Herb Roasted Chicken It's Whats For Supper

Dark crispy skin on a super moist chicken breast!

I scored $0.59/lb chickens today...4 of them. While I figured out what to do with all those birds, I thought it would be a good idea to throw a whole one in the oven. It's fast prep and smells so good while it roasts. 

I've made this recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook plenty of times. And I've learned to change it a little bit:

• The original recipe calls for melted butter which is supposed to get brushed onto the bird. Garlic is supposed to get rubbed onto the buttery skin and then the herbs go on. Sure, brushing warm butter onto a cold chicken works great! For about 0.1 second. That butter gets cold fast, which means you'll have flaking butter in some spots and gobs in others.  Most of it will wind up stuck to your brush. If you can manage to get the garlic to stick to that patchy butter, good for you. Good luck getting the spices rubbed on evenly.
• Original recipe doesn't say anything about rubbing the spices under the skin. That's a crime. Period.
• BHG also says to cook the bird at 375­°F the entire time. I've found that the skin just doesn't get as crispy as I like it that way and it drags out the cooking time, and sorta dries out the bird.

Check out what I did. Or click the link to view the recipe at BH&G.

Herb-Roasted Chicken 

1 5-lb whole chicken

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil, crushed
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning or ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Rinse the chicken including the cavity; dry with paper towels.

In a small bowl stir basil, sage, thyme, salt, and lemon-pepper seasoning into olive oil and garlic, making a saucy paste.

Loosen the skin over the breasts and pour some of the herb mixture in the pocket. Massage the skin to allow the mixture to get spread over the breasts. Spread the mixture all over the exterior of the bird and if any remains, pour it into the cavity. Twist wing tips under back. Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.

Oil and spices all over the back...

and the front... 

And what's left goes in the cavity.

Roast, uncovered, for 15 minutes at 425°F. Reduce temperature to 375°F and continue roasting for 45-60 minutes or until drumsticks move easily in their sockets and chicken is no longer pink (165°F).

Remove chicken from oven. Loosely cover; let stand for 10 minutes before carving.  The temperature will rise while standing up to 170°F.


If you have a cutting board with a juice-catching trough built in, use it. The juices from my bird always wind up all over the counter and this time was no exception. What I need is something like this from Epicurious. 

This has been a reliable recipe and turned out well again. Roast chickens also give me an excuse to eat Stove Top stuffing. Mmm! I love that stuff!

Cost: chicken, which, at $0.59/lb was probably just over $3. I'll round up to $4 and assume that covers the oil, garlic and herbs. That means each serving of chicken is $1. One single dollar.