I love roasted chicken. There are few things better than salty, crispy skin and a well-cooked bird. It took me a few attempts to master cooking it perfectly and crisping the skin, but I think I have it down now after combining components from several different recipes and figuring out what works.

To get that lovely, crispy skin, I’ve found the best thing you can do is make sure it’s very dry. Pat the chicken down all over with paper towels, let it sit for a bit, then do it again. Then, of course, slathering it in butter helps with this process.

Another reason I love cooking a whole chicken is that it’s so multi-purpose! The delicious meat, gravy from the drippings, stock from the carcass, and soup from that. One chicken goes a long way and can stretch into several meals. I’ll be sharing what I do with the chicken once we’ve had our dinner over the next week or so!

This particular chicken was our “Easter chicken”, no hams were to be found in the supermarkets near me here in Cape Town.

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My Favorite Roasted Chicken

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 1 Chicken
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An incredibly simple recipe for roasted chicken that produces crispy skin and juicy meat every time.

Ingredients
 

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/3 butter, softened
  • 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 onion, roughly chopped

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Mix together the salt, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder.
  • Set chicken on layered paper towels and pat the chicken down with additional paper towels to soak up moisture, making sure to lift the wings and legs. Let it sit for a few minutes, then do it again.
  • Season the chicken all over with the seasoning mixture, including inside the cavity. Rotate the bird to make sure you cover all the skin.
  • Rub the butter into the skin and cavity. Again, make sure you’ve covered the entire surface of the bird with butter and put a liberal amount of butter inside the cavity.
  • Stuff the cavity with the celery and onion. Set chicken on roasting pan. If you don’t have one, you can stack a cooling rack on a cookie sheet.
  • Cook the chicken in preheated oven for 1 hour and fifteen minutes. Remove from oven and cover with foil. Let rest for 20-30 minutes.
  • Save carcass for homemade chicken stock.
Course: Dinner
Author: Chelsea Cole
Did you make this recipe?Mention @aducksoven on Instagram or tag #aducksoven.