How should I roast a chicken

[ScottishBeth]

I have never roasted a chicken. I think it would be very good for me to learn! So how do I do it? I am looking for easy, foolproof method! The fancy stuff can come later.

Do I really need to put something inside the chicken to do it? That seems very weird!

Also if anyone has any tips for sides. I have no intention of doing roast potatoes. Maybe one day! Will do mash instead.

Very basic version.
Put it in the preheated oven. Baste it (spoon oil over it) twice in the cooking time. Check the juices run clear (not pink) when you think it’s cooked.

Get a chicken, stick it in a roasting tin. Put half a lemon and a bunch of fresh thyme in the cavity. Rub it with olive oil and seasoning. Tin foil over it and put in the oven for half an hour per lb plus an extra 20 mins with the foil off.

Rosting bags nashe the whole thing really easy. Chicken comes out juicy. I never stuff a chicken. I have in the distant past done lots with butter on the skin or bacon, but not i just season it and pop it in a roasting bag.

Roast potatoes are less faff than mash. Out a roasting tray in the oven with some oil (vegetable is ideal) and let the oil heat up. Chop the spuds up and boil them for about five to ten minutes (ie less than when you mash them), put them in the hot oil and whack em back in the oven for an hour, turning half way through the time. Eat.

Jack Dee/Jamie Oliver chicken.

It has never failed me. And more importantly has never been moaned about!

bloody lovely

I always put a chicken in a covered roasting tin - blitz at a high temp for about 25 mins, then turn it down to say 120 and leave it be for as long as it suits (depending on size)- that way it both roasts and steams and comes out moist and delicious.

God I do it very simply. Shove it in a preheated over, drizzle some olive oil on it, add some seasoning ie salt and anything else you fancy crushed garlic, fennel,seeds, chilli seeds, whatever, shove it in oven, take it out when done.

Before you put the potatoes in the oil, shake them in the pan they were boiling in and the outer edges will break up and roast into delicious little crispy bits.

Just put chicken in oven for the recommended time, check you’ve taken off the plastic on the bottom of chicken. Most medium sized chickens take around 1 hour to cook, check it’s done by sticking a fork into the breast and if the juices are clear, it’s cooked. Leave it to rest for a while to make it juicy. Roast potatoes are easy, part boil them for 10 minutes then transfer them to roasting dish with some oil and they will take about an hour, give them a shake half way, to get them brown all over. Good luck.

Most chickens nowadays come with cooking time adjusted to the weight printed on the packet (e.g it might say 1 hour 24 minutes). If not, it’s 40 minutes a kilo plus an extra 20 minutes on top at 180 degrees centigrade. Pre heat the oven first.

Take off all wrapping, cut and remove any elastic around the legs, stick it in a deep ish roasting tin and stick it in the oven for the calculated time.

At the end of the cooking time, stick a sharp knife into the thickest part of the leg and if the juice isn’t pink (is clear), it’s done. If it’s pink, give it another 10 minutes and try again.

That’s it, I never bother with basting, sticking anything in it or on it and it’s still lovely.

In oven 180 some salt and pepper done takes roughly 60 to 110 min depending on oven just push a fork or knife into the thickest part juice should be clear if it's just a little cloudy put it back in for 5 10 mins skin should be nice and crispy

Cheats version:
Aldi do a prepared raw chicken already seasoned on a tray inside the bag. Follow instructions to cook inside the bag, at some point you cut the top off the bag. When it's cooked take out the bag and tray and let rest for about 10-15 mins.

I'm one step ahead of you. I'm just starting out on learning how to roast a chicken. I've used the Aldi prepared chicken twice now and when I get more confident I'll start preparing my own.

I put chicken, red onions in wedges, potatoes, carrots in a casserole dish (Le Creuset), put olive oil, salt, pepper all over everything. Add a glass of white wine, a crumbled knorr chicken cube, and shove a bunch of thyme and half a lemon in the chicken. Cover and roast at 180C for 2 hours or 140C for 3.5hrs. When we are ready to serve serve the juices in a small saucepan, add 1tbsp cornflour mixed in a little water and bring to the boil while stirring continuously to get the gravy.

Roast chicken is my thing.

I get a large roasting dish (big enough for chicken and roast potatoes), sprinkle some olive oil, then plonk the chicken in one half of tray, with a halved lemon or 2 in the cavity. Sprinkle with more oil, salt and pepper and pop in oven at 180.

