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Oven baked chicken with vegetable

Great recipe to have for a simple weeknight dinner. Just pop it in the oven and in an hour you have the perfect juicy chicken.

This is one of the most popular recipes in our home - it's so easy to make and the flavor beats all much more sophisticated recipes. You know sometimes the most simple things are the best. It has everything I love! Golden crispy skin, juicy meat and lovely roasted vegetable are just the favorite family dinner all year round.

Roasting a whole chicken is simple and convenient but also can be easy on a budget. Leftovers are great as a protein in other meals in a week and the bones can be used for a bone broth. You can use the bone broth as a soup base or for making rice or quinoa, which will have a more interesting flavor with it. Bone broth also contains a lot of nutrients and provides a lot of health benefits.

Making a roast chicken is not a complicated thing, you just need to know some basics. Be aware of drying the breasts because they don't have any fat. To prevent drying I use a lot of butter! Usually just add a few cubes of butter on the breasts, but if you have time try making an herb butter. Just combine in a bowl a piece of softened butter with salt and some chopped fresh herbs and let sit for about 30 minutes. Then put a dollop of the butter mixture under the skin on the breast and rub the rest throughout the whole chicken. With this method you achieve the most juicy and flavorful breasts in a chicken world.

How long to bake chicken?

It's wonderful to bake meat with a side dish all in one tray, so it makes less dishes to wash. But each part of the chicken and also the vegetable needs different time to be properly cooked. So how do we make it work?

The whole chicken, about 2kg, needs about 1 hour in an oven at 200 °C to be done. In this recipe we use potatoes (or a combination with root vegetable) and red onions which need only 30 minutes.
Simply add the seasoned chicken in a tray first. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetable, add in a bowl with seasoning and in the tray after 30 minutes of cooking. This way we will have the golden roasted chicken with the perfectly baked side dish. And that's exactly what we want!

Is the quality of the chicken important?

I just have to talk about this topic of quality of meat generally. After many years of researching and exploring all brands that offer meat and meat products, I found out that the difference in the quality of meat in stores and markets is HUGE! And I was truly surprised how considerable it is and how those products can vary. So I decided to buy meat only in the highest quality that I can afford. But what does it mean? That as for meat, it's worth all the money you pay for better quality. With higher quality meat you'll get the beautiful flavor and texture of the meat and also a better feeling, that's the truth, really.

What to do with leftovers?

With a topic of buying a high quality meat, which is more expensive obviously, you may also deal with these questions:

How much of this meat can I really afford?
How to use up all of the parts and pieces of meat?
How to work with less known and cheaper parts of meat?
How to make sure that my family "will not miss" meat?
What to do with leftovers?

As I have already mentioned, roasting the whole chicken is one of the most economical ways of preparing the bird. According to the number of diners, you end up with less or more leftovers and also bones that you can use. From the bones make wonderfully nutritious broth, that you can use right away or freeze it for later. The same goes with roasted leftover meat. It's great to have this base for all the cooking throughout the week (or month) just ready in your fridge.

TIPS:
- you can use different types of spices, so the meal will taste different every time you make it
- try adding some fresh herbs like mint, basil, coriander, rosemary or parsley - chop them and mix with some olive oil to prevent burning
- instead of root vegetable you can add also green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or asparagus - these vegetables just add for last 10-15 of baking, otherwise they may be mushy

Recipe

Recipe – 4 servings

Oven baked chicken with vegetable

Ingredients:

⦁ 2 kg whole chicken
⦁ 15 g butter, cubed
⦁ salt and pepper
⦁ 2 tbsp olive oil
⦁ 1 tbsp dried herbs (oregano, herbs de Provence, basil)
⦁ half a lemon, sliced
⦁ 1 large red onion, diced to 2cm cubes
⦁ 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
⦁ 750 g potatoes or a combination with carrots, beetroots, celery, squash or parsnips

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200/180°C. In a big tray or cast iron skillet add chicken and pat dry. Drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil, season with 2 teaspoons of salt, herbs and pepper and rub into the skin. Finally, add cubes of butter and slices of lemon on the breasts. Pour in the tray 200 ml of water and bake for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, prepare your veggie in a bowl, drizzle with the rest of olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste. After 30 minutes of baking chicken, add the seasoned veggie to the tray. Let it bake for another 30-40 minutes until the chicken skin is golden and the veggie is roasted.
3. Try if the chicken is cooked properly with a skewer or a toothpick. Test it in the hip joint and if the juice is clear, the chicken is done. If the juice is pink, let it bake for another 5-10 minutes.
4. Serve chicken with vegetable and with some salad, salsa or sauerkraut.