Good Housekeeping UK

Truly classic roast chicken

This chicken recipe is a French-inspired garlic and herb roast is bursting with flavour and is perfect with a mustard and white wine gravy for an extra-delicious Sunday lunch.

By The GH Kitchen TeamPublished: 06 May 2002

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Yields:

Prep Time:

30 mins

Cook Time:

1 hr 20 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 50 mins

Ingredients

For the stuffing

40 (1/2oz) butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
75 (3oz) white breadcrumbs
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon, reserving the lemon halves
2 level tbsp each freshly chopped flat-leafed parsley and tarragon
1 medium egg yolk

For the chicken

1 (3lb) organic chicken
2 garlic cloves
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 level sea salt
2 level course ground black pepper
4 sprigs each fresh parsley and tarragon
2 bay leaves
50 (2oz) butter, cut into cubes

For the gravy

200 (7fl oz) white wine
1 level Dijon mustard
450 (3/4 pint) hot chicken stock
25 (1oz) butter mixed with 25g (1oz) plain flour

You'll also need

2 skewers
Approx 1m fine string

Directions

1. Step 1
  Preheat the oven to 190 °C (170 °C fan oven) mark 5. To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a pan and fry the onion and garlic for 5-10min until soft. Cool, then add the remaining ingredients, stirring in the egg yolk last. Season well.
2. Step 2
  Discard any string tied around the chicken, then wipe the chicken clean with kitchen towel and discard paper. Put it on a board with the parson's nose facing upwards, then put the garlic onion, lemon halves and half the salt, pepper and herb springs into the cavity.
3. Step 3
  Lift the loose skin at the next and fill cavity with stuffing. Turn on to its breast and pull neck flap over the opening to cover the stuffing. Rest the wing tips across it and secure the flap with a skewer so it sits lengthways down the backbone.
4. Step 4
  Push a skewer through the two wings. Tie one end of the string to the loop of this skewer, then turn chicken over. Pull the string up towards and around legs, then back down to the skewer in the neck flap. Pull string to tighten, then secure it.
5. Step 5
  Put chicken on a rack in a roasting tin. Season, then add the remaining herbs and the bay leaves. Dot with the butter and roast for 1hr 20min (or 20min per 450g/11b, plus 20min), basting halfway through, or until the juices run clear when a knife is inserted into the thigh.
6. Step 6
  Remove and cover with foil. To make gravy, pour fat from tin, leaving about 3tbsp, put over a high heat, add wine and boil for 2min. Add mustard and stock; bring back to boil. Gradually whisk in knobs of butter mixture until smooth. Season and serve with sliced chicken.
  
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Per Serving:

Calories: 536
Total carbs: 14 g
Total fat: 36 g

The GH Kitchen Team

The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor ⁠Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce ⁠Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time