I have been looking all my cooking life for THE Roast Chicken Recipe, and I’m pretty sure I’ve found it. This recipe is for all of you busy moms on the go , a roast chicken that your family will love is mere minutes of prep away and is so simple! Stop right now and print, bookmark, pin or otherwise save this recipe. Write it on a recipe card. I don’t care how, but you NEED to save this recipe from now on. I honestly don’t think I will ever make roast chicken (or turkey, for that matter, just you wait until Thanksgiving!) any other way. This post has been updated from 2015.

Chopped Roast Chicken in a white square plate on a dining table

Roasted Chicken Using Butter and Herbs

This is basically a gorgeous, large, and in charge roast chicken that was cooked using ONE CUP of butter. I’ll pass the smelling salts out now to those of you who just fainted. That’s right folks…one whole cup of butter. Let that sink in for a moment because as soon as it really hits you, you are going to realize that there is just no way this recipe isn’t anything other than freaking fantastic. What truly makes this fantastic is that it is so incredibly easy to make, you guys. The ingredients are so simple for the chicken and then when you add in my laziness, I came up with the perfect roast chicken meal.

raw chicken covered in herb butter before roasting on top of vegetables in roaster

It was Easter and we were barely home from our three months in Arizona. I was very happy to be home in my kitchen, don’t get me wrong, but we had only three weeks to clean all of our laundry, organize care of the house, the animals, and the garden, and clean the entire yard. Cooking was actually a priority, believe it or not, because I knew that I wouldn’t be touching a stove for a couple of months. I had to get some recipes done that I could post while I was here in Europe. However, I’m not one for complex recipes that take all day, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed that. I wanted to fiddle around with some devilled eggs instead of a chicken all day long.

roast chicken on a platter on dinner table

Tips & Tricks For Roast Chicken

The trick to this roasted chicken recipe is that it combines almost all of the tricks of the roasting chicken trade into one recipe.

Placing cut lemons inside for moisture helps immensely. This is a moist, juicy chicken!
The butter and herbs are essential for taste and crispy skin. Not only that, the butter and herbs trickle down into the vegetables, making everything flavored and buttery.
Another secret that chefs use is oil to make sure that the skin crisps up. You don’t need a lot of it, but it helps!
Having the vegetables roasted at the same time for optimal taste and ease is a lifesaver for busy moms on the go!

Close up of a whole roast chicken on a white plate

The chicken bakes up so perfectly delicious and crispy that I’ve found my go-to chicken recipe for a solid roast chicken. The herb butter melts into those vegetables and cooks right in, saturating them from the inside out with flavor. The chicken isn’t dry in the slightest with all the moisture used. It’s so amazing that I wish I was writing a chicken cookbook right now. In fact, if I write a savory cookbook next, this is going to be in it, without a doubt. It’s that darn good.

More Recipes for Cooking a Whole Chicken:

Chicken recipes using chicken legs, thighs and breast pieces:

Make sure to use a nice large chicken for the best taste, around 5-7 lbs is a great size (I picked mine up at Acme Meat Market here in Edmonton). I really hope that you guys give this one a whirl!

Love,

Karlynn