Sunday Roasted Whole Chicken Dinner, a very easy to follow recipe with cook times and instructions for the chicken, gravy, roast potatoes and vegetable side dishes
This is a lovely recipe which will give you rotisserie style chicken, with juicy meat and a crispy skin.
People often ask what goes well with Roast chicken, so I've also included cooking times and an order of instructions if you wanted to make the roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy to make this a complete full of flavor and easy recipe for a chicken dinner.
We make Roast Chicken most weekends, so I thought it was about time we updated the photos so any of you revisiting this recipe might wonder, it's the same recipe, we've just updated the pictures for you.
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Often people can feel a little intimidated at the thought of cooking a Sunday Roast Dinner.
It can turn into a nightmare if you don't organise yourself and get your timings right so that everything is ready at the right time.
A traditional Sunday Roast dinner would usually be made up of a joint of meat, whether it be a whole chicken, leg of lamb, joint of beef or pork, along with roast potatoes, Yorkshire Puddings, a selection of vegetables, and gravy.
The beauty of having a roast dinner is that any leftovers can be used the following day, such as roast chicken sandwiches, or chopping the cold meat into cubes and adding to a fried rice for your Monday dinner! Or why not try our delicious Creamy Chicken Cottage Pie using leftover cooked chicken.
So here we have our lovely Roast Chicken Dinner recipe.
There's also 'Bubble and Squeak' which is a mixture of all the left over vegetables and potatoes, fried up and eaten with gravy the following day.
So you may think you would never get through a joint of meat or a whole chicken, but it really can save you money as larger cuts of meat are often cheaper, and much tastier when cooked whole.
Here you will be shown how to roast a whole chicken and keep it moist, and also get a nice crispy skin.
We will keep it healthy, using very little oil, and no butter.
There's also a link to how to make crispy crunchy roast potatoes, so trust me, this recipe doesn't require any skill, apart from thinking about your timings, but you do that every day when you have to get up for work or catch a bus right?
At the end of our Roast Chicken dinner recipe, I've added a few other side dishes if you'd like to make those instead of the side dishes in this recipe.
They're all very popular recipe and are suitable for any time of year as the ingredients are always available in the supermarkets. Please enjoy!
Ingredients
The chicken
1 Whole chicken. Allow a 4lb bird for 4 persons
1 onion Sliced
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Tablespoons Tarragon or mixed herbs of your choice
Juice of 1 lemon plus remainder of lemon cut into pieces
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
The Gravy
2 Tablespoon cornflour or gravy thickener (follow thickener guide for quantity)
500 ml or ½ quart of boiling water or better, use the water from the vegetables you have cooked.
1 chicken stock cube.
salt & pepper if needed.
Juices from the roasted chicken
The potatoes
Calculate roughly 2 medium-sized potatoes per person.
See here for cooking instructions for roasting potatoes
The vegetables
Choose vegetables that you like and are in season. for example, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, carrots, cabbage etc. Whatever takes your fancy!
Instructions
1. Turn oven on to 220C, 425F, Gas 7
Prepare the chicken.
2. Remove any innards if necessary.
Tidy the bird up. First, tuck the wings underneath so they're not exposed and get burnt. See photos .
3. We will be cooking the chicken on a very high heat to keep it moist and succulent.
We have to make sure it cooks evenly, so now we need to make a slit in between the leg and the main body of the chicken on both sides.
This area is generally the thickest part and takes longer to cook, so by doing this we will make sure the legs will cook at the same speed at the white meat.
If you are going to boil your vegetables, keep the used water to add to your gravy. It’s full of vitamins and will add flavor to your gravy!
4. Line a roasting tin with foil (easier to wash up after!).
5. Peel and slice the onion into circles and place on the bottom of the tray. The chicken will sit on top of the onions.
Adding onions will flavor the juices in the tray which will be added to the gravy and also the steam from the onions cooking will keep the chicken moist as well as add flavor.
6. Make up a quick wet marinade. Add the garlic, lemon juice, tarragon, olive oil & salt and pepper into a mortar and pestle and beat until mashed together.
If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, mix together in a bowl, you will need to pass the garlic through a garlic press first.
