Roasting a chicken is easier than you think (if you’ve never made one before). The recipe I have for you today is simple, but it makes one really tasty chicken.
The key is in the basting and roasting. The recipe starts off on high heat, but after a few minutes it comes down to allow the chicken to roast slowly, locking the juices in and resulting in a moist, tender, juicy chicken. Depending on how large the chicken is this will take 1–2 hours to roast or more. The oven will have something to say about it too.
Basting the bird during the roasting helps it stay moist throughout, especially in the white meat area, as that tends to cook quicker and dry out faster. At first you’ll only have the oil and butter to baste the chicken with, but after about 15–20 minutes or so the chicken will start oozing drippings, perfect for basting back on.
And about the oils, am I sure that’s not too much? YES! It’s not. I like it that way. You will too. The butter and oil infuses so much buttery flavor into the chicken, as well as making the skin turn a crisp, golden brown. Watch the video. You’ll see.
If you want to, cube a few potatoes and roast them with the chicken.
If you want to make gravy though, don’t add potatoes. Potatoes are extremely greedy and gulp all the drippings down. They won’t spare you very much in the way of drippings, if any at all.
So what are you waiting for? Check the video out for a step by step tutorial and make this for your next dinner, along with a side of rice, popovers, or potatoes. I’d do the popovers. They’re perfect for soaking up any extra gravy.
Enjoy!
Sarah 🙂
Roast Chicken with Coconut Oil
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 small yellow onion, quartered
- 1 stalk celery
- 4 garlic cloves, cut in half
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup chicken stock or water (or combination)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the giblets and wash the chicken in warm to hot tap water and dry thoroughly. Liberally season the cavity with salt and pepper. Stuff with the onion, celery, and garlic.
Brush melted butter and coconut oil all over chicken and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place in a roasting pan or a 9 x 13-inch glass baking pan.
Roast for 11 minutes at 425 degrees F. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and baste the chicken. Roast for 1 hour or until juices run clear when pricked between the leg and thigh. Baste chicken with pan juices every 10–15 minutes or so, but stop basting around the last 10 minutes. You can increase the temperature to 375 degrees F during the last 1/2 hour or so if you need to “hurry” it up.
Pour pan juices into a small saucepan and add chicken stock or water. Adjust richness by adding more or less stock/water. Make a slurry by adding the cornstarch to the water and whisk into the gravy to reach the desired consistency. Add more if needed. Add more stock if needed and whisk and boil until gravy has thickened. Serve with the roasted chicken.
Recipe courtesy of Sarah Shilhavy
Recipe prepared by Sarah Shilhavy and photographed by Jeremiah Shilhavy.
