I have been an Ina fan for so long and have always loved her kitchens and cooking style!! Today on Tasty Tuesday I’m sharing the Ina Gardner Perfect Roast Chicken recipe!
I hope you give this simple but classic recipe a shot…it is so easy and delicious!! My husband gives it a 5 star!! I still pick up a rotisserie chicken now and then but this recipe totally changed my opinion about baking a whole bird myself. Thanks Ina!! Here are some pictures of the process and the completed meal.
I purchased a 4.5 pound Miller’s whole roasting chicken without the giblets 🙂 …took it out of the bag and washed it real good, patted it dry and generously salted and peppered the inside of the bird. I put it in a large baking dish…. mine is LARGER than a 9×13…I wanted to have room for veges. Speaking of veges I would recommend you doubling the amount of veges and even adding potatoes if you’d like.
Cut your lemon and garlic in half and stuff all of it inside of the bird along with a bunch of thyme.
Tie the legs together and tuck the wings… rub with melted butter and salt and pepper all over the outside.
Cut up your fennel carrots and onion in wedges and chunks. Lift your bird out of the dish and put all your veges in the bottom of the baking dish, then set the bird on top of the veges.
finished product…
Ingredients
- 1 (5 to 6 pound) Whole roasting chicken
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
- 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
- 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
- Olive oil
- kitchen string to tie the legs together
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Cook time 1 hr. 30 min.
Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.
Looove Ina Garten. You should try her lemon-rosemary chicken too. Her cooking style is old-fashioned – the way my mom cooks. I’m not a very good cook, but if you can make it in the oven, I’m your girl. One of my favorite things ever is roasting a chicken. One a nice cold snow-day, it makes the house smell awesome. Next time get the giblets, stick em in a cheesecloth bag, into a stockpot & then use the rest of the roasted chicken (bones too) to make chicken soup. It’s awesome!!
Thanks Dancy!! wonderful advice…I’ll have to try LR Chicken the soup!
Perfection! I will be using this recipe in the near future. This is such a great family dinner and purchasing whole chicken is so economical.
-Rene
Rene thank you for your sweet comment!
I’m a huge INA fan….and ya know I thought I HAD made this…but I asked Steven and he said we made something similar, not this one….so, i’m going to try it and let ya know…it looks sooo yummy from the pics, so I’ve got to try it….
thx for sharing!
have a great day Rene….
Jeanette….You guys will love it!!
Thank you for your comment!!