7. Rub the marinade all over the chicken and place the chicken on the onions, in your roasting tray.
Add the bits of lemon left over from the juice in the cavity of the chicken.
8. Place a sheet of foil over the chicken, lifting in the center (pinch it and pull slightly) so the foil is not touching the top of the chicken.
This will allow for heat and steam to circulate better and the skin won't stick to the foil.
The photo below shows a variation marinade I often use.
I have flat leaf parsley, garlic, red currant jelly and olive oil, together with some sliced onions on the top, as well as underneath the chicken.
So delicious!
Feel free to make up some other herb variations of your choice too.
9. Place the chicken in the oven and allow 15 minutes per pound. So a 4lb chicken would take 1 hour total cooking time at the temperature listed above.
10. At this point, prepare the roast potatoes and place in the oven after the chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes. See here for our Roast Potatoes recipe
Prepare your chosen vegetables.
11. Start cooking your vegetables when you have taken your chicken out of the oven.
If you want to cook them now, you will need to keep them warm somewhere or reheat.
12. Take the chicken out of the oven after 45 minutes, and remove the foil from the top.
Spoon any juices into a gravy saucepan and return the chicken to the oven for the last 15 minutes to brown up.
At this point, start cooking your vegetables.
Make up the gravy.
If you are boiling the vegetables, use the cooked vegetable water and add to a saucepan, together with the other gravy ingredients and heat up, stir to make sure there are no lumps.
If you are using a different size chicken, take the foil off 15 minutes before the end cooking time for the chicken to brown.
13. When the cooking time is up for the chicken, take it out of the oven and cover with the foil you removed from step 12.
Let it rest until your potatoes are ready or for about 15 minutes.
If you try and carve the white meat when it is too hot and not rested it will all fall apart and make a mess! So be patient and let the meat rest!
14. Carve the chicken.
I usually start by removing the leg & wing from one side and then carve the breast on that same side.
Then repeat the other side. Serve at the table with vegetables, potatoes & your delicious gravy!
Take a look at the photos and see how moist the white meat is.
Remember, we haven't used any butter, and just 1 Tablespoon of olive oil for the wet rub.
You can make this meal for sure! Just follow the instructions and you will be fine.
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our post. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
Recipe Card
Sunday Roast Chicken Dinner
Sunday Roasted Whole Chicken Dinner, a very easy to follow recipe with cook times and instructions for the chicken, gravy, roast potatoes and vegetable side dishes
Ingredients
The chicken
- 1 Whole chicken. Allow a 4lb bird for 4 persons
- 1 onion Sliced, see step 5 photo below
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Tarragon or mixed herbs of your choice
- pieces Juice of 1 lemon plus remainder of lemon cut into
- salt and pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
The Gravy
- 2 Tablespoon cornflour or gravy thickener, follow thickener guide for quantity
- 500 ml or ½ quart of boiling water or better, use the water from the vegetables you have cooked.
- 1 chicken stock cube.
- salt & pepper if needed.
- Juices from the roasted chicken
The potatoes
- Calculate roughly 2 medium sized potatoes per person.
The vegetables
- in Choose vegetables that you like and are season. for example, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, carrots,cabbage etc. Whatever takes your fancy!
Instructions
- Turn oven on to 220C, 425F, Gas 7
- Prepare the chicken. Give it a wash and remove any innards if necessary.
- Tidy the bird up. first, tuck the wings underneath so they're not exposed and get burnt.
- We will be cooking the chicken on a very high heat to keep it moist and succulent. We have to make sure it cooks evenly, so now we need to make a slit in between the leg and the main body of the chicken on both sides. This area is generally the thickest part and takes longer to cook, so by doing this we will make sure the legs will cook at the same speed at the white meat.
- Line a roasting tin with foil (easier to wash up after!).
- Peel and slice onion into circles and place on the bottom of the tray. The chicken will sit on top of the onions.
- Adding onions will flavour the juices in the tray which will be added to the gravy and also the steam from the onions cooking will keep the chicken moist as well as add flavour.
