5-ingredient sweet and zesty roast chicken recipe with all the trimmings in under 2 hours!
We Brits love our traditional Sunday roasts and our golden turkeys at Christmas time. But, I’ve always wanted to provide a full roast dinner for the boys during the week, to send their tummies into a blissful sleep before another busy day at school. So, armed with my new beautiful – and very English style – Doris & Co roasting items (more on those below) and a 1.8kg whole chicken, I set about creating a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings and with just enough time to chat before the scheduled bedtime routine – all squeezed in just under 2 hours!
Sweet and Zesty Roast Chicken Dinner with all the trimmings
Inspired by the Zesty Roast Chicken recipe from Lewis of Radlett butchers
Here’s how:
Ingredients
- 1.8kg/4lb Whole Chicken – serves 4
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 2 lemons
- 4 carrots
- 2 cloves of garlic
Optional extras
- Stuffing – I used Kent’s Kitchen Ready-made Cranberry & Orange Stuffing, to complement the sweet and zesty chicken
- Gravy – I used ready-made gravy, but you can make your own using the chicken’s giblets, 1 chopped red onion, 2 OXO beef/chicken cubes and a couple of tablespoons of the chicken’s cooked juices. It only takes a few minutes, so make it when the chicken is resting under the foil.
For seasoning
- Sunflower oil
- Sprig of rosemary
- Salt and Pepper
- 50g Butter (room temperature)
- 1 clove garlic or garlic granules
Method
1/ Preheat your oven to 190C/170F/Gas Mark 5
2/ Heat up the oil in your roasting tin whilst you squeeze lemon all over the chicken.
3/ Pop the remains, along with some rosemary and a couple of garlic cloves inside the chicken.
4/ Place the chicken in the middle of the roasting tin, within the hot oil.
5/ Grate 1 clove garlic or use 1 teaspoon of garlic granules and add to the butter, along with a pinch of salt and pepper.
6/ Brush all over the chicken, with a pastry brush, including the legs.
7/ You will be roasting the chicken in the centre of the oven for a total of 1 ½ hours, basting with the butter and juices in the roasting tin every 20 minutes.
8/ Whilst roasting for the first 20 minutes, prepare your vegetables
9/ Add the carrots and onions with the chicken at 40 minutes (2nd baste) and cover with the juices.
10/ Add the sweet potatoes in at 1 hour (3rd baste) and cover with the juices. You can add more oil and season with salt and pepper at this point, if needed.
11/ Time to prepare the stuffing, Follow the packet instructions if you are using ready-made. For Kent’s Kitchen’s version, it was as simple as adding boiling hot water, leaving the granules to stand in the measuring jug for a bit and then forming them into balls.
12/ At 1 hour 20 minutes (4th baste), add the stuffing balls around the chicken and cook for a further 10 minutes. Check the chicken is cooked at 1 hour 30 minutes to see whether its juices are running clear. If not, it’s not cooked yet. Baste for a 5th time and then put it back in for another 10 minutes. You’ve got to make sure that chicken is cooked thoroughly!
13/ Once cooked at around 1 ½ hours, remove from the oven and place on your roasting dish.
14/ Cover with foil and rest the chicken for around 10 minutes to make the chicken meat juicier.
15/ Grab a couple of tablespoons of the chicken juices and add to a measuring jug to make the gravy (if using).
16/ Crank up the oven to 220C/200F/GM 7 and cook the remaining ingredients for around 15 minutes until they are all crisp.
17/ Serve with broccoli, green beans or any mixed vegetables (optional)
Here were my timings for cooking the roast on a school night.
15:50 – Place chicken in the oven
16:10 – Baste at 20 minutes
16:30 – Baste at 40 minutes, add the carrots and onions.
16:50 – Baste at 1 hour, add the sweet potato, salt and pepper and prepare the stuffing balls, if using
17:10 – Baste at 1 hour 20 and add the stuffing balls to the vegetables in the roasting dish. Cook for a further 10 minutes
17:20 – Check the chicken at 1 hour 30 minutes. If not cooked, baste again for the 5th time and cook for a further 10 minutes. Keep cooking and checking every 10 minutes, until the juices run clear and the chicken is cooked through.
17:30 – Remove from the oven and place on a roasting dish. Cover in tin foil and rest for ten minutes. Cook the remaining vegetables at 220C for another 15 minutes.
17:45 – Serve with other mixed vegetables and gravy, if using.
Products I used for my roast chicken dinner
3. Enough Is as Good as A Feast Manciple Oven Dish
Kent’s Kitchen Cranberry & Orange Stuffing – from March Degustabox
Any ideas on how to make a quick roast dinner for the family? Please leave your tips below.
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Leyla Preston is the owner and Editor of Motherhood Diaries global magazine for parents. Leyla is a busy mother of two even busier boys; Aron, 5, and Aidan, 4. When Leyla isn’t feeding, managing a gazillion tasks or cleaning the infinite mess at home, she is busy working on this magazine and a new cooking channel coming very soon – no rest for the wicked! You can follow Leyla on Twitter (@M_Diaries) or join the busy Motherhood Diaries Facebook group where all mums get together and share stories and solutions with one another: https://www.facebook.com//groups/motherhooddiaries/
