Oven-roasted chicken
Nutrition per serving
To roast a whole chicken, allow about 1 h to 1 h 10 at 200 °C for a 1.2 kg bird, basting it with its juices every 20 minutes. It’s done when the juices run clear, with no trace of pink, when you pierce the thigh.
Cooking times and temperatures
| Size | Temperature | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Whole chicken, 1.2 kg | 200 °C | 1 h to 1 h 10 |
| Whole chicken, 1.5 kg | 200 °C | 1 h 15 to 1 h 25 |
| Legs | 200 °C | 40 to 45 min |
Raw or cooked chicken: what changes
| Per 100 g | Calories | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fat | Water |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken leg, meat and skin, raw | 192 kcal | 17.3 g | 0 g | 13.5 g | 69.2 g |
| Chicken leg, meat and skin, roasted/oven-cooked | 205 kcal | 25.9 g | traces | 11.3 g | 62.2 g |
Cooking drives off water: protein and minerals become more concentrated in 100 g of cooked food, but the portion itself doesn’t contain any more of them.
Prep: 10 min | Cook: 70 min | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy
Calculated per serving from the Anses Ciqual 2025 values, based on the portion of cooked meat given below. 344 kcal · 39 g protein · 1 g carbohydrate · 20 g fat
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, 1.2 kg
- 1 lemon
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp thyme
- 100 ml water
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
- Put the halved lemon and the garlic inside the chicken, brush the skin with oil, sprinkle with thyme and season with salt and pepper.
- Place it in a roasting dish, pour the water into the bottom and roast for 1 h to 1 h 10, basting every 20 minutes.
- Check it’s cooked by piercing the thigh: the juices should run clear. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
Nutritional benefits
Roast chicken is an excellent source of protein. Most of the fat is in the skin: Ciqual gives 11.3 g of fat per 100 g of roast leg with skin, compared with 8 g without. Removing the skin on your plate is the simplest way to make the dish lighter. The per-serving values are calculated for 150 g of roast meat with skin per person, because the weight of a whole chicken includes the bones.
Variations and swaps
- With herbes de Provence.
- With potatoes and carrots around it.
- With mustard.
- With smoked paprika.
Storage and making ahead
Keeps for 3 days in the fridge; shred the leftovers for salads or sandwiches.
💡 Good to know
Baste regularly with the juices from the dish: that’s what gives you golden skin and meat that stays moist.
Read more
The foods in this recipe: chicken · lemon · garlic · olive oil · thyme.
