Perfect roast chicken recipe | Jamie Oliver Christmas recipes (2024)

FAQs

What not to do when roasting a chicken? ›

If you want your chicken to be truly roasted with crisp, golden-brown skin, it needs to spend time in the oven uncovered. If you find that some parts of the skin are browning more rapidly than others, you can loosely tent the browner parts with foil to allow the rest of the skin to catch up.

1 – Use a meat thermometer – this is the most reliable method. Insert the thermometer at the centre of the thickest part of the piece being cooked. When the temperature has reached 75°C the meat is fully cooked.

If you are not roasting any vegetables with the chicken, it's a good idea to add about 1/2 cup of water to the pan to prevent the drippings from burning. Place the chicken on the rack breast side up, slide the pan into the oven, and roast it uncovered for about 60 to 70 minutes.

30 to 45 minutes will do the trick. Taking the bird directly from the fridge to the fire will increase its roasting time and cook it unevenly. Another common mistake many home cooks make is not properly drying the chicken before roasting it. A damp bird makes for limp, soggy skin.

You can roast or bake anywhere between 325 and 450 degrees F. When roasting a whole chicken, a nice rule of them is to start at 400 to 425 degrees F and then turn the oven down to 350 after 15 minutes and cook until the internal temp of the chicken is 165 – 175 degrees F on an instant read thermometer.

Roast the chicken, uncovered, at 450 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and roast for 20 minutes per pound, or until internal temperature (inserted on middle of thigh and breast) reaches about 165 degrees.

Prep and Season. Always let your bird come to room temperature, by leaving it outside of the fridge, covered, for an hour before cooking it. Why? Because your bird will cook unevenly otherwise.

Poke the Meat

This method applies to chicken specifically. For properly cooked chicken, if you cut into it and the juices run clear, then the chicken is fully cooked. If the juices are red or have a pinkish color, your chicken may need to be cooked a bit longer.

Washing or rinsing chicken increases risk.

Salmonella, Campylobacter and other harmful bacteria live on raw chicken. Washing or rinsing doesn't remove this risk, it worsens it by helping the bacteria spread.

What spices enhance the flavor of chicken? ›

The benefits of the hot steaming lemon going into the chicken are very obvious as the meat tastes amazing, and the chicken cooks slightly quicker because of it. Rub the chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pour water into the bottom of the roasting tin, filling it about 1-2cm deep. Cover the chicken with foil and roast for 1 hr. Remove the foil and continue to roast the chicken for a further 20-30 mins until the skin is golden, the chicken is cooked and all the juices run clear.

A roasting pan with a rack allows air to circulate under the bird and helps brown the skin all over. Plus, you can add potatoes and other vegetables to the pan under the bird, which will catch the flavorful drippings.

You cannot roast it directly on the rack of your oven without making a mess and risking fire. So, find an oven-safe vessel that will hold the chicken with some airspace around it for heat flow. Oil it or spray it with non-stick spray.

Roasted Chicken

Tenting the chicken with aluminum foil for as long as you can is still your best bet for reducing splatter—I like cooking it with foil on top of the chicken for half of the cooking time and removing it for the second halve so the skin still gets crispy while reducing at least some of the splatter.