Kiddos Favorite Chicken Roast Recipe
Table of contents
Whole Pasture Raised Chicken from Dirty Clean Food' is a staple family meal in our household.
We love this meal because the flavor is out of this world. It fully features the juiciness of pasture raised chicken from our regenerative farming partners and that harvest feeling you get with a bountiful bed of veggies. It really tastes like my memory of Grandma's chicken when I was a wee lad. And that's fitting because this recipe is from our kids beloved grandmother, Jessica, who happens to be a chicken cooking aficionado.
This dish is affectionately called "The Chicken Bread Chicken Roast" by our sons.
Essentially, we'll be taking a whole pasture raised chicken and roasting on top of on a bed of vegetables and slices of sourdough bread.
It's super easy to prep and execute, but full of complex flavor - and the 'chicken bread' adds more excitement than you would initially think to roast chicken on a bed of veggies. This means the kids eat heaps more veggies without extra effort. Winning.
All this recipe takes is chicken, herbs and spices, roasting vegetables, sliced bread, an oven, and some quick prep time. A healthy dinner is enjoyed by everyone, plus there are leftovers to make homemade chicken soup as a follow on meal. One bird, two meals. It was all too easy.
Preparing The Bird
For best results, we recommend a few ideas for bird prep on the night before you intend to roast it. First, after defrosting, unwrapping, and washing, pat the chicken dry. This step will improve your chances of deliciously crispy skin. Next, season with salt and pepper and leave uncovered in the chiller uncovered overnight. The aeration will also improve your skin texture and flavor on the exterior, but will not compromise the juiciness of the inside.
Apply the rest of the ingredients on the day of the roast. See below for details!
Even though chicken is stacked on bead and veggies, we use the elevated tray for better texture and crispiness on the chicken skin all around the bird.
Made fresh using WA produce and pastured chicken raised by farming partners using regenerative farming practices at dirtycleanfood.com.au
Ingredients
Serves 4
Ingredients - Chicken (Apply for overnight seasoning)
- 1 Small or Medium whole chicken - we're using Dirty Clean Food pasture raised chicken from Unison Farms
- 1T Salt (or to taste)
- 2tsp Pepper (or to taste)
- 6 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 2 x dried bay leaf
- 1/2 lemon
Ingredients - Chicken Seasoning Day of Roast
- 2T Olive oil
- 4 sliced pads of butter
- 3t fresh chopped sage
- 3t fresh chopped rosemary
- 3t fresh chopped oregano
- 3t fresh chopped thyme
- 2 x minced garlic cloves
- If using dried herbs instead of fresh, use 1t instead of 3t
Ingredients - Veggies (Day of Roast)
- 2T Olive Oil
- Salt (2tsp or to taste)
- Fresh ground pepper (2t or to taste)
- 2 x garlic cloves, minced
- 2 x potato, diced
- 2 x carrots, diced
- 2 x onions, rough cut
- 2 x beets, diced
- Optional:1/2 butternut pumpkin, diced or 1x sweet potato, diced
- Optional: mix in 1tsp each of chopped rosemary and sage
Ingredients - Bread
- 4-6 slices of sourdough bread
Shop the Recipe
Essentials
This roast will give you a flavorful savory veggie bounty, uniquely flavored "toast" from the olive oil, chicken juices, and seasoning, and of course amazing pastured chicken with the best combination of crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
It's OK to substitute other favorite seasonal roasting veggies, but don't skip the onions! Choose veggies that ca handle the heat for the same time as the chicken will need to roast to avoid char.
Elevate the chicken to get good better mix of soft and crisp bread. Placing chicken directly on the bread will give you softer bread, which some eaters may desire, but we prefer the mix of toasty and soft.
Tips Not to Skip
Don't forget to pat chicken dry, it actually matters as the liquids will boil away the flavor from seasoning on the skin
Like most meats sold at Dirty Clean Food, seasoning overnight uncovered will give you the optimal texture when you cook. Crispier on the outside, juicier on the inside.
Meat thermometers are well worth the purchase and the best measure of doneness to your preferences.
If your chicken is cooking unevenly (say, for example, you didn't fully defrost it), use a loose alfoil tent for the second half of the bake to prevent the exterior from overcooking.
Method
- Day Before Roast (5 minutes). Clean and pat dry your defrosted chicken. Rub salt and fresh ground pepper generously on the outside of the chicken and inside the cavity.
- Stuff 6 cloves of smashed garlic, bay leaves, and 1/2 lemon inside the cavity
- Store uncovered in chiller overnight.
- Day of Roast: Preheat Oven to 220C
- Day of Roast, chicken (5 minutes prep, mixing and applying).
- Mix Chicken Seasoning (herbs, garlic, butter, olive oil) in a bowl. Apply generously on chicken's exterior. Take pads of butter (which should be now covered with the rest of the seasoning and tuck under the skin. Let rest while you wash your hands, have a glass of wine, and prepare the vegetables.
- Day of Roast: Vegetables (5-10 minutes, mostly chopping). Dice and roughly chop roasting vegetables Choose your sizes so that they can cook along with the bird without too much char. A teensy smidge of char is delicious, too much is a burning bummer. Mix cut veggies in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs so that the veggies are fully covered.
- Preparing the Roast (3-5 minutes, arranging the pan)
- Place bread slices near center of the roasting pan so they will be underneath the chicken, ready to catch its flavor while it roasts. Arrange the bread so some will be outside of the chicken's "shadow" so you end up with a mix of crispy and soft bread.
- Pro Tip: Position the rack that will hold the chicken first, or while you arrange the bread- do it before you add the veggies so that you are sure the rack will be on stable footing. The tray will be very full once you add the veggies!
- Place seasoned veggies all around the roasting pan. Pour excess seasoned oil from the bowl over the bread. Drizzle additional olive oil over bread as needed...or desired
- Place the chicken on the rack so that there is a little space between it and the bed of veggies and bread underneath. This will ensure you get aeration on the bottom, with better overall chicken skin texture.
Cooking Instructions
- Cook on 220C for 20 minutes;
- Reduce heat to 180C and cook for another 45 - 60 minutes, or until done.
- Note: Cook time varies by bird, size, oven, and starting temperature. There can be a noticeable difference in cook time between a 1.7kg bird and a 1.9kg bird. Done is determined by internal temperature, not time.
- Recommended: Check temp after 40 minutes at 180C (65 minutes total cook time) using a meat thermometer to gage your progress... don't turn the oven off until you are sure you're done!
- Continue to bake at 180C, checking periodically until internal temp reaches target.
- Recommended done temp is 165F / 74C.
- We cannot recommend a lower done temperature than 74C, but we have heard that the temperature may rise by two degrees C while resting.
- Check Temp in the deepest part of the thigh without touching the bone and the thickest part of the breast.
- Let rest for ten minutes using a loose al foil tent while you arrange the veggies in a serving bowl- don't seal the alfoil tight, as this will steam the bird, softening the skin and potentially overcooking.
- Carve the bird and serve with veggies and a slice of chicken bread per eater. Relax and enjoy!
- Pro Tip - Save all of your unserved chicken including bones, wings, neck, separately shedding any remaining meat. You can use the bits and bones for making stock, and then add the shredded chicken to the stock (along with veggies) for chicken noodle soup later in the week.