Roasted Whole Chicken Recipe

We love to eat roasted chicken a couple of times per month. Roasting a whole chicken is actually pretty simple, and the wonderful smells that fill your house while it's roasting is pretty great. Here is how I do it, and the skin turns out perfectly browned and meat is moist and juicy every time.

Roasted Whole Chicken Recipe

1 whole roasting chicken
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray the rack of a Rectangular Nonstick Roasting Pan with Rackwith non-stick cooking spray. Rinse the chicken with water and remove all the giblets, gizards, and neck from the inside of the bird, rinsing out the cavity with water, too. Drain the water from the chicken and place it on the roasting rack, breast up. Drizzle olive oil over the chicken. Remove your rings and use your hands and rub the olive oil all over the chicken breast, wings, and legs. Wash your hands, then salt and pepper the chicken to taste. Your prepared chicken should be sitting in the roasting pan like this after:


Put the chicken in the oven for 20 minutes per pound at 400 degrees. So a 6.0 lb chicken would roast for 120 minutes, or 2 hours. Set your timer and let it roast uninterrupted for the whole time. When the time is up, take the chicken out of the oven and make a slit in the skin with a knife in the crease where one of the legs attaches to the body and confirm that the juices are clear. If the juices are pink, then the chicken is not done for whatever reason, and put it back in the oven for 15 more minutes before checking again. In all of the years I've been roasting chickens, the chicken has always been fully cooked and juicy roasting it for 20 minutes per pound at 400 degrees.