Whole roasted chicken

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Few recipes are more valuable to master than the whole roasted chicken.  Is there anything more delicious than roasted chicken with gravy? Not only is it delicious, but it is also economical too.  You can stretch a whole chicken in a variety of ways and if you save the bones, you are have the makings of a a delicious homemade broth.  I absolutely adore roasting meat and veggies. If you can turn an oven on and season some meat and veggies, you can roast too!

For a delicious roasted chicken you can simply remove the insides, rub olive oil and salt and pepper on it and it will be delicious, but for this chicken I put about five more minutes extra work into it for something a bit more special.

I like to make an herb butter and put it under and on top of the skin. Herb butter...sounds fancy but it couldn't be more simple. Take about a half stick of butter and let it soften either in the microwave for a few seconds or on the countertop for a while. Add lots of dried herbs to the butter (whatever you have on hand-basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, herbs de provence, garlic, etc) and incorporate them into the butter with a fork. That's right, just smash it together and you have herb butter. See, told you it was easy. I also add salt and pepper.

Then all you do is take some hunks and put them under the skin of a whole chicken and rub on top of the skin as well. Salt and pepper the outside and place in a roasting pan and into a preheated 350 degree oven. Usually it takes about 1 ½ hours to cook through and juices run clear. Let it rest for several minutes after taking it out of the oven before slicing into it.

And there you have it, you roasted a chicken. Simple and easy. You can get really fancy and use the drippings for a pan gravy but you certainly don't have to.

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Simple whole roasted chicken

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• salt
• pepper
• herbs of choice thyme, parsley, and rosemary are my favorites
• butter or olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Remove innards from chicken.
3. Rub outside with olive oil or butter.
4. Season inside and outside with salt, pepper, and herbs.
5. Place in a 9x13 baking dish.
6. Roast for about an hour or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

I highly recommend following my recommendations of turning one whole chicken into several meals.  It's a great way to stretch the chicken to make the most of a healthy protein source, while making the most of your grocery budget.