Honey glazed roast chicken with crispy, sweet skin and tender, juicy meat is the perfect Sunday roast dinner. This recipe is incredibly easy and yet so flavourful. The honey glaze will caramelise slightly in the oven, and gives the chicken skin a lovely crisp and a beautiful colour.
A whole roasted chicken looks beautiful on the dinner table, and is a lot easier to cook than a whole turkey. Chicken is an excellent roast dinner for any day of the year, but it's also a great choice as a holiday meal if you are cooking for a small group of people and want to avoid buying a whole turkey.
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How to roast a whole chicken
Roasting a chicken is way easier than it sounds. The exact cooking time will vary depending on the size of your chicken. Usually when you buy a whole chicken, you can find the estimated cooking time and other instructions on the package. In general, the cooking time is 20 minutes + 40 minutes per hour. A 2 kg chicken therefore takes 1 hour 40 minutes to roast.
For this recipe, you want to place the chicken in an oven safe dish, a roasting pan or a casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan oven / 395°F. Then, make the honey glaze by combining honey and olive oil in a small bowl. Brush the glaze all over the chicken skin, and insert the chicken in the oven. Allow it to cook for the suggested amount of time without opening the oven.
Use a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat to ensure that the meat has cooked through. Chicken is safe to eat when the meat has reached an internal temperature of 75°C / 165°F.
As always, be careful when handling raw chicken. Anything that comes in contact with raw chicken has to be cleaned thoroughly to avoid cross contamination.
Leftover honey glazed roast chicken
Any leftover chicken can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. Serve leftovers cold, or reheat them in the microwave until piping hot before serving. You can add leftover chicken to a lovely salad, use it as tacos, or in a hearty soup. I prefer to carve all the meat off the chicken, and only save the shredded chicken meat. The carcass can either be discarded or used to make chicken broth.
The best side dishes
Side dishes make or break a roast dinner. I would serve this chicken with brussels sprouts with bacon. If you want a salad (of course you do!), I suggest kale salad with apples and cranberries or broccoli salad with raisins and bacon, both of which have lovely, hearty flavours. If you're preparing a holiday meal, you will need some good stuffing. If you're making this as a regular roast dinner, you could even pair it with pasta; orzo salad is perfect!
More roast dinners
Honey glazed roast chicken
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan oven / 395°F.
- Place the chicken in an oven safe dish, a roasting pan or a casserole dish.
- Make the honey glaze by combining honey and olive oil in a small bowl. Brush the glaze all over the chicken skin, and insert the chicken in the oven. Allow it to cook for the suggested amount of time without opening the oven.
- The exact cooking time will vary depending on the size of your chicken. Usually when you buy a whole chicken, you can find the estimated cooking time and other instructions on the package. In general, the cooking time is 20 minutes + 40 minutes per hour. A 2 kg chicken therefore takes 1 hour 40 minutes to roast.
- Use a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat to ensure that the meat has cooked through. Chicken is safe to eat when the meat has reached an internal temperature of 75°C / 165°F.
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