I am a big fan of roasting whole chickens, particularly because they are so darn affordable. I can get a good five to six pound chicken for only around$3.50 at Aldi. For only $3.50, we are able to get a dinner out of the chicken and usually enough for sandwiches or for taco meat the next day.
Since we eat roasted chickens often, I wanted to start sharing my chicken recipes and different variations that we experiment with. I ran across this recipe and thought we would give it a try.
This chicken is incredibly moist and flavorful and the smell drove me mad because my stomach growled the entire two hours that this cooked.
This recipe is very simple, but elegant enough to entertain with. We served this with a side of mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.
I do want to warn you to either spray your roaster really well with nonstick cooking spray or line your roasting pan with foil because the balsamic vinegar became almost like a tar on my dish and required much scrubbing and soaking before I was able to get all of the vinegar off of the bottom.
I hope your family can give this recipe a try. The thing that I loved most about it was that these were ingredients that I already had in my pantry so I didn’t have to buy anything special to make this dish.
Make sure to make two of these because you will regret it if you only make one…they are that good!
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons herbes de Provence
1 medium lemon, juiced and halves reserved
1 (5-6 pound) roasting chicken
4 sprigs rosemary
8 cloves garlic (I omitted this and used garlic powder instead)
1 thinly sliced white onion (also omitted because we do not like onions)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, herbes de Provence, and lemon juice in a bowl, whisking until emulsified. our over the chicken, taking care to completely coat it. Insert the reserved squeezed lemons, plus the rosemary & garlic into the cavity. Layer the onions in a roasting pan and place the chicken on top (I just used a roasting rack). Put the chicken in the oven and cook at 350 for two hours, basting it occasionally.