How long to cook chicken per pound?

Make your own flavorful, tender, juicy oven-roasted chicken with the seasoning you prefer instead of purchasing that pre-cooked rotisserie chicken to save money.

Coming home from church to the aroma of a roast chicken in the oven is the best feeling ever. After that, we would all gather for Sunday supper, where the main course would be roasted chicken. [feast_advanced_jump_to].

We served a roasted chicken without waiting for a special occasion dinner. All year long, it is served, typically on Sundays because that is when we had the time to slow roast it in the oven.

However, since we relocated and will only be hosting a smaller number of guests for the holidays, this Roasted Chicken recipe will probably also appear on our table.

Pro Tips:

Thaw the Chicken completely before using. If you bought it frozen, allow it to thaw in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.

Don’t Wash the Chicken, because that will only contaminate your sink. Any bacteria will be killed in the hot oven while it bakes, so just dry it off with paper towels.

Calculate How Long to Cook: After you decrease the temperature, you will bake it for 20 minutes per pound. So, if your chicken weighs 4 pounds, cook it for roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Use a Thermometer to test for doneness. Chicken is cooked when it reaches 165°F (or just shy of that, as it will continue to cook as it rests under the aluminum foil). If it tastes dry, it was overcooked.

Rest: Allowing the chicken to rest after it has baked allows the juices to soak back into the meat, making it more moist and tender.

Don’t Baste the Chicken: Basting the chicken is unnecessary to get a crispy skin and can actually cause the chicken to be dryer since you are constantly opening the oven and letting the heat out, which will cause it to take longer to cook.

Ingredients For how to roast the perfect whole chicken

1 whole chicken

-roasting pan

-meat thermometer

How to Roast a Chicken:

Chicken preparation involves removing the bird from its packaging and cleaning out the cavity of the neck and giblets. They can either be thrown away or boiled and added to your chicken gravy. Pat the chicken dry all over with paper towels.

Cover with Herb Butter: In a small bowl, combine the butter, lemon zest, rosemary, salt, and pepper. To remove the skin from the top of the chicken breasts, use your fingers, and then spread some of the herb butter underneath. Season the outside of the chicken with salt and pepper. Microwave remaining herb butter to make it soft. Smear butter all over the outside of the chicken. Add any extra butter mixture inside the cavity. Lemons should be cut in half and placed inside the chicken’s cavity.

Place chopped vegetables in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish to add. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Put the chicken on top of the vegetables and sprinkle it with salt and pepper to roast it. For 10-15 minutes, roast chicken in an uncovered oven set to 450°F. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 20 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Juices should be sizzling and clear, and the skin should be golden brown.

When the chicken is finished cooking, take it out of the oven and cover it loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil to let it rest. Before carving, let it rest for about 10 minutes to allow the juices to settle. The meat will lose its juice and become more tough and chewy if you cut it right away.

Serve this whole roasted chicken and vegetables with my homemade rolls, carving the chicken to serve with the roasted vegetables and reserving the pan drippings to make chicken gravy.

How long do you roast a chicken per pound?