This roasted chicken is savory, moist, garlicky and the best thing to consume during the cold wintry months. While I do love a good rotisserie chicken once in awhile, the flavor of a homemade roast chicken is incomparable and it’s also a better bang for your buck!
Growing up my mom would make this chock full of potatoes so that it was a one pot meal. I have such vivid memories of her prepping this chicken a day ahead of time so that I could pop it into the oven when I got home from school as she was finishing up work. The fennel and veggies serve as a roasting rack and permeate throughout the whole chicken plus the cavity is stuffed with lemon, garlic and parsley, how delicious does that combo sound? Get the recipe below!
- 1 6-8 lb chicken
- 1 fennel bulb, rough chopped + fennel stalks
- 1 onion, rough chopped
- 2 handfuls baby carrots
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- 1 lemon
- 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbs salt
- 1 tbs pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Preheat oven to 425.
- In a roasting pan, layer the carrots, onions and fennel bulb pieces. Lay the stalks of fennel horizontally across the vegetables so they serve as a baking rack to keep the chicken elevated while cooking.
- Drizzle generously with evoo and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Pat the chicken dry and remove the giblets from the cavity. Add in the garlic, one half of the lemon and parsley.
- Use the other lemon half to drizzle over the top of the chicken and then drizzle the evoo.
- Season the skin of the chicken liberally with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Bake in the oven for 1hr 30 mins, basting the chicken twice during the cooking time. Let rest for 10 minutes before carving and enjoy!

