Roast Chicken with Herbs de Provence
This whole roast chicken is a wonderfully flavored dish to serve for family events and dinners. Flavored with a mixture of herbs and spices, it requires minimal prep and guarantees perfectly cooked chicken every time.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 onions peeled and thick-sliced from top to bottom
- 6 Fresh thyme sprigs divided
- 4 Fresh rosemary sprigs divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 3-4 pound organic chicken
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried Herbes de Provence
- 2 teaspoons dried edible lavender
- 2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes
- ½ lemon
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup inexpensive white wine chicken broth or water
Instructions
- Cover a large sheet pan with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.
- Place the sliced onions, 3 thyme sprigs and 2 rosemary sprigs on the baking sheet and drizzle with 1-tablespoon olive oil.
- Place a metal rack over (or inside if it will fit) the tray and spray the metal rack with nonstick cooking spray.
- Pat the chicken with paper towels to remove any excess moisture, and set it on the sprayed rack.
- Rub the remaining 1-tablespoon oil all over the chicken and liberally season it, inside and out, with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Sprinkle the breast-side of the chicken with 1½ teaspoons Herbes de Provence, 1 teaspoon lavender and 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper.
- Set the chicken, breast-side down, on the rack, and season the top-side (now the backbone side) with the remaining Herbes de Provence, lavender and Aleppo pepper.
- Place the half lemon, garlic, 3 thyme sprigs and 2 rosemary sprigs in the cavity of the chicken.
- *At this point, the chicken can be cooked after the oven preheats, or it can be refrigerated (uncovered) up to one day ahead.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450°F. Set the chicken on the baking sheet in the oven and pour the wine (or broth or water) into the rimmed baking sheet.
- Cook 20 minutes, and reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. Rotate the chicken and cook an additional 40 minutes. If the chicken if browning too quickly, loosely tent the chicken with foil, and cook another 20 minutes. The chicken should be dark golden brown.
- Check the internal temperature of the chicken at this point.
- When done, the internal temperature should register 165°F in the middle of a breast and 178°F-180°F in the middle of the thigh meat.
- If the chicken needs to cook longer, check the temperature every 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. The total time can be anywhere from 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a cooling rack, cover loosely with foil and let sit for 15 minutes.
- When cool enough to carve, cut the chicken into pieces and place the pieces on a serving platter.
- Drizzle with pan juices and serve with toasty bread and green salad.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Adapted from Susan Spungen’s Open Kitchen cookbook
- This chicken can be prepped up to 2 days before, left uncovered and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead. Remove it from the fridge while the oven preheats about 30 minutes before cooking.
- You might notice the chicken is cooked breast-side down. I believe cooking the chicken this way (as with a turkey) the breast meat stays juicier.
- If you prep the chicken ahead of time, be sure that it is at room temperature before you roast it.
- Let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes before you carve it. This will help the whole roast chicken keep nice and juicy
Nutrition
Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 122mg | Sodium: 1882mg | Potassium: 497mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 666IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 4mg