Simple Roast Chicken Method

Roasted whole chicken is a great weekday meal- Everyone can choose their favorite part of the chicken, plus in our case there are normally a ton of leftovers to work with the next day!  Today I'll be showing the method I use.  This is a no-frills, simple way of cooking a plain ol' refrigerated chicken, but if you prefer, you can smush herby compound butter under the skin or brine that sucker.

Finished product with bonus asparagi and mac n' cheese

I always use a cast iron skillet to cook my chicken, but any heavy roasting pan works.

The most important bit of this method is the super duper scientific calculation you must make to time the cook!  So fancy!  [Weight in lbs x 20] + 10 = Minutes in the oven at 350* F.

Example Chicken!

So, for example, with my chicken tonight, [4.83 x 20] + 10 = ~107 minutes (AKA 1 hour and 43 minutes)  Thank you, phone calculator!

I like to add whatever veggies I have laying around to the pan, nestled up against the chicken.  The fat flavors them wonderfully and you can always make a more flavorful gravy if you feel so inclined! 

The key to getting a nice crisp skin without using super high temps is to make sure the chicken is thoroughly dried, before applying a little oil and the spices.

Raw and ready to roll

As you can see, simply dressed.  Rubbed with a squirt of olive oil on each side, stuffed with onion scraps and a few garlic cloves (unpeeled is fine), seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and thyme.  Thyme is such a chicken-y herb.  Make sure you season both sides, and if you remember, some seasoning on the inside of the bird as well.

I "truss" legs in a really rudimentary way- I just tie them together nice and tight.  This apparently helps prevent dryness in the breast meat.  I don't keep kitchen twine handle so I use hemp strings.  It works!

Now you're all set!  Plop that badboy in the oven at 350* for your calculated time.  Once done, make sure to let it rest at least 5 or so minutes so the juices can redistribute.  I hope you find this method helpful!