Anyone who loves butter and garlic (and who doesn’t!?) will adore this Garlic Butter Roast Chicken recipe!
A whole chicken is smothered with an easy homemade garlic butter and stuffed with fresh herbs and onion. Then it’s roasted to juicy and tender perfection in the oven.
With just about 5 minutes prep, what could be more mouthwatering than a simple recipe like this one?
A Perfect Roast Chicken Recipe
There are lots of reasons we think this is the best chicken recipe.
- The preparation is so simple, but yields such fantastic results.
- It needs just a few ingredients but packs so much flavor.
- The chicken turns juicy with extra crispy skin, it’s a perfect meal.
- Roast chicken goes with almost any side dish.
- Leftover roasted chicken can be enjoyed hot or used for meal prep or even chicken salad. Save the carcass for Homemade Chicken Stock.
Ingredients
CHICKEN Use a whole chicken for this recipe, preferably between 3½-4 lbs for a quick roasting time. This recipe would work fine with other poultry like a small turkey, grouse, or cornish hen. Just adjust cooking time according to size.
HERBS & ONION No need to make a fancy stuffing. Just stuff the bird with half an onion and some fresh rosemary, thyme, or parsley. These are optional but do add extra flavor to the meat.
GARLIC & BUTTER Garlic and butter are mixed with a bit of olive oil before spreading on the chicken. Feel free to add lemon to the pan as well, or other herbs, plus extra garlic. Add in some kosher salt and a sprinkle of pepper to taste.
How to Make Garlic Butter Roast Chicken
This chicken recipe takes minutes to prep and the rest of the time is hands off.
- Season the chicken and stuff the cavity with herbs and onion.
- Prep the garlic mixture and spread over the chicken or under the skin if desired per the recipe notes below.
- Place the chicken, breast side up, in a roasting pan, put into the oven, and reduce the heat. Roast per recipe below.
Swap out the cast iron skillet for a large rimmed baking pan and add vegetables like potatoes and carrots.
The Drippings
We like to serve this chicken as is and use the pan drippings to drizzle over the meat, cooked rice or mashed potatoes.
Since it’s higher in fat, you can use drippings and browned bits in this recipe to make a roux for gravy with prepared chicken broth.
Tips for Juicy Chicken
- Pat chicken dry thoroughly with a paper towel, inside and out. A dried-off bird ends up juicier on the inside with crispy skin.
- Tie the legs with kitchen twine and tuck the wings under for even cooking.
- Preheat the oven to a 450°F to sear the outside of the chicken. Lowering temperature cooks a bit slower and the result is perfectly tender chicken with crispy skin.
- We love to cook this in a cast-iron dish but an oven safe sauce pan or a casserole dish will work too (no rack is required). Use a larger pan if you’d like to add veggies.
- Cook chicken until the juices run clear and it reaches 165°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh (not touching the bone).
- Let the chicken rest 10-15 minutes before carving.
Got Leftovers?
Leftover roast chicken can be kept in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to four days and can be frozen. The frozen chicken will taste best if used within four months. Add it to Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole or make a tasty Chicken Gnocchi Soup for a whole new meal!
Savory Sides for Chicken
- Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts – so cheesy & delicious
- Creamy Asparagus – made on the stovetop
- Oven Roasted Veggies – sweet & savory
- Roasted Carrots and Parsnips – so easy to make
- Roasted Delicata Squash – elegant yet easy
Did you make this Garlic Butter Roast Chicken? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Garlic Butter Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 ½ to 4 pound whole chicken
- ½ medium onion
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 sprig rosemary or parsley
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped, more to taste
- kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 450°F.
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Ensure the cavity of the chicken is empty by removing the bag of giblets and neck. (Not all chickens will have these.)
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Dab the chicken dry with a paper towel and season the inside and outside with salt and pepper.
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Cut the onion in half (so you have two quarters of an onion) and place the onion and thyme inside the cavity of the chicken. If the legs are not tied together, use kitchen twine to tie them.
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Combine butter, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves). Mix well.
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Spread the garlic butter mixture over the skin of the chicken *see note. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
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Place the chicken in a cast iron or ceramic baking dish. Herbs, onions, lemons, & garlic can be added to the pan if desired.
