Updated on December 17th, 2023
What I like best about this roast chicken is how simple it is! We bring it or cook it upside down. The result is a super moist and flavourful chicken with boiled potatoes, carrots, and onion, making it a complete meal. A roasted chicken meal is my idea of an exquisite Sunday dinner, and I’ll tell you why: it requires little prep, is reasonably priced, feeds a crowd, and the oven does all of the work! Smear it with a herb butter mixture, wrap it in vegetables, and bake it for about an hour! It’s one of the simplest meals you’ll ever make, but it tastes incredible.
Using the time and temperature guidelines recommended will ensure that the meat is cooked to the minimum safe internal temperature. This is critical in preventing food-borne illness caused by undercooked chicken. When cooking chicken, the best way to ensure proper doneness is to use an accurate meat thermometer.
Cooking Guidelines
- To begin, brine your chicken for 20-30 minutes in a mixture of water and a few tablespoons of salt. This will enhance the natural flavor and moisture of the chicken breasts, resulting in a super tender piece of meat.
- The secret to baking a great chicken is to cover it for about 60 minutes. And then finish it uncovered for another 20-30 min, or until clear juices run from the meat.
- It’s never necessary to cover chicken while baking because it’s OK to bake it uncovered. Once your chicken is placed in the oven, it requires less attention until you need to check the temperature.
- Basting is entirely unnecessary if you want crispy skin on your chicken. It also necessitates constantly opening the oven door, which causes the oven to lose heat and the chicken to take a longer time to cook, resulting in dry chicken. By smearing a herb butter mixture over the chicken’s outer and inner skin, you can ensure that the skin browns beautifully and tastes delicious.
- Allow your chicken to rest for about 10 minutes after removing it from the oven before carving it. Carefully transfer it to a chopping board and wrap it in tinfoil. While it rests, transfers the vegetables to a serving dish and make chicken gravy with the pan drippings and juices.
Cooking Time for a 6 lb Chicken
Like turkeys, there is no “one-time-fits-all” when it comes to cooking chickens. The cooking time for a chicken depends on two essential factors- the chicken’s size and the cooking equipment’s temperature. But for a 6 lb chicken, the cooking time will depend on the temperature of the cooking medium.
At 325°F
Roast the chicken at this temperature for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the skin is brown and crisp with the juices running clear.
At 350°F
Cooking Time for a chicken breast at 350°F (177°C) is 25 to 30 minutes. Observe the internal temperature with a meat thermometer to ensure it is 165°F (74°C).
At 375°F
Cook your chicken at this temperature for 20 minutes per pound or until the breast meat temperature reaches 165 degrees. Carefully remove the chicken from the oven tray and set it aside in the pan for 10 minutes to rest.
At 400°F
Roast the chickens for about 1 hour, 30 mins at 400 degrees, depending on the size of the birds. I calculate Time by taking the average weight of one of the chickens (say, 4.5 lbs) and multiplying it by 15 minutes per pound (that would be about 67 minutes for a 4.5 lb chicken).
