There’s nothing I love more than a flavorful, juicy chicken with crunchy skin. This chicken gives me all that and then some, and it couldn’t be easier.
Ingredients:
- 4-6lb whole chicken
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- 1 lemon
- 1/4 c fresh chopped parsley
- 1 T coconut oil, melted
- sea salt and fresh-cracked black pepper
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Thoroughly rinse chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Don’t forget the inside too!
- Cut the lemon and onion into wedges. Crush the garlic cloves.
- Rub the outside of the chicken with the melted coconut oil. Then rub the chicken with one or two of the garlic cloves. Season the chicken inside and out with sea salt and black pepper.
- Place the lemon, onion, garlic cloves, and parsley inside the body cavity of the chicken. Place the chicken breast side down on a wire rack in a roasting pan or on a large baking tray.
- Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, and then turn the temperature down to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Continue roasting the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 in the thigh. (For me, this usually takes about 45 minutes at 325.)
- Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest for AT LEAST 15 minutes before carving. Remember that there’ll be hold-over cooking so it’ll actually get hotter before it starts to cool.
By cooking this chicken on a rack, the breast skin isn’t crispy, but it’s extremely flavorful. All the rest of the skin is crispy though, and the meat is permeated with the flavors of the parsley, onion, garlic, and lemon. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the herbs. Thyme, dill, basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, cilantro — any of these herbs would be delicious! (Obviously, don’t use them all at the same time!)