Perfect Roast Chicken
Juicy, crispy, flavorful
Preheat the oven to 425f degrees. Remove the chicken from plastic wrap and remove any giblets that are in the cavity. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any leftover pinfeathers that may still be hanging on and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Cut lemon and garlic head in half.
Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken (this step is optional). Roast the chicken, uncovered, for about an hour and half or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. 
Cook’s Notes: The melted butter you slather on the chicken may smoke some in your oven. Butter has a low burning point and because you are cooking this at a higher temperature, you may see a bit of smoking. Do not worry. This is normal. Just make sure your oven fan is in good working condition. It is all worth it for the flavor it brings to this chicken! Have some chicken leftover? Try making roasted chicken salad sandwiches!
- 1 5-6 pound roasting chicken
- kosher salt & ground black pepper
- 1 lemon
- 1 whole head of garlic
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- Preheat the oven to 425f degrees.
- Remove the chicken from plastic wrap and remove any giblets that are in the cavity.
- Rinse the chicken inside and out.
- Remove any leftover pinfeathers that may still be hanging on and pat the outside dry.
- Place the chicken in a large roasting pan.
- Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken.
- Cut lemon and garlic head in half.
- Stuff the cavity with lemon and garlic halves.
- You can squeeze a bit of the lemon juice into the chicken cavity before placing lemon halves inside. Brush the outside of the chicken with the melted butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper.
- Use all the butter, this is what is going to help make the skin crispy and give it a golden color.
- Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken (this step is optional).
- Roast the chicken, uncovered, for about an hour and half or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh.
The melted butter you slather on the chicken may smoke some in your oven. Butter has a low burning point and because you are cooking this at a higher temperature, you may see a bit of smoking. Do not worry. This is normal. Just make sure your oven fan is in good working condition. It is all worth it for the flavor it brings to this chicken! Have some chicken leftover? Try making roasted chicken salad sandwiches!
That is one pretty chicken Brandie.
I'm a little suspicious of "bests" and "better thans" and "ultimates," too. (Although I have to admit "to die for" blueberry muffins are.) But this chicken looks absolutely perfect. You and Ina haven't steered me wrong yet!
There's nothing like a roast chicken – and yours looks perfect – really beautiful
Mary x
yummy yummy..Delicious..Thanks for the recipe dear
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I have never roasted a chicken with garlic and lemon before but your chicken looks so delicious, I'm going to put lemon on my grocery list!! Looks delicious!
Ooooh I love roast chicken and that picture is making my mouth water! My husband is usually in charge of making stuff like this but I may just have to take over next time!
Looks so delicious. Roast chicken is my favorite comfort meal. Crave worthy. Yummy!
This does look the "best" and "perfect"!!!!
Oh yeah!
This chicken looks amazing! Yum! I love how crispy and perfect the skin came out. 🙂
What a pretty chicken!!
Looks and sounds (& smells!=) like a perfect recipe to me. I love simple and easy and this takes the cake…er, uh…the chicken. Lovely post! Enjoy your weekend Girlie.
That is truly a work of art Roast Chicken, Brandi! I wanted nothing more than to dive into that photo when I saw it. I LOVE the pretty color of the skin; that can be hard to do and I've been cooking for 30 some years. Ahem, I started in the cradle, ok?
Sooooo buzzed!
That chicken looks perfect! I have a chicken in my freezer. I might have to try this. Great job and thanks for sharing.
Jill, if anyone could do it – you could!!
Janet, oh yes me too..LOL
Oh my! That skin looks so crispy, you could lite a match with it. I will be it tasted fantastic and made you house smell so good! Thanks for sharing.
Brandie, this certainly does look perfection on a plate: moist inside and crispy outside. In fact, the description could be for a macaron. Haven't had a roast chicken in ages – hm. You've inspired me – perhaps I should make a roast chicken macaron? Just kidding. Love your juicy photos!
Looks delicious!!
I made this chicken recipe today and it was quite perfect!
This is a picture perfect roast chicken. Thanks for sharing.
I made this chicken for dinner last night. It was so tender and juicy and delicious! The garlic and the lemon gave it such a good flavor! This is hands down the best chicken recipe I have ever tried (and I've tried a bunch). Thank you so much for sharing! This is the first of your recipes I've tried and it most certainly will not be the last.
This was fantastic….my new go-to for roasted chicken!
i'm thinking of making this, but do not have a roasting pan. Is it required and do you have to have a lid? Thank you so much for existing, my family thanks you too!!!
Hi Shanda! You could use a 9×13 baking dish for this. That roasting pan just helps ensure that the bird has air circulating around it. It is not absolutely necessary though. I do not cover the chicken. I won't lie, it gets a bit smoky because you are cooking it with butter but not covering it really helps the skin to get brown and crispy (if you enjoy the skin). Hope that helps! 🙂
This turned out so flavorful and looked just like your picture. I can’t believe I made it!
This was so delicious!! It was very easy to make and the flavor and tenderness of the chicken was amazing. Thank you Brandie for sharing this awesome recipe. This is a keeper!!! 😀
Oh my gosh – this was perfection! It really is absolutely perfect! Everyone was so impressed and it was SO easy! Thanks! Anne
Made it. Loved it. Beautiful and juicy! I wouldn’t change a thing!
This was definitely the best chicken I’ve made. I did a season with Sazon complete inside and out. Thank you for the recipe
You mentioned the butter may make it smoke in the oven. What about using ghee in place of butter? Would that work the same only eliminate the smoke?
Is it supposed to smoke a lot? It has me nervous. Fingers crossed.
I couldn’t find a roasting chicken at the store. I bought a whole chicken 5.56 lbs. Is that the same thing? I have never cooked a whole chicken before.
We use the leftover bones and such to make soup. You can always get more chicken off of it once you boil it down.
I made this last night. My son’s basketball game ran late and I was afraid the chicken would be dry when he got home. It was not. In fact it only made the outside a little more crispy and the inside was like butter. – perfect. Thanks for the recipe.
has anyone tried using Ghee? the chicken is awesome but the smokiness to get there is pretty unbearable in our small house, even with the oven fan running and a couple windows open. would it be just as good without the butter? I imagine this would make the skin less crispy, which is fine with me. 🙂 love your recipes Brandi
How would you make this using chicken pieces instead of a whole chicken?
This is a really great recipe for roast chicken! I make mine the same way with garlic and lemon stuffed inside the cavity, but I also mix up softened butter with a few tsps of thyme, parsley, salt and pepper and slather the butter mixture under the skin on top of the chicken breasts, it helps keep the breasts moist and juicy! So good!!
This recipie looks delicious! My chicken is in the oven right now and my fire alarm is going off every five seconds any suggestions ? I do have my oven fan on high …help lol😬