- Make up a quick wet marinade. Add the garlic, lemon juice, tarragon, olive oil & salt and pepper into a mortar and pestle and beat until mashed together. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, mix together in a bowl, you will need to pass the garlic through a garlic press first.
- Rub the marinade all over the chicken and place the chicken on the onions, in your roasting tray. Add the bits of lemon left over from the juice in the cavity of the chicken.
- Place a sheet of foil over the chicken , lifting in the center (pinch it and pull slightly) so the foil is not touching the top of the chicken. This will allow for heat and steam to circulate better and the skin won't stick to the foil.
- Place the chicken in the oven and allow 15 minutes per pound. So a 4lb chicken would take 1 hour total cooking time at the temperature listed above.
- At this point, prepare the roast potatoes and place in the oven after the chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes.
- Prepare your chosen vegetables. Start cooking your vegetables when you have taken your chicken out of the oven. If you want to cook them now, you will need to keep them warm somewhere or reheat.
- Take the chicken out of the oven after 45 minutes, and remove the foil from the top. Spoon any juices into a gravy saucepan and return the chicken to the oven for the last 15 minutes to brown up.
- At this point, start cooking your vegetables.
- Make up the gravy. If you are boiling the vegetables, use the cooked vegetable water and add to a saucepan, together with the other gravy ingredients and heat up, stir to make sure there are no lumps.
- If you are using a different size chicken, take the foil off 15 minutes before the end cooking time for the chicken to brown.
- When the cooking time is up for the chicken, take it out of the oven and cover with the foil you removed from step 12. Let it rest until your potatoes are ready or for about 15 minutes.
- If you try and carve the white meat when it is too hot and not rested it will all fall apart and make a mess! So be patient and let the meat rest!
- Carve the chicken. I usually start by removing the leg & wing from one side and then carve the breast on that same side. Then repeat the other side. Serve at the table with vegetables, potatoes & your delicious gravy!
- Remember, we haven't used any butter, and just 1 Tablespoon of olive oil for the wet rub. You can make this meal for sure! Just follow the instructions and you will be fine.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 6Amount Per Serving: Calories: 704Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 209mgSodium: 377mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 5gSugar: 8gProtein: 70g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate
and something for dessert which is nice and easy and you can make ahead too! Easy Mandarin Dessert
Delicious Roast Dinner Ideas
Here's a selection of delicious Roast Dinners for you to enjoy!
Roast Beef Dinner with cook times for rare, medium and well done. Juicy tender beef served with all the sides!
Chinese Roast Chicken is a nice aromatic tasting dish with Chinese flavors, serve as a dinner or appetizer using some lovely pastry wraps. Delicious!
How to Cook Prime Rib Roast. Full of flavor, tender and juicy, this will not disappoint your diners!
How to make Slow Cooker Roast. Use Beef, pork etc, leaves your meat full of flavour and of course super tender! Easy Instructions.
Best Pork Roast Ever! A lovely marinade which will give great flavor and keep your pork juicy. Great for the oven of grill.
Honey Glazed Ham. Super easy recipe and guaranteed to be packed full of flavour and very moist. Perfect served warm or cold, or both!
Char Sui Pork, Chinese Barbecue Pork is a delicious recipe, full of flavor. It's sticky, sweet and slightly caramelised and goes perfect with a bowl of ramen, fried rice or simply eaten on it's own as an appetizer!
Yorkshire Pudding, a.k.a. popovers are so delicious! Serve as part of a main meal with lots of gravy, or as an appetizer and fill them with goodies. You can also serve these as a dessert, adding some nice fruits or pie filling and ice cream! You decide. They are so yummy! Make in one pan or mini muffins.
Super Crispy Crunchy Roast Potatoes. Crispy on the outside and fluffy inside!
Super Crispy Crunchy Roast Parsnips are the perfect accompaniment to a Roast dinner. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside!
Roasted Flattened Chicken. A quick and easy way to roast chicken and keep it moist. Way better than rotisserie! Serve as part of a hot dinner or have cold cuts!
Hawaiian Chicken - A great dinner idea with wonderful caramelised pineapples on top and cooked it a delicious sauce! Serve with cous cous, rice, mashed potatoes, whatever you enjoy!
