What’s For Dinner: Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Roasted chicken might be intimidating for some, but I promise that once you realize how easy it is, you’ll always want to roast your own chicken.

I love this recipe because once you put it in the oven, you can pretty much forget about it (if you can ignore the smell) plus with the leftovers you can make sandwiches, wraps, or even use the chicken to top a salad!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Start with your vegetables. I have used these in different combinations: regular and sweet potatoes, onions, garlic cloves, celery, carrots, mushrooms, brussel sprouts and celery root. Prepare the vegetables: peel, if necessary, and chop to bite sized pieces. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil, to coat, and season with salt and pepper.

Get one whole chicken, around 4 pounds. Remove any innards, rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry. Season the inside with herbs of your choice (I usually use 2-3 garlic cloves, sage leaves, a lemon half, salt and pepper). Coat the outside with room temperature butter and season with salt. I also add butter under the skin by the breasts and legs.

Put the vegetables around the outside of a greased roasting pan, and place the chicken (on the rack) in the pan. Pop the chicken in the oven.

The chicken should need about 50-60 minutes to cook, but be sure it’s cooked by inserting a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. The thermometer should read 160 degrees. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Enjoy!