Roasted Chicken With Potatoes
You can prepare this simple-yet-elegant chicken dish the night before, when no children are around to chuck stuffed animals at you, or crab crawl in your path, or shout odd phrases like “Banana juice!” at you. So peaceful, so quiet. Just you and the chicken in the kitchen.
Servings: 10 people
Calories: 375kcal
Equipment
- Roasting Pan or Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 1 Whole Chicken 3-4 pounds
- 2 Lbs Potatoes (4-6 large yellow or white)
- ½ Cup Lemon Juice
- 2 Tbsp Salt (separated)
- 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 Tbsp Onion Powder
- ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Oregano dried
- ¼ tsp Basil dried
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prep your spices and lemon juice in 3 small mixing bowls. Put lemon juice (½ cup) into bowl 1, salt (1 Tbsp) into bowl 2, and all the rest of the spices (including the additional tbsp of salt) into bowl 3. Give it a stir so the spices are evenly dispersed.
- Peel and quarter your potatoes and set them aside.
- Rinse chicken and remove any inner organs. (Side note: Some whole chickens come with the heart and liver, etc., but I don't like the taste of these so I don't cook them. You could cook them into a chicken stock to add even more nutrition, so if you plan to do so, save them.)
- Let the chicken drip most of the excess water away, then put the bird into your dutch oven or roasting pan.
- Sprinkle lemon juice over both sides of chicken and under the skin.
- Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of salt over both sides of chicken and under the skin.
- Sprinkle about two-thirds of your remaining spices over both sides of chicken and under the skin.
- Put your potatoes around the chicken by squeezing them into the nooks around the chicken. Sprinkle them with the remaining spices.
- Cover and bake in the oven until cooked, when the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees. This takes about 2-3 hours. If you don't have a thermometer, look for the meat pulling away from the bones.
- When the chicken is cooked, uncover it and put it on a low broil. As it broils, watch carefully for the skin to caramelize, but be careful not to burn it. This step could take 15 minutes, but should be checked at least every 5 minutes.
- When the skin has caramelized, you're done. Pull the dutch oven out of the oven, and let the bird sit 15 minutes before carving.
- Serve with any desired sides.
Notes
We serve this with white rice, making sure to ladle some of the chicken sauce over the rice for added flavor. It also pairs beautifully with a garden salad and roasted veggies. Hope you enjoy!