Simple Juicy Oven Roasted Whole Chicken Recipe

Tender, juicy, oven roasted whole chicken. The perfect main dish for a Sunday Dinner… Why buy expensive rotisserie chicken from the store when you can make a seasoned, soul-food style one right at home? This recipe comes with a light, homemade, “finger-licking good” gravy too! You can’t beat that! It’s simple, easy to prepare, and only takes 2 hrs to cook!

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Last Saturday evening I was trying to figure out what I wanted to cook for Sunday dinner and for whatever reason, I started reminiscing about my Grandma, Val and the Sunday dinner tradition he stood by. Lol!

So I thought about all the meals he’d cook for Sunday dinner, and his delicious roasted whole chicken came to mind. I tried to make it like his to the best of my ability, and this was the outcome.

If you’re new to my blog and haven’t read about McCloud before, let me share a little bit more about him. But let me first say this; I think this came out as close to his version as possible so I’m confident yall are gonna enjoy it.

You should have most of the ingredients in your kitchen cabinets, which makes this recipe even better. So scroll down and continue reading cause I didn’t type all this for nothing. Haha!

McCloud’s Oven Roasted Whole Chicken

My grandma Viola, husband Carlton McCloud, inspired me to create this recipe because he would often make a mean roasted whole chicken for Sunday dinner. It was always very tender, juicy, and well-seasoned.

It tastes much better than those bland, dry chickens you see rolling around in the rotisserie at local supermarkets. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you’ll find one that’s well-seasoned and edible, but most of them aren’t that good.

Every time I buy one, I end up having to take it home and dress it up myself to make it pop. One thing I don’t like is that the skin is never crispy, and that’s one of the things I enjoy the most about chicken.

McCloud would season the chicken so well and even add in a little slurry to create a thin finger-licking gravy. He would scoop the gravy and drippings and poured them over the chicken while it baked.

That would give it such a beautiful golden brown color and make the skin super crispy!  That’s why when I created this recipe, I decided to add gravy. I’m so used to having gravy with roasted whole chicken now.

McCloud made a delicious roasted whole chicken that was simple and easy to make. He didn’t marinate it or do anything extravagant. He just seasoned it well and used simple ingredients to produce a flavorful, juicy chicken.

Memories of Mom’s baked chicken

I can also remember Mom’s making this pretty often for dinner to. I love how my mom learned how to cook within a matter of 2-3 years. She stepped her game up once she got help from my nana, Alice Mae who I’ve also mentioned a lot on here.

I can remember being a kid in the ’90s and hearing my mom in the kitchen talking to Nana on the phone, taking advice from her as she made dinner. As most of you know, my nana, Alice, could cook her butt off, so no wonder my mom improved so fast.

My mom would buy the Perdue chicken from the store with the white plastic in the center that would pop up when the chicken was done. I used to find it fascinating how a white piece of plastic would pop up out of the chicken.

Anyway, check below for an instant thermometer you can use to check for doneness, and directly below is everything you need for this recipe, from the cooking utensils to the ingredients.

Tools:

• Casserole Dish: You need a casserole dish to bake the chicken in. Make sure you have a large one because this is a big size chicken.
• Big Spoon: Have a spoon on hand to stir the gravy in.
• Baster: Use this to suck up the drippings and broth and baste the chicken as it cooks.
• Knife: Make sure you have a sharp knife to remove the fat and excessive skin from the chicken.
• Cooking thermometer: A thermometer ensures you don’t overcook the chicken and tests for doneness.
• Measuring cup: Use this to measure the broth for the gravy accurately.
• Measuring Spoon: Measuring spoons are good for measuring the seasonings accurately.

What you need:

• Meat: Whole Chicken
• Vegetable add-ins: Onions
• Seasonings: Chicken flavor bouillon cubes, Seasoning salt, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Thyme, and Black pepper
• For the gravy: Chicken broth, Cornstarch, and Apple Cider Vinegar
• Fat: Butter

How to clean chicken

As I’m sure you know, some people dont clean their meat because they think the heat will kill all bacteria if any on the meat and feel cleaning meat spreads germs but I grew up knowing you should clean it so that’s what I do.

Something you absolutely must do before preparing the chicken like removing the excess fast and skin. It’s the soaking and scrubbing the chicken some people dont subscribe to.

