Whole Roasted Chicken and Potatoes Recipe
One-Pan Whole Roasted Chicken and Potatoes Recipe: A whole chicken placed on a bed of thick-sliced Yukon gold potatoes roasted in the oven.
Potatoes get creamy as they roast with the help of the drippings from the chicken. This Whole30 and Paleo-friendly recipe is made with only 7 ingredients and requires 30 minutes of hands-on time.
Servings 4 servings
Calories 680kcal
Ingredients
- 1 3 ½ - to 4 pounds whole chicken, giblets discarded
- Kosher Salt and black pepper
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
- 2 cloves of garlic peeled and minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest plus lemon wedges for serving
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes sliced into 1-inch thick pieces
- Lemon wedges for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Start with making the seasoning: In a bowl, mix vegetable oil, garlic, thyme, paprika, lemon zest, 1-teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and pat dry with paper towels.
- Using your fingers or a handle of a spoon, gently loosen the skin of the chicken from breast and thighs making sure to not tear the skin. Rub the seasoning all over the chicken and underneath the skin of the breast, directly onto the meat. Truss the chicken or if it is easier tie the legs together and tuck wings behind back. Let it sit on the counter uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven: Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Prep the potatoes: Toss potatoes with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, 1 ½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Arrange them flat sides down in a single layer in an oven-safe 10 or 12-inch nonstick skillet*. Place it over medium heat and cook without moving them for 7-9 minutes or until lightly brown on the bottom.
- Assemble & Roast: Place chicken, breast side up, on top of potatoes, and transfer it to the oven. Let it roast for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until breast registers 160 degrees when a thermometer is inserted in the middle.
- Let it rest & serve: Remove skillet from the oven and transfer chicken to a carving board and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Carve chicken and serve with potatoes and lemon wedges.
Notes
Notes:
A Word On Roasting Chicken and Potatoes Together: To me, the magic of this recipe comes from roasting chicken and potatoes in the same pan. As the chicken roasts, its drippings get soaked by potatoes leaving you with perfectly flavored pillowy potatoes. Here, I would like to note that the original recipe suggested roasting potatoes for another 20 minutes after the chicken was cooked and removed from the skillet. In all my three testings of this recipe, my potatoes were fully cooked when the chicken breast was registered between 160 to 175 F degrees. In the recipe below, I did not include that step, but if for some reason, your potatoes are not fully cooked you can remove the chicken and put the pan back in the oven to roast them for another 20 minutes. Variations:
A Word On Roasting Chicken and Potatoes Together: To me, the magic of this recipe comes from roasting chicken and potatoes in the same pan. As the chicken roasts, its drippings get soaked by potatoes leaving you with perfectly flavored pillowy potatoes. Here, I would like to note that the original recipe suggested roasting potatoes for another 20 minutes after the chicken was cooked and removed from the skillet. In all my three testings of this recipe, my potatoes were fully cooked when the chicken breast was registered between 160 to 175 F degrees. In the recipe below, I did not include that step, but if for some reason, your potatoes are not fully cooked you can remove the chicken and put the pan back in the oven to roast them for another 20 minutes. Variations:
- Swap vegetable oil with butter and add in more garlic: If you want to switch things up, you can make a garlic butter rub by using 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter (in place of vegetable oil) and add in 2 more cloves of garlic to the seasoning mix I used in the recipe below.
- Use red potatoes instead of Yukon Gold: While I am a big fan of the creamy Yukon Gold potatoes I have also made this recipe using red potatoes in the past and it turned out very good.
- Add in some carrots in the pan: If you have some carrots on hand slice them 1-inch thick and add them into the pan. You may have to use fewer potatoes to fit them all in, but the sweetness coming from carrots will surely be a nice addition to the overall recipe.
- Use rosemary instead of thyme: If I am making this around Thanksgiving or Christmas, I usually switch thyme with an equal amount of fresh chopped rosemary for some holiday flavors.
Nutrition
Calories: 680kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 143mg | Sodium: 148mg | Potassium: 1332mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 684IU | Vitamin C: 51mg | Calcium: 55mg | Iron: 4mg