Little girls learn a lot from their mothers. How to put on make-up, how to sew a button, how to be gracious, polite, and respectful. Some of the most valuable lessons my mom taught me were in the kitchen. She has all sorts of sayings and anecdotes for everything. (She says things like “salt is needed for a flavorful life.”) But one lesson that has helped me since moving out, was how to cook chicken.
I have many memories in the kitchen watching my mom cook. I’d watch her as she would use the pressure cooker to boil peanuts (my favorite!), use a hand-mixer to bake her famous cookies, and one thing I always looked forward to was when she would take the turbo machine (convection oven) from the garage to cook chicken. The skin would get so crisp and the chicken was so juicy and flavorful. If you’ve never heard of “turbo chicken”– you MUST google it.
I don’t have a turbo (yet) so roasted chicken in the oven is my go-to chicken dish. This is an easy one pot meal. No need to make additional sides (unless you want to), this chicken is cooked with a plethora of winter root vegetables. During the spring and summer months, you can substitute with veggies of the season. The best part of this chicken: you can use any leftover meat and vegetables to make one delicious chicken noodle soup!
Whole Roasted Chicken with Winter Root Vegetables
Ingredients
3-4 pounds whole chicken, skin on, giblets removed
3 medium carrots, peeled, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 medium russet potatoes, cubed
1-2 pound butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2-3 parsnips, peeled, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 Tbsp olive oil
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
fresh thyme and rosemary
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove chicken from fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Be sure to remove giblets, if necessary.
2. Meanwhile, cut all your vegetables. Place in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs. Toss to combine. Set aside.
3. Rinse the chicken under running water. Place chicken in baking dish, roasting pan, or a shallow baking pan like photographed above. Use a clean paper towel to pat the chicken dry.
4. Generously salt and pepper the chicken- inside and outside. Season with chopped herbs. Tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place prepared vegetables around chicken.
5. Roast chicken and vegetables for 45-60 minutes. By this time the skin should be a nice golden brown. To check for doneness, remove pan from oven and use an instant-read thermometer to measure the temperature of the thighs. At 165 degrees, the chicken is safe to eat. However, I prefer to cook the tights to at least 175-180 degrees. If thigh is not at temperature, place pan back in the oven and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Then check temperature again.
6. Once done, remove chicken from roasting dish. Transfer to a cutting board or serving platter and allow to rest for a little bit before cutting into. Slice the chicken and serve with accompanying vegetables.