• Remove fat: Use a knife or cooking scissors and remove the yellow fat.
• Remove excess skin: Cut off and remove the excessive skin as well. Excessive skin is the dangling skin you see and dont need.
• Remove the membrane: Take your hands and lift the skin on top of the chicken and remove the clear slimy stuff under the skin.
• Soak in a solution: A solution is a combination of products used to clean food, like salt and water, lemon juice and water, or vinegar and water. You can use either solution, but lemon water is my favorite because it lightens the chicken. Let it soak in the solution.
• Scrub and pat dry: Make sure to pay the chicken dry with a paper towel because adding the ingredients,

Slurry for gravy

As I said, I can’t do chicken without gravy, especially because of the sides I typically eat it with. But you do not have to add gravy, so feel free to skip this step if you just want a whole baked chicken.

• Slurry: Slurry is a simple gravy method where a liquid (broth or water) is combined with a thickener (flour or cornstarch) and placed over heat to create a gravy. This is a much easier alternative to the more common gravy method, referred to as a Roux.
• Broth or water: Broth gives the gravy more flavor and enhances the chicken flavor. Water can be used; the seasonings will give it its taste.
• Flour or cornstarch: Both flour and cornstarch are thickeners. Cornstarch results in a glossy, thinner gravy, and flour a dull, thicker gravy.

Temperature and cooking time

• Don’t cook on high: Do not cook the chicken at a high temperature. It’s just chicken! Doing so will dry your chicken out and leave it burnt and chewy. 350 is the perfect temperature for roasting a whole chicken because it keeps it juicy.
• Don’t cook long: Baking it for too long can have the same effect. It will dry the chicken out and change the texture of the meat.
• Aluminum foil? Aluminum foil isn’t needed for a roasted chicken. Chicken isn’t tough meat, so using aluminum foil to make it tender isn’t necessary. It’s already tender and juicy, especially since we’re not cooking it long, which helps preserve the juices.
• Cooking time: You’ll know it’s done when the juices are clear or by sticking a thermometer in the center and getting an internal temperature of 165 F. Baking it for exactly 2 hours always worked for me.

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How to make oven roasted whole chicken

1. Place the chicken in a baking dish.
2. Combine vinegar and melted butter and pour it over the chicken.
3. Sprinkle the seasonings all over and in the cavity of the chicken.
4. Chop the onions up and add them to the baking dish along with the bouillon cube.
5. Combine and add the slurry.
6. Bake for 2 hours or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165

Cooking Tips:

• Cover the tips: If you enjoy eating and sucking on the wing tips like I do, make sure to cover them both with a little piece of aluminum foil before baking the chicken, or else they will burn.
• Stir the gravy: Make sure to stir the bottom of the casserole dish a few times while the chicken bakes to prevent lumps from forming in the gravy. A nice 30-second stir always helps keep the gravy loose, especially during the last 30 minutes.
• Baste the chicken: Baste the chicken with the slurry and dripping so it doesn’t dry out and give the skin of the chicken a nice color. It also helps to get it a little crispy. Do this during the first hour before it thickens.

Variations:

• BBQ oven roasted whole chicken: Another way I love to make this is with sweet and spicy or honey bbq sauce. You’ll just add it to the chicken during the last 15-20 minutes of baking.
• Potatoes, carrots, or peppers: Potatoes, carrots, and peppers are a frequent choice of vegetables for this dish. People often bake their whole chicken with potatoes, carrots, and or peppers. I typically bake with onions and peppers myself.

Serving Suggestions:

• Egg noodles: Egg noodles are the perfect side dish for this dish, especially if you make it with gravy. Pour some of the chicken gravy over those buttery egg noodles, and you got yourself a real Sunday dinner.
• White rice: White rice is one of the most common dinner sides. Some buttery white rice, or any rice for that matter, with some butter, salt, and pepper smothered in gravy is ideal and will taste great with baked chicken. It’s my go-to when I can’t think of any side food to make.
• Macaroni and cheese: You can’t go wrong with baked mac and cheese and whole chicken. That’s a typical soul food combo right there.
• Potato salad: Potato salad tastes great with fried chicken, as we all know, but don’t sleep on a potato salad baked chicken combo… it tastes just as good.
• Green leafy vegetables: If you’re looking for any vegetable side, any leafy green vegetables will work… collard greens, spinach, broccoli, and even green beans, which are probably my favorite vegetable side, will make the perfect dinner.

Ok, now! Sometimes you have a lot of leftover chicken, especially if you didn’t make it for a large family or group of people. So before I get into leftover options, I have a great adolescent memory of leftover whole chicken I want to share.

Pam’s Monday afternoon chicken salad

My aunt Pam, who worked for the government, was off every other Monday. So if Carl baked a whole chicken for Sunday dinner and there was some meat leftover on Monday, Pam would remove the bones and ask me to help her chop up whatever meat was left.

