Cooking A Whole Chicken In A Dutch Oven

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Crispy skin, delicious flavour, and oh so moist, this Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Chicken in a Dutch Oven is going to have you drooling!

Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Chicken in a Dutch Oven

Every time I make a whole chicken, I always wonder why I haven't done it sooner or more often, the chicken is moist, the house smells delicious, and the skin is so crispy. I love roasting my own chicken as it's easy to mix up the flavours and change things up (compared to buying a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken) and it is surprisingly easy to make. Today, I'm sharing with you one of my favourite roast chickens, a garlic herb butter roasted chicken.

can you roast a chicken in a dutch oven?

Yes! I know some folks like to use a roasting rack so your chicken isn't sitting in the liquid it produces but you can mimic the same affect in a Dutch oven if you don't own a roasting rack. Also, an added bonus to using a Dutch oven for roasting your chicken, the lid keeps the chicken super moist without having to worry about basting it continuously!

Bonus! If you put some vegetables in the Dutch oven with your chicken, it'll taste amazing as it roasts with your chicken and you have a one pot meal! For this recipe, I use potatoes, garlic, and bread. I use these items to prop up the chicken so it simulates using a roasting rack as it keeps the chicken from sitting its liquid while it roasts. You can also use other root vegetables if you wish.

Note: if you put the bread on the bottom on the pot, it will get a mushy from the chicken's liquids. You can either toss it (I mostly use it to prop up the chicken), or make sure you position most of the bread to the side of the Dutch oven (the bread comes out SO crispy and delicious if you go this route).

What You'll Need To Make a Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Chicken in a Dutch Oven

bread
potatoes
garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
chicken
soften/room temperature garlic butter
basil
lemon
thyme

How To Roast a chicken in a dutch oven

Heat the oven to 375F.
Chop up your slices of bread and potatoes into 6 and crush 1 bulb's worth of garlic cloves. Gently toss the potato and garlic with a bit of olive oil and salt/pepper.
Place an even single layer into the Dutch oven and then place the rest into the Dutch oven towards the side. Leaving a space in the middle for the chicken. The little well you made lets the chicken roast without sitting in it's own liquid for a long period of time. Check out the image below to see what I mean!

how to roast chicken in a dutch oven

Next you're going to want to salt your chicken before rubbing an even layer of garlic butter mixed with chopped basil onto the entire chicken. For maximum flavour, get some of the butter under the chicken's skin as well (especially the breast area).
Once done, you can stuff the chicken's cavity with some crushed garlic cloves and half a lemon before placing it into the Dutch oven.
Place a couple pieces of thyme around the chicken and place the lid on the Dutch oven.

how to roast chicken in a dutch oven

Place your Dutch oven in the lowest rack of your oven and let cook for 1 hour.
After an hour, remove the lid, and thyme, and let the chicken roast for another 30 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the thickest part of the chicken thigh is at least 165F/75C to tell when the chicken is ready.
For super crisp skin, you can brush on some extra butter on top of the chicken and set your oven to broil for 5 minutes (keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn).
Once done, let your chicken rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Tips and Notes on Making This Roast Chicken in a Dutch Oven

Getting the garlic herb butter under the skin of the chicken breast makes the chicken that much more delicious! If you've got the time, don't skip this step.
Other vegetables you can use to prop up the chicken with are sweet potatoes, squash, onions, etc.
I use a Staub round Dutch oven for this recipe, a perk about the Staub is that the lid has little nubs on the underside so your chicken is self basting. The moisture drips back down onto the chicken because of the little nubs and you don't have to baste the chicken!
Bonus about making your own roast chicken is now you can set aside the bones of the chicken to make a nice stock with (recipe tutorial coming soon!)

Crispy skin, delicious flavour, and oh so moist, this Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Chicken in a Dutch Oven is going to have you drooling!

Ideas On What To Serve with a Whole Chicken

Risotto
Baked potato
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Sweet Potato, Bacon, and Almonds
Lemon Parmesan Brussels Sprouts
Lemon Garlic Rice
Oven Baked Potato Wedges
Whole roasted carrots with pistachio herb relish from Rhubarbarians
Roasted Radishes and Carrots with Thyme and Lemon from Imagelicious
Oven Roasted Broccoli with Nutritional Yeast from Killing Thyme

Crispy skin, delicious flavour, and oh so moist, this Garlic Herb Butter Roasted Chicken in a Dutch Oven is going to have you drooling!

6 slices bread
2-3 potatoes, more if you'd like
2 bulbs garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
3-3.5 lb chicken
1 stick garlic butter, soften/room temperature (113 grams)
6-10 basil leaves
1/2 lemon
thyme

Heat the oven to 375F.
Chop up your slices of bread and potatoes into 6 and crush 1 bulb's worth of garlic cloves. Gently toss the potato and garlic with a bit of olive oil and salt/pepper.
Place an even single layer into the Dutch oven and then place the rest into the Dutch oven towards the side. Leaving a space in the middle for the chicken.
Salt your chicken before rubbing an even layer of garlic butter mixed with chopped basil onto the entire chicken. For maximum flavour, get some of the butter under the chicken's skin as well (especially the breast area).
Once done, you can stuff the chicken's cavity with some crushed garlic cloves and half a lemon before placing it into the Dutch oven.
Place a couple pieces of thyme around the chicken and place the lid on the Dutch oven.
Place your Dutch oven in the lowest rack of your oven and let cook for 1 hour.
After an hour, remove the lid, and thyme, and let the chicken roast for another 30 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the thickest part of the chicken thigh is at least 165F/75C to tell when the chicken is ready.
For super crisp skin, you can brush on some extra butter on top of the chicken and set your oven to broil for 5 minutes (keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn).
Once done, let your chicken rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Did you make this recipe? I'm always so happy to hear about it! I'd love to see how it turned out. Tag me at @CarmysHungry on Instagram so I can see it! If you enjoyed the recipe, I'd really appreciate a comment with a 5 star rating! ♥

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Healthy

Other Chicken Recipes to Try

How to Cook a Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot
3 Ways to Use up Leftover Chicken
Whole Chicken Meal Prep
Chicken Pepperoni Pasta Salad
Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
Instant Pot Korean Inspired Spicy Chicken Noodle Sou
Sheet Pan Chicken Teriyaki Meal Prep

Other places to connect with me
Instagram: @carmyshungry
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Email: [email protected]

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