Classic roast chicken & gravy
- Barney Desmazery
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Serves 4
Easy
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 1 hr and 30 mins
Plus resting
A star rating of 4.8 out of 5.199 ratingsRate
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A classic roast chicken recipe should be in everyone's repertoire. Make this oven baked chicken with gravy for a satisfying Sunday lunch.
Egg-free
Nut-free
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Barney's tips for the perfect roast chicken:
- I recommend letting the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes after roasting. This helps the juices settle, making the meat much juicier and easier to carve.
- For a more succulent chicken, I take it out of the fridge one hour before cooking to bring it up to room temperature. This rule applies to any meat you are roasting.
- Don't worry about turning or basting your chicken as it roasts. Yes, these can give good results, but are fiddly for the beginner, plus every time you open the oven you lose heat.
- I like to stuff the cavity with a halved lemon, a bulb of garlic and a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary. As the chicken roasts, they gently perfume the meat and add extra flavour to the pan juices for the gravy. You could also add lemon zest to the gravy for an extra citrussy boost
- For a classic Sunday lunch, I serve this roast chicken with homemade roast potatoes and seasonal greens. Any leftovers are fantastic in sandwiches, salads, soups or a hearty chicken pie the next day.
Ingredients
Nutrition
Units:
MetricUS
-
1 onion
roughly chopped
-
2 carrots
roughly chopped
-
1 free range chicken
about 1.5kg/3lb 5oz
-
1 lemon
halved
-
small bunch thyme
(optional)
-
25g butter
softened
For the gravy
-
1 tbsp plain flour
-
250ml chicken stock
(a cube is fine)
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Nutrition: per serving
-
kcal506
-
fat34g
-
saturates12g
-
carbs5g
-
sugars1g
low
-
fibre0g
-
protein43g
high
-
salt0.84g
low
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Method
-
step 1
Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Have a shelf ready in the middle of the oven without any shelves above it.
-
step 2
Scatter 1 roughly chopped onion and 2 roughly chopped carrots over the base of a roasting tin that fits the whole 1 ½ kg chicken, but doesn’t swamp it.
-
step 3
Season the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, then stuff with 2 lemon halves and a small bunch of thyme, if using.
-
step 4
Sit the chicken on the vegetables, smother the breast and legs all over with 25g softened butter, then season the outside with salt and pepper.
-
step 5
Place in the oven and leave, undisturbed, for 1 hr 20 mins – this will give you a perfectly roasted chicken. To check, pierce the thigh with a skewer and the juices should run clear.
-
step 6
Carefully remove the tin from the oven and, using a pair of tongs, lift the chicken to a dish or board to rest for 15-20 mins. As you lift the dish, let any juices from the chicken pour out of the cavity into the roasting tin.
-
step 7
While the chicken is resting, make the gravy. Place the roasting tin over a low flame, then stir in 1 tbsp flour and sizzle until you have a light brown, sandy paste.
-
step 8
Gradually pour in 250ml chicken stock, stirring all the time, until you have a thickened sauce.
-
step 9
Simmer for 2 mins, using a wooden spoon to stir, scraping any sticky bits from the tin.
-
step 10
Strain the gravy into a small saucepan, then simmer and season to taste. When you carve the bird, add any extra juices to the gravy.
How long to cook roast chicken
- A 1.5kg chicken will be perfectly roasted after 1 hr 20 mins at 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.
- It doesn’t matter what you stuff into it, rub or sprinkle over it or put around it, this timing never changes.
- Remember this and you will always be able to roast a chicken.
Barney Desmazery
As Good Food's longest-serving team member, Barney has written and tested thousands of recipes, worked with many of Britain's top chefs and created videos, live events and masterclasses. After gaining a chef's dipolma and working in restaurants across London, France and Australia, he joined Good Food, where he specialises in sourdough baking, foraging, seasonal ingredients and open-fire cooking. Barney has also published his own cookbook One Dish Four Ways. See Barney’s recipes.
Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2008
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A star rating of 4.8 out of 5.199 ratings
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