We would make a good old-fashioned homemade chicken salad with it, and it was always FIYA!!! I have a Chicken Salad Recipe for that too, by the way, and I always use leftover meat from a baked whole chicken to make it.

Chicken salad will not taste as good using boneless chicken, so try to make it with leftover baked chicken. We would place the meat in a mixing bowl, add in some chopped celery, onions, & pickles, then mix in a little relish and mayo.

We didn’t really need to season it because it was already seasoned, but we’d sprinkle in a little salt and pepper if needed, as well as a pinch of garlic and onion powder. The mixture of white and dark meat made it so good!

We would always toast some bread, make a sandwich out of it, or eat it with plain chips on the side. Sometimes I’d just spread it over some saltine crackers and eat it like that. Man, o man, o man, those were the days.

Leftover options:

• Chicken Salad: You can make some chicken salad by chopping the chicken up into small pieces and combining it with mayo, relish, onions, celery, eggs, and whatever else you like in your chicken salad.
• Chicken Stew: If you have a lot of chicken left, you can cook simmer some fresh carrots and potatoes in some chicken broth until tender, add in some sauteed onions and peppers, and throw in the chicken and some flour to thicken the broth for a nice hearty chicken stew.
• BBQ Pulled Chicken: You can heat the sliced chicken and add it to a nice sweet, tangy BBQ sauce made of BBQ, as well as a little squirt of ketchup, honey or brown sugar, and mustard. Then add it to a toasted bun for a pulled chicken sandwich.
• Buffalo Chicken Dip: You can make a basic chicken dip recipe with the leftover chicken as well. Just combine the chicken with hot sauce, cream cheese, shredded Colby jack, and cheddar cheese, a little sauteed onions, and red peppers, and bam, you have chicken dip.

Storage and reheating:

• Make room: A whole chicken is big, and if there are leftovers, you can break it down so it doesn’t take us space in the frig. You can do this by simply pulling the skin and meat from the bones.
• How to store oven roasted whole chicken: To store the chicken (and bones if you want) place it in a ziploc bag. Make sure the chicken is sealed tightly and set in the refrigerator.
• Can you freeze it? Yes, chicken freezes nicely. Just make sure it’s tightly sealed to avoid freezer burn. Place it in a ziploc bag, sealed tightly, and store it in the freezer.
• How do you reheat it? You can simply reheat it in the microwave, over low heat in a skillet.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How does it last? 4 days but can last up to 3-6 months if you freeze it.

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Other chicken recipes you might like:

• The Best Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipe
• Curry Peanut Butter Chicken And Cabbage
• Easy Classic Chicken Salad Recipe 
• Baked BBQ Chicken Recipe

Alright guys, it was nice talking your ears off. Check out the recipe I know you’re gonna love it!!! And afterward, leave a comment below! Also, subscribe to get notifications every time I post a new recipe.

Last but not least, dont be a stranger. Follow me on social media to get updates on everything Philly Jay Cooking by clicking these handles: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Enjoy, later!
PBJ~

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Simple Juicy Oven Roasted Whole Chicken Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 6 reviews

• Author: PhillyboyJay
• Prep Time: 20mins
• Cook Time: 2hrs
• Total Time: 2hrs 20mins
• Yield: 6
• Category: Poultry
• Cuisine: Soul Food

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Description

Tender, juicy, oven-roasted whole chicken recipe. The perfect main dish for a Sunday dinner.

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Ingredients

• 4 Lb Whole Chicken
• 1/2 Cup Onions, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 Cup Cornstarch
• 2 Tbs Butter
• 4 Tsps Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 Cups Chicken Broth
• 2 Chicken Flavor Bouillon Cubes
• 2 Tsps Seasoning Salt
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Tsp Onion Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
• 1/4 Tsp Thyme

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Instructions

1. Place the chicken in a baking dish.
2. Place the butter in a bowl and melt it, then stir in the vinegar.
3. Pour the butter/vinegar mixture all over the chicken.
4. Season both sides of the chicken with the seasonings.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. Chop the onions and add them to the baking dish.
7. Pour the chicken broth into a bowl and stir in the cornstarch until well blended to create a slurry.
8. Pour the slurry into the baking dish and add in the bouillon cubes.
9. Place the chicken in the oven and bake for 2 hours, then remove.
10. Base the chicken with the slurry and chicken drippings periodically every 20 minutes for the first 1hr 20 mins of cooking.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 6