Classic roast chicken & gravy
Prep
15 mins
Cook
1 hr 30 mins
Servings
4
Difficulty
Hard
There's nothing quite like a Sunday roast chicken to bring everyone to the table, and honestly, this one couldn't be simpler. You stuff it with lemon and thyme, roast it until the skin is golden and crackling, then make the most luscious gravy from the pan juices. The whole thing takes just 90 minutes from start to finish, which means you can have a restaurant quality meal on the table without spending your afternoon in the kitchen. Plus, free range chicken is packed with more protein and nutrients than conventional varieties, making this comfort food actually good for you. It's the kind of recipe that looks impressive but requires almost no fuss, just good ingredients and a bit of patience.
Ella x
Ingredients
- 11 onion roughly chopped
- 12 carrots roughly chopped
- 11 free range chicken about 1.5kg/3lb 5oz
- 11 lemon halved
- 1 smallbunch thyme(optional)
- 25 gbutter softened
- 1 tbspplain flour
- 250 mlchicken stock(a cube is fine)
Detail level
Instructions
- 1
Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Have a shelf ready in the middle of the oven without any shelves above it.
- 2
Scatter 1 roughly chopped onion and 2 roughly chopped carrots over the base of a roasting tin that fits the whole 1 ½ kg chicken, but doesn’t swamp it.
- 3
Season the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, then stuff with 2 lemon halves and a small bunch of thyme, if using.
- 4
Sit the chicken on the vegetables, smother the breast and legs all over with 25g softened butter, then season the outside with salt and pepper.
- 5
Place in the oven and leave, undisturbed, for 1 hr 20 mins – this will give you a perfectly roasted chicken. To check, pierce the thigh with a skewer and the juices should run clear.
- 6
Carefully remove the tin from the oven and, using a pair of tongs, lift the chicken to a dish or board to rest for 15-20 mins. As you lift the dish, let any juices from the chicken pour out of the cavity into the roasting tin.
- 7
While the chicken is resting, make the gravy. Place the roasting tin over a low flame, then stir in 1 tbsp flour and sizzle until you have a light brown, sandy paste.
- 8
Gradually pour in 250ml chicken stock, stirring all the time, until you have a thickened sauce.
- 9
Simmer for 2 mins, using a wooden spoon to stir, scraping any sticky bits from the tin.
- 10
Strain the gravy into a small saucepan, then simmer and season to taste. When you carve the bird, add any extra juices to the gravy.
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