Melissa's Oven Roasted Chicken With Potatoes And Carrots

I had been trying to figure out a way to make my at-home baked chicken taste more like those rotisseries you buy at the store.   I wanted the skin brown and flavorful, the meat juicy.   Instead, the skin kept coming out pale and bland, the meat dry.  I also learned that your results will be slightly different with a roaster chicken, as apposed to a fryer chicken...   Roasters are meant specially for roasting and have a different texture.   But after doing some searching on the internet for a good baking time  for a roaster, and adding my own favorite flavors, I came up with a great recipe!   I don't miss the store-bought rotisseries at all, with this one.   I baked it and it came out just the way I like!  Even my picky husband was a fan.   So I would like to share it here with everyone.

Melissa’s Oven-Roasted Chicken With Potatoes And Carrots

Ingredients:

1 whole raw roaster chicken, thawed (5 to 5.6 lbs)

½ tsp salt (or more/less, to taste)

¼ tsp ground black pepper (or more/less to taste)

½ tsp dried rosemary, crumbled or ground

1 tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp poultry seasoning

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, softened

1 cup chicken broth

4 medium potatoes, halved (or more, for extra people)

2 cups baby carrots

1 medium onion, diced
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1.        Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.        Wash chicken with cold water, inside and out.  Thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. 

3.       Place chicken in a large roasting pan, about 2 inches deep.  Chicken should be breast side up.  

4.       Blend spices together in a bowl (salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, poultry seasoning).  Rub spices all over the chicken.  

5.       Pack butter/margarine down on top of the chicken breast.   The butter will melt as the chicken cooks, and baste the chicken.   Do not rub the butter all over the chicken, this tends to wipe the spices off, since the butter doesn’t always stick to the chicken.  

6.       Pile the vegetables all around the chicken (potatoes, carrots, onions).   You can even throw a few onion chunks inside the chicken for flavor.   You can also salt and pepper the vegetables, if you like.   

7.       Pour chicken broth around the chicken, letting it drizzle over the vegetables for flavor.  Try to make sure as much of the vegetables are touching the broth in the bottom of the pan as possible.  Drizzle lemon juice all over the chicken and vegetables.

8.       Place pan with chicken and vegetables in the oven, on a center rack.   Do not cover.   The chicken gets brown much better without a covering. 

9.       Bake chicken at 350 for EXACTLY 2 hours.   Open the oven to baste the entire chicken thoroughly  with juices about every 45 minutes. 

10.   Carefully remove the chicken/vegetable pan from the oven.   Baste the chicken one last time, and then tightly cover with foil.   Let the chicken rest on the counter like this for about 15 minutes.   This will allow the juices to settle into the meat, so it will be more juicy (cutting the bird too soon will cause the juices to run out and the meat will get dry).   Serve.