overgrown, dry dominion over Christmas dinner is at an end.

Knowing how to make roast chicken is just a really handy skill to have, and one which shouldn’t be stressful or tricky! For Christmas though, we’ve got a few extra tricks up our sleeves to help you deliver a really special bird for the big day. Why chicken you may be asking? Well, it’s got great flavour, it’s easier to roast properly without drying out than a huge turkey, it’s easily scaleable (feeding a horde? Just cook 2 or 3 chooks!) and it still presents as a beautiful centrepiece for a Christmas – or any other – feast. Nuff said really.

How to Make Roast Chicken

This roast chicken recipe is super easy, and making your own stuffing is well worth the effort. Not only does it adds amazing flavour to the bird itself, but it’s a great addition for the roast when you’re serving. (Who doesn’t love stuffing?!) Speaking of additions, we love to throw some dutch carrots in with the bird – minimal effort results is an absolutely delicious side.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 20g butter
• 2.8-3kg whole chicken
• 1 cup fine breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 brown onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 egg (optional)
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 lemon
• Kitchen string
• 3 bunches dutch carrots
• 1 tbs honey
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 4 sprigs parlsey

Method

1. GET PREPPED
   Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Dice the brown onion. Peel and finely grate the garlic. Pick and finely chop the thyme leaves until you have 1 tsp. Pick and finely chop the rosemary leaves until you have 1 tbsp. Juice the lemon (keeping the leftover lemon skins). Pat chicken dry with a paper towel.
2. MAKE THE STUFFING
   Melt the butter and a drizzle of olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes, until starting to soften. Add in the garlic and cook for another 1 minute, or until softened. Tip the onion and garlic into a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, salt, egg, thyme and rosemary. Mix until well combined and binded together.
3. STUFF THE CHICKEN
   To stuff the chicken, push the stuffing into the chicken cavity at its bottom end. Place the lemon skins into the cavity to block off the opening. Using the kitchen string, hold the chicken legs together, and tie them together in a tight knot so the legs are closed.
4. ROAST THE CHICKEN
   Place the chicken onto the roasting rack. Drizzle over a little olive oil and 1 tbs of the lemon juice. Season generously with salt and pepper and rub into the chicken skin. Place into the oven and roast for 1 ½ hours, or until the skin is golden brown and the chicken meat is cooked through. Tip: To know when the chicken is cooked, insert a skewer into the thigh, if the juices run clear, the chicken is cooked. If the juices are still a little pink the chicken needs to be cooked for a little longer.
5. PREP & COOK THE CARROTS
   While the chicken is cooking, trim the green tops off the dutch carrots and scrub them clean. Slice the thicker dutch carrots in half long ways. Place dutch carrots, honey, a drizzle of olive oil and seasoning of salt and pepper into a large bowl. Toss to coat the carrots well. Once the chicken has 30 minutes left of cooking, remove the tray from the oven and place the carrots around it. Bake for the carrots for the remaining cooking time of the chicken. In the last 5 minutes, sprinkle the slivered almonds over the top of the carrots so they become golden brown.
6. SERVE UP
   When the chicken is cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a serving board and cover with a layer of aluminium foil to keep warm until serving. To carve the chicken for your Christmas feast, remove the kitchen string, take off the wings and drumsticks, then slice the rest of the meat. Serve alongside the dutch carrots. Enjoy!

Why not skip the supermarket shop this Christmas? Our delivered Christmas Box contains all the ingredients for this recipe and more!