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Whole herb-butter roast chicken with baby potatoes and pan juices in its roasting tin
A burnished herb-butter roast chicken on a carving board, pan juices ready to pour.

Herb-Butter Roast Chicken

Most of the butter goes under the skin, not on it. The mix does the work of the salt and pepper.

Prep
20 mins
Cook
80 mins
Total
100 mins
Serves
5
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Kitchen roadmap

Before you cook

The details that make or break this dish, mapped to the exact step where they matter.

  1. Make sureButter goes under the skin
  2. Watch forBaste quickly
  3. Food safetyProbe without touching bone

Ingredients

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Method

9 steps

  1. Mix the butter with the AL Mix, rosemary, thyme and lemon zest.

  2. Pat the chicken dry.

    Carefully loosen the breast skin and spread most of the butter underneath it.

    Hands gently spreading herb butter underneath the loosened breast skin of a whole chicken in a roasting tray

  3. Rub the remainder over the outside.

  4. Place the garlic and half the onion inside the cavity.

  5. Arrange the potatoes and remaining onion around the chicken. Add the stock.

  6. Roast at 190°C for roughly 70–85 minutes.

  7. Baste twice during cooking.

  8. Check the thickest part of the thigh reaches at least 75°C.

    Imperfect home-roasted herb butter chicken in a used tin with a probe in the thickest thigh

  9. Rest for 15 minutes before carving.

If it does not come out right

The faults this dish actually has. Open one for the fix.

How much garam masala per kg of chicken?

Use 8 g of garam masala per 1 kg of chicken – two level teaspoons – stirred in during the final three to five minutes of cooking, because garam masala is a finishing spice and its aromatic oils are driven off by a long simmer.

Read the full answer

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Authentic Lahori All Purpose Mix pouch

Make it with the Authentic Lahori mix

One blend for karahi, curries, marinades, chips and everyday cooking.

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