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Place the chicken in the oven and reduce the heat to 425°F. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the juices run clear and the chicken reaches 165°F.
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Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest 10-15 minutes before serving.
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Serve with the melted garlic butter in the pan if desired.
Video
Notes
- Garlic Butter Option: I prefer to spread the garlic butter mixture over the skin of the chicken. If you'd like, half of the garlic butter can be placed under the skin to infuse the butter into the meat. Use your fingers to gently separate the skin from the breast meat and add the butter mixture under the skin. Massage it around the chicken breast to spread it over the meat between the skin and the meat. Spread a thin layer of the remaining butter mixture over the skin.
- Pat chicken dry with a paper towel, inside and out.
- Tie the legs with kitchen twine and tuck the wings under for even cooking.
- Lemons, additional onion, or garlic can be added to the baking pan if desired.
- Preheat the oven to a 450°F to sear the outside of the chicken. Lowering temperature cooks a bit slower and the result is perfectly tender chicken with crispy skin.
- Cook chicken until the juices run clear and it reaches 165°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh (not touching the bone).
- Nutrition information includes half of the butter mixture as not all of it is absorbed into the chicken.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American
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*Pro Tip* If you want to bake this at 425, do not use fresh garlic. Garlic burns at temperatures greater than 375. My suggestion, pre-heat to 375 and reduce temp to 350 when you put the bird in. Bake at 350 for an hour and a half, to two hours, depending on the size of your bird. Patience is a virtue in this scenario, and sometimes low and slow is best. But if you don’t mind burnt garlic, carry on my wayward son.
Other than that, it was delicious!
Absolutely excellent! The flavor is wonderful and the parts that should be crispy are perfect. This chicken will meet all tastes of the family. The drumsticks are too few! We should have chickens with 6 or 8! The breast meat is juicy and flavorful – Enjoy! (And make sure you stock up on this in your freezer-it will become part of your frequent entrees!)
Delicious! Definitely a recipe we will be making on a regular basis!
The garlic on top of the skin burned to a crisp in half the time it took to cook the chicken. I pulled the burnt garlic off and the chicken was good but all roasted chicken is good. I’m at a loss for how so many people gave this 5 stars. I’ve cooked a lot of roast chicken and I should have known better. Garlic burns at 400+ degrees F.
My favorite roasted chicken recipe! I’ve been making whole roasted chicken for years and this is by far the best! It’s always juicy and never dry. I like to add rosemary with the thyme/butter mixture and I do spread some of it under the skin. I also add onion and baby carrots with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper around the chicken. It’s so yummy! Thanks for a great recipe!
That sounds delicious, thanks for sharing Hannah!
So how long to bake at 450 before reducing the temp to 425??
This doesn’t bake at 450 at all, place the chicken in the oven and immediately reduce the heat.
Best recipe ever!
This is soooooo good and easy!! Thank you!!!!
I have a 5.5 lb chicken, what would you recommend for the cooking time?
Cook chicken until the juices run clear and it reaches 165°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh (not touching the bone). You will need approximately an extra 15-20 minutes for the chicken to cook.
incredible! I made this for my girlfriend and it was fantastic! The left overs were even better! You can’t go wrong with this recipe!
This bird was delish!! I followed the recipe exactly then took the recommendation of stuffing with fresh lemon, thyme l, rosemary & onion wedges
Great recipe! The chicken shad a crispy skin and the meat was very juicy. This is a definite keeper since it is probably the best chicken I have made and I have tried many other recipes. Thanks for sharing!
I am going to make this tomorrow as we have a big snow storm coming so perfect for a day inside. However I already chopped all my onions that I had. What would you recommend if I do not have a half onion to put in? I am going to try and run to the store in the morning but in case the snows already too bad just want to have a back up.
The onion is optional, so if you don’t have one you can leave it out and it will slightly change the flavor but will still be delicious. I would love to hear how it turns out Brittany!
Hi, I’m trying this for our Sunday dinner. It’s different from the usual way I roast our chicken. I looked at the comments and I couldn’t find anything about covering the dish… if so how long before the cover is removed..? I can’t wait to try this one out and hopefully I’ll be making this my standard roasted chicken recipe
Hi Brett, we bake this uncovered. If we find it begins to brown too much, we lightly cover the skin with foil. Enjoy!