Here’s how to cook the perfect roast chicken for Christmas.
Perfect Roast Chook

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Serves: 4 - 6 People
- Times
- Description
- Image
- Ingredients
- Method
- Notes
- Nutrition
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Serves: 4 - 6 People
Ingredients
- 1 Whole chicken skin on , ours is 2kg
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 Lemon
- 1 handful Thyme and rosemary leaves
- 200 g Salted butter
- Olive oil
- Flaky salt
Utensils
- Paper towel
- Blender
- Baking disk
- Small length of butcher’s string
Method
- 1)
Preheat oven to 250C.
- 2)
Make sure chicken is at room temperature when you start, pat it dry with paper towel.
- 3)
Cut wishbone out of front of chook then flip chicken over and break the hip bones. Flip chicken back over.
- 4)
Make seasoning by blitzing 3 cloves of garlic, zest of 1 lemon and a small handful of thyme and rosemary leaves.
- 5)
Once blitzed, add 200g of room temperature salted butter and mix together.
- 6)
Create space between chicken and skin with your hand, then get handfuls of the butter mix and rub onto and under the skin all over the chicken.
- 7)
Cross hatch the top of your lemon and pop it up the chicken’s bum.
- 8)
Tie the legs together with butcher’s string so the lemon doesn’t fall out.
- 9)
Top with a drizzle of olive oil and generously cover in flaky salt.
- 10)
Turn down oven to 180C and pop in the oven for 1 hour 20 mins (this was for a 2kg chicken, so adjust depending on your chicken’s weight).
- 11)
Once cooked, leave to rest for 15 mins.
- 12)
Carve up your chicken. Squeeze the lemon into the chicken juices at the bottom of the roasting dish, mix together and spoon over the chicken to serve.