This whole roast chicken is a wonderfully flavored dish to serve for family events and dinners. Flavored with a mixture of herbs and spices, it requires minimal prep and guarantees perfectly cooked chicken every time.
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Herbed Roast Chicken
I love preparing a roast chicken for my family, there’s something so wonderfully comforting about it. The herbs de Provence really add a vibrant flavor and it’s so much easier to make than you think!
Be sure to serve this up with roasted potatoes or broccoli cheese twice baked potatoes, and easy roasted vegetables.
How To Make Whole Roast Chicken
You can jump to the recipe card for full ingredients & instructions!
Prep: Cover a sheet pan with foil and place on the onions, rosemary and thyme. Put a cooking rack over the top. Pat the chicken dry and place on the rack.
Season: Season the chicken with all of the herbs, salt and pepper all over and lay the chicken breast side down. Place the lemon and fresh herbs inside the chicken.
Roast: Roast the chicken checking for doneness after 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Serve: Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving and drizzling with the pan juices.
Can you make it ahead of time?
This chicken can be prepped up to 2 days before you are ready to cook it. Leave it uncovered in the fridge and let it room to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before putting in in the preheated oven.
If you have leftovers they can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days and the chicken is great to add to salads and sandwiches.
What is Herbs de Provence?
This Herbs de Provence recipe is a dried herb mix that is added to dishes to enhance flavor. The herbs used are considered to be typical of the Provance region in South West France. You can buy it in stores but it’s also really easy to make your own.
How do you keep the chicken from drying out?
You might notice the chicken is cooked breast-side down. I believe cooking the whole chicken this way (as with a turkey) the breast meat stays juicier.
I also add half a lemon to the cavity of the chicken which steams and creates moisture as the chicken roasts. If your chicken is browning too quickly, be sure to cover it with foil, this will also help it to keep moist.
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Tips!
- Cook the chicken breast side down for the juiciest chicken.
- If you prep the chicken ahead of time, be sure that it is at room temperature before you roast it.
- Let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes before you carve it. This will help the whole roast chicken keep nice and juicy.
More Chicken Recipes
- Baked Parmesan Chicken Sliders
- Spatchcock Chicken
- Beer Can Chicken
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Pepper Jelly Chicken Wings
- Bacon Crusted Chicken
- Whole Roasted Peruvian Chicken
- Pan Seared Chicken Breast
If you make this recipe be sure to upload a photo in the comment section below or leave a rating. Enjoy! You can also jump to recipe.
Roast Chicken with Herbs de Provence
Ingredients
- 2 onions peeled and thick-sliced from top to bottom
- 6 Fresh thyme sprigs divided
- 4 Fresh rosemary sprigs divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 3-4 pound organic chicken
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried Herbes de Provence
- 2 teaspoons dried edible lavender
- 2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes
- ½ lemon
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup inexpensive white wine chicken broth or water
Instructions
- Cover a large sheet pan with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.
- Place the sliced onions, 3 thyme sprigs and 2 rosemary sprigs on the baking sheet and drizzle with 1-tablespoon olive oil.
- Place a metal rack over (or inside if it will fit) the tray and spray the metal rack with nonstick cooking spray.
- Pat the chicken with paper towels to remove any excess moisture, and set it on the sprayed rack.
- Rub the remaining 1-tablespoon oil all over the chicken and liberally season it, inside and out, with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Sprinkle the breast-side of the chicken with 1½ teaspoons Herbes de Provence, 1 teaspoon lavender and 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper.
- Set the chicken, breast-side down, on the rack, and season the top-side (now the backbone side) with the remaining Herbes de Provence, lavender and Aleppo pepper.
- Place the half lemon, garlic, 3 thyme sprigs and 2 rosemary sprigs in the cavity of the chicken.
- *At this point, the chicken can be cooked after the oven preheats, or it can be refrigerated (uncovered) up to one day ahead.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450°F. Set the chicken on the baking sheet in the oven and pour the wine (or broth or water) into the rimmed baking sheet.
- Cook 20 minutes, and reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. Rotate the chicken and cook an additional 40 minutes. If the chicken if browning too quickly, loosely tent the chicken with foil, and cook another 20 minutes. The chicken should be dark golden brown.
- Check the internal temperature of the chicken at this point.
- When done, the internal temperature should register 165°F in the middle of a breast and 178°F-180°F in the middle of the thigh meat.
- If the chicken needs to cook longer, check the temperature every 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. The total time can be anywhere from 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a cooling rack, cover loosely with foil and let sit for 15 minutes.
- When cool enough to carve, cut the chicken into pieces and place the pieces on a serving platter.
- Drizzle with pan juices and serve with toasty bread and green salad.
- Enjoy!
Becky’s Tips
- This chicken can be prepped up to 2 days before, left uncovered and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead. Remove it from the fridge while the oven preheats about 30 minutes before cooking.
- You might notice the chicken is cooked breast-side down. I believe cooking the chicken this way (as with a turkey) the breast meat stays juicier.
- If you prep the chicken ahead of time, be sure that it is at room temperature before you roast it.
- Let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes before you carve it. This will help the whole roast chicken keep nice and juicy
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this? Leave a comment!
Fixed this for dinner last night and it turned out perfectly. The family loved it. It looked exactly like the picture.
I’m so happy you all enjoyed it!!
do you cook it on a rack? it say to put the onions etc on the foil and the chicken on a rack to season? I am confused
In step 10, you move the chicken to the pan :)