Yesterday I cooked up an Onion Garlic Roasted Chicken and it is so delicious I just had to share it with you! This recipe is now my favorite way to prepare a roasted chicken. A couple years ago I thought roasting a chicken was a daunting task. Then I tried it out and realized just how easy it is! We make a roasted chicken about once a month to supplement the wild game meat we harvest each fall. 
What I especially love about roasting a chicken is that it is the most affordable way to cook chicken. A whole chicken is cheaper per pound than buying cuts parts of the chicken. A whole chicken at the natural food store in town costs $1.59 per pound. Compare that to the chicken breasts which were $7.99 per pound. That’s quite a price difference! Plus we get about 3-4 meals out of a roasted chicken with all the extra meat I glean from the carcass AND a couple quarts of homemade chicken broth to use for making soups.
I used to make Lemon Roasted Chicken all the time. Then one time I didn’t have a lemon on hand and decided to use onion and garlic to stuff in the cavity of the bird. Wow! The flavor is just amazing. The onion and garlic not only adds a delicious flavor to the meat of the chicken, it flavors the juice as well. I always make a chicken gravy from the juice in the roasting pan and it turned out so tasty! The homemade chicken broth I make from cooking down the chicken carcass also has the added bonus of a delicious onion garlic flavor which enhances all the meals I use it in.
You can make a roasted chicken several ways. If you will be away from home all day, place the chicken in a crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the chicken reaches the desired 180 degree internal temperature. We occasionally roast our chicken outdoors off-grid in a dutch oven. When I bake indoors at home, I use this blue enameled cast iron dutch oven
Onion Garlic Roasted Chicken
Ingredients:
-
- one whole chicken, thawed
- 1 small/medium white onion
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- salt
- pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- large roasting pan with a snug fitting lid
2. Peel the garlic cloves and slice in thirds
3. Rinse the chicken and remove any innards packed inside the bird.
4. Optional: I prefer to remove most of the skin on the bird since we end up removing it before eating anyway. You can either remove the skin or leave it on, either way it turns out juicy.
5. Place the chicken breast side up in a large roasting pan with a snug fitting lid. Place the chopped onions and garlic inside the cavity of the chicken.
6. Evenly sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder over top the chicken.
7. Optional: Pour 1/2 cup of water into the bottom of the pan so there is extra liquid for making gravy.
8. Place the snug fitting lid on top and bake at 400 degrees for one to two hours. We use our meat thermometer to test the chicken and ensure it reaches 180 degrees, the recommended cooking temperature for a chicken.
Making a roasted chicken is easy, affordable and delicious! Since we make a roasted chicken about once per month, we’re planning to raise our own meat chickens this year now that we have the space at our new homestead. I bet our roasted chicken will be even tastier when we make it with chickens we raise ourselves!
This recipe looks delicious AND it fits the paleo autoimmune protocol (a rare thing). So, thank you! I recently started a weekly Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable through my blog, and I would love it if you linked up this recipe. I’m trying to expand resources for the AIP community. Here’s the link: http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2014/03/12/paleo-aip-recipe-roundtable-18/
Thank you for the invite! I don’t follow the paleo autoimmune protocol but I’ve heard of it. I didn’t realize this recipe fits. I’ll be hopping over to visit your recipe roundtable!
Sounds fabulous. One of my favorite ways to roast chicken is to add a whole lot of fresh rosemary with onion into the cavity.