Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken

Name: Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 3 or 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 whole (5- to 6-pound) roasting chicken; Kosher salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 large bunch fresh thyme; 1 lemon, halved; 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise; 2 tablespoons butter, melted; 1 Spanish onion, thickly sliced; 1 cup chicken stock; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

By Ina Garten

Updated April 15, 2025

Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken — David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.

Total Time: About 2¼ hours
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: About 2 hours
Rating: 5(574)
Comments: Read comments

This recipe, from my first book “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter, 1999), is my husband’s favorite Friday night dinner ... It’s a tradition with us. He has to drive 3½ hours to get home every weekend, and there’s nothing like the smell of a fresh roast chicken to make him feel that the trip was worth it. Of course, I would never tell him that it is also the world’s easiest dinner. I love to get the chickens at the Iaconos’ farm in East Hampton.

Featured in: Inside Meghan’s Real Kitchen, Away From the Cameras

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Ingredients

Yield:3 or 4 servings

1whole (5- to 6-pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1large bunch fresh thyme
1lemon, halved
1head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2tablespoons butter, melted
1Spanish onion, thickly sliced
1cup chicken stock
2tablespoons all-purpose flour

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a roasting pan just large enough to hold it.
Step 2
Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both lemon halves and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper.
Step 3
Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Scatter the onion slices around the chicken. (See Tip for cooking instructions if you'd like to also roast potatoes and carrots with the chicken.)
Step 4
Roast the chicken for 1½ hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove to a platter and cover with aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy.
Step 5
Remove all the fat from the bottom of the roasting pan, reserving 2 tablespoons in a small cup. Add the chicken stock to the pan and cook on high heat for about 5 minutes, until reduced, scraping the bottom of the pan.
Step 6
Combine the 2 tablespoons of chicken fat with the flour and add to the pan. Boil for a few minutes to cook the flour. Strain the gravy into a small saucepan and season it to taste. Keep it warm over a very low flame while you carve the chicken.
Step 7
Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve immediately with the warm gravy.

Tip

If you want to roast vegetables with the chicken, add 8 whole new red potatoes and 4 carrots, cut diagonally into quarters, to the onions. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables for roasting.

Ratings

5 out of 5

574 user ratings

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Comments

gmv2 months ago

I've found that salting and peppering the chicken a day ahead and letting it dry brine in the fridge overnight immensely improves flavor.

Karen1 month ago

I am an overseas huge fan of NY Times recipes. This one is a good recipe, but I prefer the simple way french make it, if I may suggest. Instead of a gravy with flour, you just use the juice and fat the chicken has rendered during cooking, and make it lighter by adding a bit of hot boiled water to the cooking dish you used, and make sure scrapping all the brown bits on the edges, and mix well, simply with a spoon. You also add a few unpeeled garlic cloves at middle stage of cooking, or at the beginning, depending on how high the oven temperature is. With the thyme, it makes just the perfect, nicely scented roast chicken sauce you fill find in French restaurants. Serve with mash potatoes, or french fries. A classic over here. And of course no one washes their chicken here. Not sure anyone would ever have heard of it. Since only the heat kills the bacterias, I would avoid wasting time and spreading them all over your sink. But, cultural differences …

Atlanta Girl1 month ago

Instead of making gravy, I serve the chicken with the jus from the pan. Easier and still delicious. And I always add carrots with the onion.

Carlita1 day ago

Skip steps 5 and 6. Instead, while no one is looking, use a straw to suck up the juices. A smoothie straw allows the onions to be easily slurpped up. Proceed with recipe.

Gary1 week ago

Its a great recipe. If you do decide to put in the potatoes and carrots, give thought to a rack to lift the chicken off vegetables. It keeps them from getting mushy

sye2 weeks ago

I follow Marcella’s Hazan’s recipe for roast chicken. It’s a great recipe with no added fat.

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