Slow Roast Chicken

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Slow Roast Chicken, also called faux-tisserie chicken, is roasted for a long time at a low oven temperature. Slow Roast Chicken has perfectly tender meat that doesn’t dry out and sweet sticky skin. This is a simple and healthy home-cooked rotisserie chicken.

Hi friends,

It’s been a couple weeks. I was under the weather, and we’re also in the midst of buying a house. In fact, while this very chicken you see photographed here was in the oven, we were working on preparing our offer. I’ll save further details until things are more finalized, but I will forever associate this recipe with that day. Jonathan loves roast chicken, so this dinner was perfect to celebrate!

How Long Does it Take to Roast a Whole Chicken in the Oven?

When you’re roasting a whole chicken in the oven, you have two choices. Your first option is to roast the chicken at a high oven temperature for a shorter amount of time. This will give you super crispy skin. My recipe for Engagement Chicken has an oven temperature of 450 degrees. A five to six pound chicken cooks in an hour and 15 minutes at that temperature, making it more practical for a weeknight than a slow roast chicken. If you want the crispiest skin imaginable, let me steer you to that recipe here.

Your second option is to roast the chicken at a lower oven temperature for a longer amount of time. The four-pound chicken I used in this Slow Roast Chicken recipe took a full three hours at 300 degrees. Slow roasting a chicken will not give you crispy skin, but the meat gets so tender it’s practically falling off the bone, and it stays juicy and moist. Slow Roast Chicken is perfect for a weekend when you’re home doing things around the house. There’s very little prep work to get it into the oven, and then you can work on other things.

What Kind of Chicken to Use for Slow Roast Chicken?

I typically buy a mix of organic and conventionally raised food. If I’m cooking chicken to use in another recipe where it’s going to be covered in cheese or smothered in a sauce, I tend to buy conventionally raised chicken. In those cases, you’re not going to really taste the chicken that much anyway.

If I’m roasting a whole chicken just for us to eat, and all we’re eating is “plain” chicken, I will spring for an organic free-range chicken. You are going to get a little more flavor out of a free-range chicken than a regular chicken.

This advice is all related to taste and not meant to override your budget or personal preference. I would never tell someone they have to buy organic for the recipe to be good.

Ingredients for Slow Roast Chicken

Here are some of my main ingredients. I used a four-pound whole chicken. I stuffed it with lemon and garlic and used some seasonings, which I’ll show you in a later picture. Since I had the oven going anyway, I roasted some potatoes and carrots and a whole head of garlic.

What to Serve with Slow Roast Chicken

Potatoes are a great side with slow roast chicken because they cook in about the same amount of time at that low temperature. Starchy potatoes like russets are my favorite. I cut them in half and tossed with some olive oil and salt and pepper. I put the potatoes in the same roasting pan as the chicken so they could soak up some chicken pan juices. They came out absolutely delicious!

I ended up cooking some rice too because rice is a must-have for my husband with roast chicken. Feel free to substitute whatever starch you prefer, or leave it out completely for a lower-carb dinner.

I also included roast carrots and roast garlic in this recipe. They don’t take as long as the chicken and potatoes, so you add them mid-way in the cooking time. I like eating whole roast garlic cloves, but if you’re not a fan, that part is optional. Lastly, to complete the meal, I sautéed some spinach while the chicken was resting. Any green veggie you like would be good with the chicken – you can’t go wrong.

How to Make Slow Roast Chicken

After I stuffed the cavity of the chicken with lemon quarters and garlic cloves, I tied the legs together with cooking twine. Then I mixed together some olive oil, kosher salt, brown sugar, black pepper, and paprika.

The paprika helps give the chicken a nice color, and the sugar, salt, and paprika mix give it that sweet salty smoky flavor rotisserie chicken is known for. I rubbed the mix all over the chicken.

I spooned some of the pan juices over the chicken partway through the cook time to help keep it moist. Otherwise, once it’s in the oven, you don’t need to do much.

Let the chicken rest 10 minutes before carving and get ready to enjoy a comforting and healthy home-cooked dinner.

4.46 from 11 votes

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Slow Roast Chicken

Slow Roast Chicken, also called faux-tisserie chicken, is roasted for a long time at a low oven temperature. Slow Roast Chicken has perfectly tender meat that doesn’t dry out and sweet sticky skin. This is a simple and healthy home-cooked rotisserie chicken.

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American

Total Time 3 hours 20 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 640 kcal

Author Tara Leung

Ingredients

• 4 russet potatoes, peeled and halved (about 2 pounds)
• 8 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper
• 1 (4 pound) whole chicken
• 1 lemon, cut into quarters
• 4-5 cloves garlic (no need to peel)
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 12 ounces carrots
• 1 whole head garlic

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Place potatoes in a large roasting pan or oven-safe skillet. Toss with 3 tablespoons olive oil and salt and pepper. (Season with an amount of salt and pepper to your preference. The measured salt and pepper amounts in the ingredient list are for the chicken.)

3. Remove giblets from chicken and set aside for another use or discard. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Place chicken in pan with potatoes. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with lemon quarters and garlic cloves. Tie the legs together with cooking twine.

4. In a small bowl, mix together 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon pepper, and paprika. Rub mixture all over the outside of the chicken. (Lift up chicken to get the bottom of the thighs.)

5. Transfer to oven and cook chicken for about 3 hours total, until the skin is browned and the meat is very tender.

6. Meanwhile, toss carrots with 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt and pepper. Set aside in a smaller baking dish. Cut off the top 1/3 of the head of garlic and place garlic on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil over the cut top of garlic. Close foil over the top to cover.

7. After chicken has been roasting for 1 hour 45 minutes, spoon some of the pan juices over the chicken and turn over the potatoes. Add chicken back to oven and also put carrots into the oven. (The carrots need about 1 hour 15 minutes to bake.)
   

8. When chicken has 40 minutes left on timer, add garlic to the oven in the dish with the carrots. (The garlic needs about 40 minutes to bake.) Carrots and garlic are done when tender. The garlic cloves can be squeezed out of the peel once cool enough to handle.

9. Allow chicken to rest 10 minutes before carving. Serve chicken pieces with potatoes and carrots, and roasted garlic if you like.

Bon Appétit!