Meanwhile, peel and cut to desired size of potato, pop in a pan of salted boiling water for 5-8 mins ish. Drain, give a toss to rough up the edges. Take chicken out of oven, tilt tin for juices to run to the empty side, then tumble the potatoes into the empty half. Use tongs to turn each potato so it's coated in oil, and season.

About 50-60 mins later, it should all be done. You could turn the potatoes again half way through to get more even colour.

Check juices in thickest part run clear, remove lemons, and move chicken to a carving board. Move potatoes into their final dish, pop back in oven to keep warm.

Squeeze out the lemons, then slowly tip out the excess oil from the roasting tin (I keep an empty jar for this purpose). Put the tin onto the hob, and deglaze with some white wine, add some cornflour mixed with water, and keep stirring to make your gravy.

There's other stuff you can do, but those are my basics 😄

Buy one without giblets, which any supermarket chicken will probably be.

Baste in oil. You don’t need stuffing or seasoning.

Preheat oven to 190oC or 170 if you have a fan oven.

Use this to calculate cooking time
realfood.tesco.com/cooking-calculator.html

There are other more complicated ways to do the time but this way is simplest and works just fine.

It’s actually a very simple meal 👍

I literally bung a chicken on a roasting tray and put it in the oven for the time it states on the packet (usually about 190 degrees c for 1hr 40 mins I think) cover it with foil and that’s it. Nothing fancy! Always works.

I'm a huge fan of dry brining. Less faffy and better results than a wet brine, and as the salt changes the seal structure, the meat is less likely to dry out. This article is my go to:
www.seriouseats.com/how-to-dry-brine

I'm also a fan of spatchcocking. Flip the chicken over and cut along either side of the backbone to remove it, then flatten the chicken out. Lots of YouTube videos to watch on this. It works because the whole chicken cooks quicker, and the legs and wings (which are the parts you want to cook more) are more exposed to the heat, while the breasts are more protected. It sounds a faff, but it's really not.

Stick an onion, half a lemon, and half a bulb of garlic in it. Put upside down (as in, breast down) in the oven, turn it over for the last twenty minutes.

If you half new potatoes and put them in the tin first, then the raw chicken on top, they'll cook as the chicken does, in its fat, and be absolutely delicious.

I meant to say, if you have a spare £5-10, a meat thermometer is worth it's weight in gold. I'm vegetarian and very unconfident cooking meat, so probing at the thickest part of the meat and knowing for sure that it's held at the correct temperature for the right amount of time is always very reassuring.

Take chicken, put a lemon cut in half and add n onion cut in half into it's cavity.
Brush or spray with oil and salt and pepper. Put into a preheated hot as possible oven on a rack for 60 minutes.
If it isn't cooked in this time (stab the thigh to check that the juiced run clear) then it is a turkey or peacock snd not a chicken.
Very hot. 60 minutes. Just saying.

Upside down in a slow cooker. Resting on some root veg. Salt, pepper that's it. On high for 4 hours. The crock pot will fill with juices and it'll be the juiciest chicken ever.

I stopped shaking my par boiled potatoes and instead I par boil to as far as I dare, and lift out carefully. Cool then toss in oil and roast. They're almost cooked from earlier boiling and will crisp up perfectly.

Cover it in a shit load of butter and baste regularly.

I get a spoon and use it to open the pocket between skin and breast. Then I stuff a mix of butter, lemon juice, sliced garlic and sage under the skin. I put some olive oil and salt over the chicken skin and then put it in the over for about 1.5hrs basting every so often.

You can tell when the chicken is cooked by giving one of the legs a wiggle. If it feels loose from the rest of the bird you know it's cooked.

I tend to but the cook in bag ones these days as find them easier and less messy

Chickens always have cooking times on them for far too long, ending up with dry chicken and a sense of failure.

Buy a chicken weighing around 1.5kg, if you need to feed more than 4 people buy 2 chickens of that weight rather than a bigger one.
Take the chicken out of the fridge a few hours before cooking to bring to room temperature. Pre heat the oven to 225c and put the chicken in a tray with half a lemon inside the cavity with some rock salt and a smear of olive oil on the breast and legs.
Cook for 75 minutes and then remove from oven, squeeze other half of the lemon and a sprinkle of salt then leave to rest for at least 15m before hacking it to serve (I can’t carve to save my life).