BBQ Bacon Stuffed Chicken. A wonderful flavored piece of chicken, stuffed with bacon and other goodies, and coated in a homemade rub. Perfect for Grilling / BBQ or oven. You choose!
Spicy Tandoori Chicken Drumsticks is a wonderful baked or grilled recipe using a homemade spice mix. Full of flavor and great for a dinner or to serve at a party!
Herb Crusted Stuffed Chicken, a delicious juicy baked chicken breast stuffed with cream cheese and spinach and coated in crispy breadcrumbs.
Flattened Moist BBQ Garlic and Lemon Chicken with a delicious marinade to give you juicy chicken every time. Easy instructions of how to cut a whole chicken into portions.
Roast Pork and Crackling - Let me show you the easy trick to getting a nice crispy crackling PLUS tender juicy meat!
Brown Sugar Roasted Pork Loin with Cream Cheese Stuffing. This is a lovely recipe using tender pork loin, stuffed with peppers, cream cheese, spinach and garlic then rolled with a delicious Brown sugared spice rub. Oven roasted, this joint of meat comes out nice and juicy and full of flavor
Cauliflower Cheese. Ideal if you need to make ahead. Simply put it in the oven when you're ready! This is great as a main meal or served as a side, with a nice roast dinner, or ham.
Cowboy Chuck Roast A super easy and great tasting dinner! Slow cooker too!
~Doreen
says:I have noted on the Roast Chicken recipe you should wash the chicken this is a very big NO NO in the UK This is a certain way to spread food poisoning. Environmental health in the UK advises against this practice just get in touch with any Environmental Health Department the UK which can be found on the local councils websites. This practice was outlawed in the mid 1970’s I should know I was in catering and this is what the environmental officer when they gave us some training. This has not changed since then obviously I do not know what other countries advise.
Sue
says:Why does everyone have the need to cook using alfoil..? I never cook with it
Stevie
says:Hi, I’m going to try this method as i think too many times we overcook the meat and dry it up. I am however concerned about the advice to wash the chicken due to the high risk of spreading harmful germs that are present in most chicken today, can you please confirm that this is good practice?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Stevie, you are right, in the uk there is a health and safety thing where they are advising not to wash poultry in the sink due to the risk of bacteria. If you have concerns, then please do following the advice on the packaging regarding not washing the chicken. However, if you make sure you don’t splash the water everywhere and clean down the sink area after washing the chicken you will be fine (the guidelines also suggest that using an anti bacterial spray, such as dettol kitchen spray etc). Personally, I like to wash the chicken and clean down the sink straight afterwards. It is government advice because as you know, not everyone’s hygiene standards are great and some people simply aren’t aware of the risk of cross contamination when handling raw meat.
I hope this helps!!
Sue
says:You’re giving a 5 star to a recipe you’ve never cooked? NiCE ONE!!
Zubia khan
says:Its so easy and delicious chicken roast recipe – perfect for Iftar dinner. I’ll must try this
Vic Radin
says:Suggestion from an ancient cook: Splaycock the chicken, rub both sides with the marinade. I use Yukon Gold potatoes cut into large wedges- enough to fill the bottom of your roasting pan as they (and the onions) become a rack for the chicken to rest on while cooking. Splaycocking also allows more even cooking time between breast and leg/thigh, and cuts overall time by 10-15 minutes.
lovefoodies
says:Thanks Vic for your suggestion. We also have a guide with recipe for something similar to what you have described if people feel inclined to prepare their chicken in a spatchcock style, https://lovefoodies.com/flattened-moist-bbq-garlic–lemon-chicken.html#.Uhr7mBvI2So
Belle Aurora
says:looks really yummmmy
lovefoodies
says:Thank you Danielle!
jackmaetal
says:thanks for the repost i’ll definitely try this the next time i do a sunday roast. i’m currently using the temp of 175 degrees for my roast
lovefoodies
says:Hi Jack,
yes, definitely try this method as I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised at how moist it is :)
Linda Nortje
says:Thank you for sharing this recipe at the ALL MY BLOGGY FRIENDS party !
lovefoodies
says:Thanks very much for hosting Linda!