I have come to enjoy this super simple roast chicken recipe as an accident really. I found myself wanting to make something for dinner that required leftover roast chicken, but I didn’t have any. So rather than deny myself, I decided to quickly roast a chicken for lunchtime in the most simple way possible, just for the meat. I found that this turns out so delicious every time, despite the simplicity. My humble, simple roast chicken made a wonderful sandwich for lunch that day and provided leftover meat & crispy skin for other recipes to enjoy during the week, not to mention the carcass which I boiled for homemade chicken stock.
There’s not much that’s special about this way of roasting chicken, but I’m including it here as a basic for anyone who needs it. You never know when you might need a bit of cooked chicken and honestly it’s always much more succulent when you just roast the whole bird. I’m sure some of you will be looking for the butter here, but in my opinion olive oil does the job so much better than butter when it comes to roasting chickens.
As far as I’m concerned, you can’t go wrong with simple, delicious chicken and that’s what you’ll get when you roast it this way. Crispy skin and moist, juicy meat. That said, if you have anything in your fridge you’d like to get rid of, you might be able to use it here. Chop up a leftover chilli and stir it into the olive oil before pouring it over. Stuff leftover herbs into the cavity alongside or instead of the lemon. Use a lime or an orange instead of a lemon if that’s all you’ve got. Chop some potatoes or veg and pop it into the bottom of the roasting tin to serve alongside for an impromptu, leftovers roast. The options are endless and it’s not easy to ruin a chicken.
Ingredients
- 1 Whole Chicken (approximately 1.7kg or 3.75lbs)
- 1 lemon
- 100ml olive oil
- Salt & pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° Fan / 350°F and if you haven’t taken your chicken out of the fridge yet, do that now. Unwrap your chicken and remove any ties if there are any before placing it into a roasting tin.
- While the oven is heating up, stab the lemon all over with a small knive and pop it into the chicken cavity.
- Pour olive oil all over the chicken. Use a brush if you have one to make sure you’ve gotten oil all over the exposed skin. Salt and pepper the whole bird generously.
- Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until cooked through. If you remember, baste it 2 or 3 times quickly using a spoon to pour the juices over the skin during the course of the cooking.
- Once it’s done, remove the roasting tin from the oven and leave the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes, but up to half an hour covered loosely with tinfoil followed by a tea towel laid over top. No matter how tempting, don’t skip the resting step before serving or carving – it’s important.
