Herb Butter Roasted Chicken is the easiest roast chicken recipe you’ll ever make! Chicken is slathered in herby garlic butter, and stuffed with an onion and lemon. It’s the perfect roast chicken!

Roast Chicken is a great Sunday dinner recipe, and perfect if you enjoy leftovers!

You get crispy skin from a butter filled with fresh herbs, and minimal prep work.

If you need the best roast chicken recipe, give this one a try!

In my humble roast chicken opinion, it’s the best way to get tender meat, flavor-filled pan drippings for gravy later, and a beautifully roasted chicken.

How to Make a Whole Roast Chicken

First, let’s chat about a simple roast chicken recipe that won’t leave you with overcooked chicken! Plus a few tips when choosing a whole bird in the supermarket.

If you’ve roasted a turkey, you can roast a chicken. If you’ve roasted a chicken, you can roast a turkey!

A general rule of thumb is the size of the chicken shouldn’t be too big, or too small. If you’re feeding a crowd, and know you need a larger bird, it’s better to roast two chickens at one time, than buy the bigger bird.

A smaller chicken yields less cooking time, but juicier meat, and overall tenderness.

5-6 pounds is the sweet spot for the perfect-sized chicken. It’s a standard size, and anything more than this, you might end up drying out the breast meat, and not getting the best results.

If this is your first time roasting a whole chicken, you’re going to get messy. Raw chicken is just plain gross, and it’s a good idea to use food-safe gloves if you want to!

You need to work on a surface that is easily cleaned and expect to disinfect any surfaces you and the chicken touch.

When you remove your chicken from the packaging, some companies bag the gizzards, others don’t. Just reach into your bird’s cavity and get those out. You can save them if you’re making stock, or if you enjoy eating them.

Me, I just toss them! Don’t tell my grandmother.

Seasoning a 5-Pound Chicken

Here’s my controversial method for “seasoning” my roasted chickens.

After I have blotted the chicken dry with paper towels, I like to use one whole stick of Kerrygold Garlic and Herb Butter. That’s it! I take half of the butter and push it under the skin, then use the rest on top of the chicken, getting it all over the chicken legs, wings, and both sides.

seasoning a chicken with kerrygold garlic herb butter

This flavor-packed butter has everything you need inside of it. It’s chives, parsley, garlic, dill, salt, paprika, and pepper. I’d say that’s good enough!

The milk solids in the butter help the chicken brown perfectly, something olive oil can’t do. Yes! You could definitely use olive oil on the outside of the chicken, I just prefer butter.

I do like to place a cut lemon and onion inside the chicken cavity.

Now, could you add other things?? Yes! For sure!!

I’ve dry brined the fresh chicken before, and that is a great way to get super crispy skin!

If you’re wondering what dry brining is, you can follow the same method as I use in Grandma’s Roasted Turkey recipe!

Basically, you’ll sprinkle salt over the bird and leave it in your fridge, uncovered for a while. I like to do this overnight, so the salt pulls out all the moisture from the skin.

You might think this would dry out the entire chicken. But, it doesn’t! Once we add a layer of butter under the skin, and all over the chicken, a moist, tender, and super juicy bird comes out of your oven.

Back to seasoning! Here are so many other ways you could season your baked whole chicken.

Use any of the following spices with a mix of salt and pepper to create your own dry rub!

Poultry Seasoning — if you like the warm spices of Thanksgiving, use the sage-forward blend for a cozy comfortable meal.

Herbs de Provence — this is a very traditional herb blend to use on baked chicken. It’s got it all, too!

Smokehouse Maple — this is a smokey, slightly sweet, and savory spice blend that is great if you want a smokey bird.

Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning — McCormick makes great seasoning blends, and this one will have your people thinking you picked up a rotisserie chicken from Costco!

Whatever you choose to season your chicken with, be sure to add some salt and black pepper to the inside cavity of the chicken.

Once you’ve got your chicken seasoned, it’s time to tie the legs closed with kitchen twine and get the bird in the oven.

Roasting a Whole Chicken in the Oven

You’ll need a few things to roast the best chicken.

A roasting pan with a wire rack is helpful. It can be the same one you use for your turkey! Do you absolutely need this? Nope! I don’t even own a roasting pan. I should!

I use a heavy Staub casserole dish, and like to roast the chicken over carrots and onions in the bottom of the pan.

I’ve only got one oven, and when I’m making a Sunday Roast Dinner, I have to conserve oven space. Plus, the juices from the chicken baste the carrots and onions and make them the most delicious things you’ve ever eaten!

After using the Staub baking dish and carrots a few times, I will warn you the bottom of the chicken does not get crispy. That’s the “beauty” of using a wire rack, you’re getting air circulating around the cooking chicken.

There’s no need to cover the chicken in aluminum foil. The best roast chicken recipe cooks at a high temperature of 425 degrees f, and that high heat helps get the skin crispy!

Put your chicken into the oven at 425 degrees, and let it cook for one and a half hours.

I like to baste the bird starting at the 20-minute to-go mark. With 20 minutes left on the cooking time, I will take the bird’s internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer, gauge how much longer it might need, and get to basting.

This turkey baster from OXO is great and cleans up really well. Just tilt the pan so the juices flow to one side, pull some liquid up into the baster, and squeeze it out all over the top of the chicken.

Once your chicken is cooked fully through, you can let the chicken rest on a cutting board tented with aluminum foil.

How do you know if your chicken is cooked through?? You can take its temperature with a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh and make sure it’s above 165 degrees, preferably closer to 175.

Serving this Herb Butter Roasted Chicken Dinner

Woo hoo!! You made your first roast chicken! Now, it’s time to serve with some great side dishes. Here’s a tutorial on how to carve your whole-roasted chicken!

classic mashed potatoes for thanksgiving

I love serving this with Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes! They’re so creamy and perfect for drowning in gravy.

Roasted Mini Potatoes are another great side dish to serve for your complete meal. You can use red potatoes or little Yukon golds.

Skillet Grilled Green Beans, these are grilled right in a cast iron skillet, and pair so well!

Of course, a giant Wedge Salad for a Crowd is another great way to eat this meal.

This easy roast chicken recipe is great for weeknight dinners when you know you want to make soup the next day or make some homemade stock.

Save your carcass and toss it into your slow cooker with some onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cover with water and let it simmer on low all day long! You’ll have the best homemade chicken stock with no effort!

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