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Sunday roast chicken

The whole bird, lemon and herbs in the cavity, fat from the bottom of the tin.

100 min 35 min hands-on Serves 4 British Kid friendly

A Sunday roast chicken is the centrepiece of a relaxed family meal, all crisp skin and tender meat. The keys are a hot oven, a well-seasoned bird, and resting it before carving. It is forgiving, feeds a crowd, and the carcass makes excellent stock the next day.

Ingredients

  • 1.6 kg whole chicken
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 bunch thyme or rosemary
  • 1 head garlic, halved across
  • 1 kg potatoes, floury, such as Maris Piper, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
  • 2 onion, thickly sliced
  • 40 g butter, soft
  • 4 tbsp olive oil, 2 for the chicken, 2 for the potatoes
  • sea salt, flaky, to taste
  • black pepper, to taste
  • 250 ml water

Method

  1. Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before roasting so it cooks evenly. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Pat the skin completely dry with kitchen paper, inside and out, because dry skin is what turns crisp.
  2. Rub the soft butter all over the breast and legs, drizzle with the oil and season generously with flaky salt and pepper, inside the cavity too. Push the lemon halves, the thyme or rosemary and one half of the garlic into the cavity.
  3. Spread the onion slices and the other garlic half over the middle of a large roasting tin, leaving room around the edges for the potatoes, pour 100ml of the water around them so they soften rather than scorch, and sit the chicken on top, breast up. The onions lift the bird out of the fat and flavour the juices.
  4. Put the tin on the middle shelf and roast for 20 minutes at this high heat, until the skin starts to turn golden and the butter is sizzling in the tin. Keep the door shut: this first blast of heat is what sets the skin.
  5. While it has its first 20 minutes, put the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes, until the edges are soft but the middles still firm. Drain and shake them in the colander to rough up the edges, which is what turns crisp, then toss with 2 tablespoons of oil and a pinch of salt.
  6. Turn the oven down to 190°C (170°C fan) and tip the potatoes into the tin around the chicken, turning them in the fat. Roast for 50 to 60 minutes more, basting the bird and turning the potatoes halfway. It is done when the skin is deep golden and the juices run clear from the thickest part of the thigh (75°C on a probe). If not, give it 10 minutes more.
  7. Lift the chicken onto a board, tipping the juices from the cavity back into the tin, and cover it loosely with foil to rest for 15 minutes. Move the potatoes onto a baking tray, turn the oven up to 220°C (200°C fan) and give them 15 minutes more on the top shelf, until crisp and deep golden.
  8. While it rests, spoon most of the fat off the tin. Squeeze in the soft roasted garlic, add the rest of the water (about 150ml) and any juices from the board, and set the tin over a medium heat (or scrape it all into a small pan). Scrape up the sticky bits until it bubbles into a thin gravy, 3 to 4 minutes, then strain it into a warm jug.
  9. Carve the legs off first, then slice the breast. Serve with the crisp potatoes, the gravy and something green, and keep the carcass for stock.

Tips

  • Pat the skin dry and rub it with salt before roasting for the crispest result.
  • Bring the chicken to room temperature for about thirty minutes before roasting so it cooks more evenly.
  • Keep the carcass after dinner and simmer it into a stock for soup or risotto the next day.

Common questions

How long do I roast a chicken?

As a guide, roast at around 200C for about twenty minutes per 500g plus an extra twenty minutes, then check the juices run clear.

Should I cover the chicken while roasting?

Roast it uncovered for crisp skin. If it is browning too fast before it is cooked through, tent it loosely with foil.