The Best Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe

The best whole-roasted chicken recipe delivers exactly what most home cooks are searching for: juicy meat, crispy golden skin, and deep, savory flavor all the way through. 

As most of you know, we raise meat chickens here at Riverbend. The chickens are free-ranged in their mobile chicken tractor and are fed our homemade fermented chicken feed for better health.

Since we have such a large family, we're usually eating four chickens at one meal, so that's a lot of chickens to raise for a year's worth of meat. You might be wondering how much land is needed to raise a year's worth of meat... check out that post to learn more; the answer may surprise you! And finally, you can see how we store a year's worth of food (storing all that food takes some creativity!).

Watch Me Make The Best Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe 

What Makes This Recipe Unique?

If dry, disappointing chicken has made you nervous to roast a whole bird, you are in the right place. This method focuses on moisture, proper seasoning, and temperature control so you can cook with confidence and serve a meal everyone looks forward to.

• Simple - We're taking simple ingredients and adding them to our home-raised Cornish Cross chickens to boost the flavor for a from-scratch recipe everyone will love.
• Flavorful - With the addition of our homemade poultry seasoning recipe or garlic and herb seasoning mix, you'll never eat bland chicken again.
• Versatile - Once you know the basic steps of roasting a whole chicken, you can adapt it to whatever flavors your family loves most! Our family especially enjoys this lemon sauce for roasted chicken made with this preserved lemons recipe. Delicious!
• Frugal - You can use leftover chicken meat to make sandwiches, easy soup, casseroles and white chicken enchiladas. Furthermore, you can use the chicken carcasses to make homemade chicken bone broth, so nothing goes to waste.

Key Ingredients

For a full list of ingredients and measurements, check out the recipe card below.

• Chicken - We love our Cornish Cross meat chickens that are raised here on Riverbend. Do your best to source high-quality chicken that's been pasture-raised when possible! The flavors are incredible.
• Butter or Oil - We love this homemade butter recipe. If you use unsalted butter or the optional olive oil (or another neutral-flavored oil), you may want to increase the salt just slightly.
• Poultry Seasoning - Grab our homemade poultry seasoning recipe here. This recipe makes enough for about 12 whole chickens!

The Best Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe Instructions

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375°F. Place the fully defrosted chicken in a deep-sided roasting pan. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Rub the entire chicken with butter or brush it with oil.

Step 2: Season generously with poultry seasoning and salt.

Step 3: Stuff the cavity with half a lemon.

Step 4: Quarter the onion and place it in the pan around the chicken.

Step 5: Add ½ to 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pan.

Step 6: Cover with a lid and bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

Step 7: Remove the lid and continue baking until the skin is golden and the internal temperature reaches 160°F.

Step 8: Remove from the oven and let the chicken rest, uncovered, for 15 to 30 minutes, until it reaches 165°F. Carve and serve.

Recipe Tips

These steps are not optional. They are the reason this truly is the best whole roasted chicken recipe.

• Choose quality meat sources. If you're already raising meat chickens, then you've already got a great quality chicken! If not, find a local farmer who's raising and selling free-range, pastured chickens (especially if you can visit the farm and see their living conditions!). Not only will they be healthier for you, but they taste much better than store-bought chicken.
• Use a thermometer. This is the easiest way to avoid dry chicken and keep your family safe.
• Never cook from frozen. Fully defrosting ensures even cooking.
• Choose the right pan. A deep-sided cast-iron or roasting pan helps retain moisture. You can check out our posts on cooking with enameled cast iron, the benefits of cast iron cookware, maintenance and care tips, like how to wash cast iron or how to season cast iron in the oven, and even restoring cast iron!
• Do not skip resting time. This allows juices to redistribute and keeps the meat tender.
• Pull early. Carryover cooking finishes the job without drying out the chicken.

Storage Instructions

Leftover meat is perfect for sandwiches, soups, casseroles, or enchiladas.

Once the chicken has cooled, tuck any leftovers into an airtight container and pop them in the refrigerator. They’ll keep well for about four days and make easy meals later in the week.

If you want to get ahead, go ahead and pull the meat off the bones and freeze it. Cooked chicken freezes beautifully for up to three months and is such a gift to yourself on busy days.

And don’t toss that carcass. Set it aside and turn it into a batch of homemade bone broth. That’s where a lot of the goodness is, and around here, we like to make sure nothing goes to waste.