A tender and juicy garlic roasted chicken that will easily become a favorite in your weekly dinner rotation.
I’ve always been more of a baker than a cook. Don’t get me wrong, cooking is great, and I have many recipes that I love to make. But I usually find cooking can be a bit tedious and there are many dishes I am afraid to make. One thing that’s always intimidated me was a roast chicken. I feared I would either over cook my poultry so much that you basically want to chug a gallon of water, or under cook it and leave everyone rushing to the hospital. The past two years, I’ve made it my mission to master a roast chicken. And my friends, it honestly really isn’t that hard to master.
To get a good roasted chicken, you need to infuse it with flavor so that every bite is just as delicious as the next. It should just fall off the bone and be irresistibly juicy. And this garlic roasted chicken is all of that and more. You’ve never had a chicken that was so packed with flavor before. It is juicy and tender, and while there are some steps to making it, it’s not that hard to put together at all.
The only part of this garlic roasted chicken that really needs time for you to prepare is the roasted garlic. It’s an essential part of the flavor profile and will not be as good with using raw garlic. I highly recommend taking the time to to roast your garlic. If you are planning on including this recipe in your weekly menu, I recommend keeping roasted garlic in the fridge for you to grab when you need it.
This garlic roasted chicken actually comes from the My Modern American Table cookbook by Shaun O’Neale. When I first heard the book title, I was expecting a lot of really down home traditional recipes done well with a fun twist thrown in. What I got was a whole lot more. It’s charred romaine salad and lobster ravioli. It’s pork tenderloin and citrus and herb stuffed grilled branzino. It’s bacon and cheese and beef jerky with a side of homemade pasta. You’ll get elevated flavors done right and new dishes that are all approachable with ingredients you can find just about anywhere. The dishes I’ve tried have all come out incredible and I know I can trust any new one I attempt.
You can even learn how to make the perfect garlic roasted chicken with confidence.
- 2 heads garlic
- extra virgin olive oil, divided
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 8 sprigs rosemary, divided
- 1 5lbs whole chicken
- 1 lemon
- 1 small orange
- 8 sprigs thyme
- 10 sage leaves
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried garlic or garlic powder
- salt
- pepper
- 4 carrots
- 4 celery stalks
- 1 large onion
- ½ cup chicken stock
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Cut the head off the top of the garlic heads. drizzle the garlic with extra virgin olive oil. Top with salt, pepper, and sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, and when the garlic has cooled, pop out the cloves of garlic. Raise the temperature to 375 degrees F.
- Take half the garlic cloves and process with the unsalted butter and the leaves from a sprig of rosemary.
- Clean out the inside of the chicken, rinse, and pat dry.
- Make holes under the skin of the chicken and rub the garlic butter under the skin, getting into as many places as possible. I prefer to use softened butter to ensure every inch gets buttered.
- Cut the lemon and orange into quarters and place in a bowl along with all but two sprigs of rosemary, 6 sprigs of thyme, the sage, and bay leaves, plus half the remaining roasted garlic. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix to combine the ingredients and coat with the oil, then stuff inside the bird.
- Take the dried garlic and mix with about 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper and sprinkle over the skin of the chicken.
- Wash and peel your carrots. Wash the celery. Chop both, plus the onion into large pieces. Add them, plus the remaining garlic and chicken stock to the bottom of your roasting pan. Top with the chicken (breast side up), tying the legs together and tucking the wings underneath.
- Roast the chicken for 1 hour and 15 minutes, then raise the oven temp to 400 degrees F then bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes before carving and serving.
This looks so delicious! I too am kinda scared when it comes to making a chicken – it was always something my dad did, so I never learnt! Then when I moved out of home I realised that I had no idea how to do it! haha.
x