Whole Roasted Chicken

This looks like a wonderful roasted chicken recipe from The Gracious Pantry. The best thing about roasted chicken is making chicken salad out of the yummy leftovers.

Clean Eating Whole Roasted Chicken

Ingredients
1 whole chicken (any size)
1 large yellow onion
1 package baby carrots (I use organic)
1 bunch celery (any size)
2 tbsp. dried tarragon
2 tbsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tbsp. olive oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Step 1 – Place your birdie on a stable work surface.

Step 2 – Reach in through the larger of the two cavities and pull out the stuff wrapped in paper. (I think it’s the giblets, but I never unwrapped the paper. It went straight in the trash).

Step 3 – Prepare your veggies to your liking. They will cook down considerably, so don’t worry too much about slicing them properly. Just chop them up roughly.

Step 4 – Place your veggies in a roasting pan or large baking dish. (Mine was to large. You want something that is just a bit larger than the chicken).

Step 5 – In a small mixing bowl, mix your tarragon, lemon zest, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and olive oil.

Step 6 – Separate the skin from the meat by moving your fingers around under the skin. You’re not removing the skin, just separating it so you can get the spices under there.

Step 7 – With your hand, rub the majority of your spice mix under the skin, covering as much of the bird as possible. Rub the remaining spice mix all over the rest of the outside of the bird.

Step 8 – Place your birdie on top of your veggies and put the whole pan into the preheated oven. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes. Your birdie should have a nice golden glow at this point. (I would kill for a tan like that!)

Step 9 – Loosely, lay a large piece of foil over the top to prevent any further browning (burning) and continue cooking until the internal temperature of your birdie reaches 180 degrees F. (About 50-60 minutes in total – This will vary from oven to oven).

The best place to stick the thermometer into your birdie is here:

It’s just in the crook behind the leg. If you gently push straight down, you’ll feel the spot pretty easily. It fits right in without resistance (or, at least it did for me). But you may have to poke around a little with the thermometer to find it.

Allow to cool, remove skin, carve and serve.

Note: The veggies will soak up a lot of the fat from the chicken. I didn’t actually serve these with the meat. I saved them to put into soup which I will cool after cooking so I can skim the fat off. That way my soup gets all the flavor without the added fat!