Healthy Roasted Chicken- The Clean Eating Couple

A simple recipe for a Whole Roasted Chicken! Learn how to cook a chicken in the oven for a healthy meal with just a few ingredients.

Whole Roasted Chicken on a white plate with herbs off to the side

Roasting a whole chicken is hands down one of my favorite dinners! It is so easy to do, budget friendly, and tastes amazing!

If you’ve never cooked a whole chicken – don’t worry, I’ve outlined all the best tips for you in this post!

Oven Roasted chicken on a white plate sliced with veggies and potatoes off to the side

This easy roast chicken recipe is perfect if you are hosting a dinner party or need a simple meal to feed your family. It’s juicy, flavorful, and delicious!

Table of Contents

Why you should roast a whole chicken

Save $$- Whole chickens are ridiculously cheap. In fact, the ones I bought were almost 75% less than the price of a package of chicken breasts. If you are looking to Eat Healthy on a Budget, this is a great option!
Easy to cook – In addition to being cheap – they’re super easy to cook. Taking out the giblets and organs may seem really icky.. but I promise it’s not as bad as it seems and many chickens come without them!
Great leftovers – I get 2 meals out of this.. because after we eat the meat that’s on the chicken, I throw all of the bones back into the crockpot, fill it with water and make easy crockpot bone broth. You can also use the chicken in Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup or Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad.

Ingredients

There’s really no ‘wrong’ ingredient for roast chicken – but here are our favorite things to use:

5 lb whole roasting chicken
carrots, onion, celery, lemon, garlic clove
fresh thyme, fresh rosemary
black pepper, salt
olive oil
chicken stock or water

Oven Roasted Chicken substitutions

Chicken: You can follow this recipe with a smaller chicken or larger chicken but may need to adjust cooking time. If you prefer plain chicken breasts, you can use this boneless chicken breast recipe.

Olive Oil: You can substitute melted butter or avocado oil in place of olive oil.

Herbs: You can sub any spices/herbs you like in this recipe. Thyme, Rosemary, and Sage are all great! This Herb Roasted Chicken is another delicious way to cook a chicken!

Veggies: You don’t need to use vegetables in this recipe, but I think they add great flavor

Low Fodmap: Omit garlic/onions

We love this instant-read thermometer for checking the internal temperature to make sure your meat is cooked thoroughly!

Less than $10!

How to Roast a Chicken

Making a chicken is easier than you think!

Pat chicken dry and place the chicken in a baking dish or roasting pan. Remove any giblets or organs from the center of the chicken.
Stuff chicken with carrots, onion, garlic, celery & lemon. Leave extra vegetables and lemon around the chicken in the dish.
Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen string/twine(you don’t have to do this but it helps create a more evenly cooked chicken as the breast, legs, thighs all cook differently). Pour chicken stock into base of the baking dish.
Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and rub the olive oil all over the skin of the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Bake the chicken uncovered for 1 hour.
After an hour, cover the chicken with foil and bake for an additional 15-30 minutes. You can also baste the chicken with the drippings.
Use a meat thermometer to check internal temperature – it should be 165. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes. Slice + enjoy!

a raw roasted chicken before it goes in the oven

Easy Roasted chicken freshly baked out of the oven

You can also cook a whole chicken in your crockpot! Check out this Crockpot Whole Chicken recipe!

Make sure you also try this Crockpot Bone Broth recipe so you can use up those scraps!

How long to Roast a Chicken?

The cook time for a chicken depends on the weight of the bird. This 5 pound chicken only required about 1.5 hours.

A good rule to stick by is 20 minutes per lb, and cook to 165 degrees for the internal temperature.

Best temp to roast Chicken in the oven

The best temperature for roasting chicken is between 400 and 425 degrees. Anything lower will take longer, and anything higher can easily dry out the chicken.

The bigger your chicken is, the longer it will take to cook. You can estimate about 20 minutes for every pound.

A large knife slicing into an oven roasted chicken breast

Tips and Tricks

Don’t be afraid. People seem to be so grossed out or nervous about cooking a whole chicken… it’s really not that different than regular chicken breasts!

If you’re really grossed out by it (I mean, I get it.. sticking your hand in a chicken is weird and unpleasant), you can wear food grade gloves.

Make sure to clean out the inside of the chicken. Many chickens will come with the insides pre-cleaned. Sometimes they leave the organs inside in a little bag or pouch. You want to toss those (this is where those gloves come in handy.)

Always pat your chicken dry before coating in olive oil, stuffing, and seasoning it – This allows the skin to get really crispy + full absorb the flavors

Have patience. – An hour or two in the oven might seem like a long time, but it is SO worth it.

storage options

Storing: This roast chicken will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container. You can also freeze the bones to make homemade bone broth when it’s convenient for you.

Freezing: You can freeze this chicken for up to 6 months. We like these containers for freezing .

Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or oven. The microwave may cause the chicken to dry out some.

Using leftover roasted chicken

This recipe does make a lot of chicken which is great for the next day! Here are some of our favorite recipes to use up leftover chicken:

Sliced Oven Roasted Whole Chicken on a plate with potatoes and carrots

Recipe FAQs

Is it better to roast a chicken covered or uncovered?

The best roast chicken is a combo of baking covered and uncovered. We start this chicken roasting uncovered for an hour, then covered it for the remaining 30 minutes to lock in the moisture while maintaining a crispy skin.

How can you tell when the chicken is done?

The best way to tell when roast chicken is done is by using an internal temperature thermometer. Chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees internal temp. Make sure to insert the thermometer into the center of the chicken to get the most accurate read on the temperature.

What is the difference between roasting and baking a chicken?

Roasting and baking are basically the same thing. It means to cook something in your oven. Baking refers to things that don’t have structure already (a cake, cookies, etc) while roasting refers to things that already do have structure (meat, vegetables, etc)

Best pan for roasting chicken

Here’s a link to our favorite pan for roasting chicken. It has a trivet to prop up the chicken as well as easy to grip handles.

You can also roast chicken in any oven safe glass or ceramic baking dish.

Healthy side dishes

This roast chicken goes well with pretty much anything but here are some of our favorite healthy side dish recipes!

Love chicken? If so – here are some of our other favorite healthy chicken recipes!