Herb Roasted Chicken

This chicken is so flavorful & looks amazing. Everyone always seems so impressed when I serve it. You'll never believe how easy it is! It takes a little while to cook, but it's low maintenance. Perfect for a Sunday Dinner! You can put the chicken in the oven & forget about it while you get the side dishes fixed.

Ingredients:

1- 4-5 lb Whole Roasting Chicken

1 bundle of Fresh Thyme

1 bundle of Fresh Rosemary

1 bundles of Fresh Parsley

The cloves of 1 whole head of Garlic, paper removed

Salt & Pepper

(for the Herb Butter)

4 tbsp Butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 tbsp of each: Thyme, Rosemary, & Parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the softened butter in a small dish.

Chop your herbs.

Combine the softened butter & the chopped herbs. Set aside.

Remove the giblets from the cavity of the chicken & wash the inside & out side of the bird. Pat dry with paper towels & place in a pan. I used a 5.5 quart dutch oven because my roasting pan is huge.  It works great, and it's easy to make gravy in it after the chicken is finished too.  But if you have a small roasting pan with a rack, use that!

Season the inside of the chicken with salt & pepper then stuff all of the herbs in the cavity of the bird. Use any combo of herbs that you fancy!

All of this went into our bird.

Then rub the herb butter all over the skin of the chicken.

Make sure you get it all over!

Roast your chicken for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Then lower the oven to 375 degrees & cook for about 20 minutes per pound (total time). Or until the chicken is full cooked & a thermometer inserted between the breast & the thigh reads 165 degrees. I think the blast of hot right at the beginning crisps the skin while roasting for long period of time at a lower temperature keeps the meat tender & moist.

Look at that gorgeous herb stuffed chicken!

Carefully remove the chicken from the pan & place on a serving platter. Cover with tin foil & all the chicken to rest. DO NOT skip this step! This is what will make your chicken perfectly moist!

I made gravy with the drippings from the chicken. I wish I had taken pictures of the process, it turned out perfectly! All I did was take the chicken out of the pot (remember I used a dutch oven). Then I placed the pot on the stove over medium heat, added a few tablespoons of flour & whisked to incorporate & cook the flour. Once it turned into a caramel color rue, slowly whisk in some chicken broth. Just a little bit at a time until desired thickness.