If I have to name one blogger that inspired me to cook and share recipes on my blog, it would be The Pioneer Woman. For one whole year prior to moving into our current home, I read her blog every single day and fantasized about cooking and making delicious, wholesome food.
She’s the reason why I enjoy cooking so much, her step-by-step pictures make cooking so much less daunting and accessible to someone like me, who had never cooked anything beyond frying an egg. She is an amazing woman; a wonderful mother, wife, a wordsmith, a brilliant photographer and of course, an amazing cook! I’d be happy to be able to achieve 1/10 of what she has.
(Btw, she also has a dog named Charlie! Teeheehee)
So anyway, I found this fool proof herb roast chicken recipe from her. It has become my fallback recipe for whenever I have no idea what to cook but would like something with a bit of a flair…I’d make this roast chicken. It’s ridiculously easy to prepare & cook and tastes perfect.
# – Fool-proof herb roast chicken.
The ingredients:
1 whole chicken about 1.3kg, cleaned & gutted 1 onion, quartered 4 cloves of garlic 1 lemon, halved 1 handful of 3 different herbs, dry or fresh (I used sage, basil and chervil) 60 ml of cooking oil (I used grapeseed oil) Salt & Pepper
# – First, clean and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. This step is important to get crispy chicken skin.
# – Then, rub salt all over the chicken as well as the cavity.
# – Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the quartered onion, garlic and lemon. Don’t overstuff the cavity or the chicken won’t cook evenly. Set chicken aside.
# – Next, chop up all the herbs finely.
# – Put the chopped herbs in a bowl and pour in the cooking oil.
# – Season the herbs with salt and pepper. Stir to mix.
# – Now, massage the herb oil all over the chicken. Don’t pour in all the oil, the objective is just to get the herbs sticking to the skin. If there’s any leftover herb, feel free to stuff them into the cavity.
# – Stick it into a pre-heated oven at 230 degrees celcius for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.
# – Herb roast chicken, DONE!
# – Lift the chicken out from the pool of chicken fat & serve with assortment of roast vegetables.
# – Crispy skin and juicy, aromatic flesh. Yums.
If you’ve always been afraid to roast a whole chicken, I can understand how daunting it must be. However, this recipe seriously changed my perceptions and I hope it would yours too.
my dream is to one day roast a chicken or a rack of ribs~
make it happen babe :)
This is truly delicious, super moist flesh with a hint of lemon and that lovely crispy skin!
thanks baby
i can eat the whole thing now! WHOLE THING!
it’s the same one at last year’s xmas!
Wow I’m tempted to cook this but I’m so noob I don’t think I don’t have enough confidence to do it XD
hey, don’t worry! this is the recipe to start with if you don’t have the confidence yet :) very easy!
Wow. Looks really juicy and tender. How long did it take for you two to finish it all? hehe.
thank you! pretty quick actually hahaha
My hubby uses the same technique he learned from Jamie Oliver. When it’s my turn to roast chicken though, I like it a bit spicy – so I usually add peri peri sauce or some black / cayenne pepper to the seasoning.
You make me want to cook roast chicken tonight. *drool*
hrmm that’s a good idea adding peri-peri sauce to the seasoning. gonna try that next. thanks!
I was wondering whether one could line the baking tray with potatoes, carrots etc before placing chicken. The fat from the chicken would nicely cook it and perhaps partially block an artery. It will force the heart to work harder (hopefully!)
actually you could, providing it’s only one layer of vegetables. you don’t want to overcrowd the tray.
i had went a bit crazy with the vegetables before in the same tray as the chicken, it didn’t turn out very well because there’s no space for air to circulate around the chicken to cook evenly. i ended up with a soggy roast chicken lol. i think the best way to do it is just to roast the vege in a different tray at the same time, it works the best for me this way.
Surprisingly roasting a chicken is a lot easier than it looks and the result is always good. My favourite is the Jamie Oliver’s recipe which will also yield a fantastic gravy. Next time, I’ll blend your recipe with Jamie’s together by adding the herbs concoction.
yeah i totally know what you mean. after i did it for the first time, it’s like why is it so stigmatised!? i must totally check out this jamie oliver’s recipe, everyone’s talking about it!
seriously, get proper salt…. makes a hell of a difference… lol
meh..too expensive :P
This is the perfect recipe to minimise preparation time and also dishes! Yummy!
It is! I just made it again for dinner lol
i’ll be roasting my chicken using your recipe just about.. now. wish me luck! :S
ps : will let you know how it turns out! *fingers crossed*
Tried your recipe yesterday and the results is fantastic.
Thanks.
Yay! glad it worked for you :)
can i substitute the herbs with mixed herbs or thyme n rosemary? thanks! =)
of course you can! :) good luck!
Can Ijust use half a chicken or chicken parts?
Yes, you can put the stuffing under the chicken since it has no cavity.