How to Make One-Pot Roasted Chicken Dinner

There is always that one night per week that I want to put something really easy in the oven so that I can walk away, come back and it’ll be ready to eat. That meal for us is this roasted chicken dinner. I actually look forward to the day each week that I get to make this roasted chicken. The only reason I think that we don’t make it more often is just so that we don’t get tired of it. I would totally make this every day if I could! Over the years I’ve gone from making just a simple roasted chicken to making a whole chicken dinner in the same pan. I’m sure you and your family will enjoy this roasted chicken recipe for years to come.

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What makes this so good:

First, I love that this recipe is a full dinner on it’s own. We just chop up a salad real quick and serve with salad most nights. But even without a side salad, this dish contains protein, grain, and vegetables, so it’s complete on its own. Talk about a “one pot meal”! It’s hard to make a complete meal in one pot but this one does the trick.

Second, this recipe is actually really quite quick. Yes, it takes 90 minutes to cook. But it only takes 10 minutes or less to prepare the chicken in the pan, and then it’s ready to eat right out of the oven. So you only use one pot, one cutting board, and you can essentially clean you kitchen before dinner even starts with all that free time. John and I like to go for a walk in the evenings. So, often I’ll throw the chicken in the oven and then we’ll walk and come home to a tasty feast. It makes the house smell incredible too!

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Side note – the reason we do the 90 minute bake is so you get that juicy chicken breast. We much prefer the juicy, tender chicken over chicken that’s dried out. Cooking your meats “low and slow” achieves the perfect amount of juiciness.

Lastly, you can use these bones to make homemade bone broth. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving! I can’t believe I used to pay anywhere from $5 to $10 for store-bought bone broth. When I could have just been making my own for FREE. We cook our bone broth in the Instant Pot, but if you have patience and time you can totally just use the stove. There is no excuse for not making bone broth after cooking this chicken 🙂

What’s the deal with bone broth anyway?

If you’re new to the whole bone broth thing, bone broth is one of the best natural healers used for many years when our ancestors wouldn’t waste a single ounce of meat. Bone broth alone can be used to help cure the flu virus and improve muscle and joint function. It contains cartilage and collagen, both of which are used to help cure cancer and other bone disorders like arthritis. Bone broth is also good for digestion, as the bone marrow contains electrolytes that help in the assimilation of other nutrients. Now I’m no doctor but anything that’s known to improve digestion, hair/skin/nails, bones, and overall health is something I’m interested in!

It’s for this reason that bone broth is so expensive to buy from the store. Making your own bone broth is definitely the best way to go to save money. I share all about how to make your own bone broth in this post.

Tips for making roasted chicken

Tip #1 – Start with a good, organic pasture-raised chicken, about 4 1/2 pounds. I say this all the time but it’s so true, when it comes to food you get what you pay for. There are some things at the store that I believe you can skimp on buying the nice stuff. In fact, that would make a great video/blog post so maybe I should write about that. Bananas, for example. I’m not going to spend extra money on those being organic when the skin of a banana is so thick. I’m not as concerned about pesticides getting into the food. However, meat is not one of those items.

A quick side note on meat quality

Did you know that the animals that your meat came from may have been fed antibiotics, steroids, or other chemicals? And whatever they are fed may be getting into the meat cuts that you buy. It’s for that reason that you always should buy antibiotic, hormone-free pasture raised or grass fed meat whenever possible and available. This is actually a very lengthy conversation, one that I’m not going to go in to in this post (another good idea for later though… maybe). But the moral of the story is do your research and know where your meat comes from. Better yet, see if you have an organic farmer near you and if you can do a local delivery. This is also a great way to save some serious money on meat if you buy in bulk and can freeze it.

Back to the tips

Tip #2 – plan a fun evening around it. You can use those 90 minutes to get so much done. I like to clean the kitchen so that all that’s left are our dinner plates and then we’re done. Or you could work out, or work from home, or work on the house, or tend the garden, or kids, or anything with that time. 90 minutes is fantastic and it’s for this reason that I love making this recipe. I love the feeling of coming in the house and dinner is just suddenly ready (not to mention the house smells amazing!).

Tip #3 – pick your favorite veggies and add them to the bottom. We like carrots, potatoes, and garlic as our primary toppings. But you could also do asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini (we do this in summer), or peppers. The possibilities are endless, it just depends on your taste buds! Just make sure you properly season the veggies with olive oil or bone broth, salt/pepper, and herbs.

Tip # 4 – save the bones for bone broth. Strip all the meat off of the bones, save for leftovers, and keep the bones for bone broth. We make bone broth in the Instant Pot, but you could use the stove if you have more patience than I do!

Tip # 5 – Serve with warm bread (if you’re not using potatoes already). We might just be really weird, but we literally drink the bone broth after the chicken has finished roasting in it. It’s just so good. So having some fresh bread for dipping works well.

Tip # 6 – Save leftover meat. Leftover meat is perfect for chicken noodle soup, chicken tortillas or tacos, or in a sandwich for lunch the next day.

Roasted chicken ingredients:

One whole chicken, about 4 to 4 1/2 pounds. Organic, pasture-raised if available.

Veggies. We like to do three potatoes, chopped into chunks, and about 3 carrots, also chopped.

Olive oil for sprinkling. For the best flavor, add 1-2 cups of homemade bone broth to the pan with the veggies.

Organic lemon

Italian herbs – fresh or frozen and dried for topping

Sprinkles of salt and pepper

Lots of garlic. One whole head plus garlic powder for topping.

Tablespoon of butter

Watch: How to make juicy roasted chicken dinner

How to roast a chicken in the oven:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drizzle a 9×13 inch baking dish with olive oil.
2. Rinse your chicken and drizzle both sides with olive oil.
3. Add your potatoes, carrots, other veggies, and bone broth to the dish. Move the veggies to the side to create a spot for the chicken to go in the middle. Optional: add whole garlic cloves to the baking dish if you like to eat whole garlic.
4. Place the chicken in the dish and generously salt and pepper all sides of the chicken. I like to use one hand to hold the chicken and another to dip into the herbs so I’m not contaminating anything. Add salt and pepper to your veggies too.
5. In the cavity of the chicken, stuff half of a lemon and a handful of fresh or frozen herbs. We like sage, rosemary, and oregano for this. Also to the cavity add two cloves of garlic. Squeeze the other half of the lemon into the chicken broth.
6. Sprinkle the chicken and veggies with dried Italian herbs and garlic powder as desired.
7. Add one tablespoon of butter to the top of the chicken and roast uncovered in the preheated oven for 90 minutes or until chicken reaches 165 degrees F. Enjoy!

Enjoy your roasted chicken dinner!

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