How to Make a Cast Iron Roasted Chicken with Roasted Vegetables // With Video
How to Make a Roasted Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Dinner
It really doesn't get any better than a cast iron roasted chicken with a side of roasted vegetables on a cold wintery day. I think it's my favorite dinner to make not just because it tastes like warmth and love and cozy cabins, but also because it takes so little effort to prepare. We have a cabin in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York where we spend our weekends recuperating from the hectic city life and in our freezer we almost always have a couple of organic whole chickens on hand. We can pick up the chickens from our local butcher, Fleisher's Grassfed and Organic Meats, who sources organic local chickens year round. The farm stand down the road keeps all the root vegetables that you can still get in the winter like squash, potatoes and onions. So on any given winter weekend, you can pretty much count on the Miles family eating this dinner in some variation or another.
My best friend Emily and her husband have been invited to our house at least a half dozen times to chow down on this meal with us. So Emily and I got to thinking that we should share some of the secrets of creating a very quick and delicious roasted chicken and vegetables dinner. You can learn all about the tips for making this dinner in the video above and the recipe is printed below. If you want to make a Root Vegetable Cabinet like the one Emily made to keep her winter vegetables in you can get the directions here. Also, if you want to see how Emily dried her herbs this past summer so she could use them all year long, you can get the directions on How to Dry Your Own Herbs here.
For the roasted chicken
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, about 3-4 lbs
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sage
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Once the oven is hot, place the cast iron pan in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Pat the chicken dry, place it on a baking pan or large plate and cover with olive oil. Cover the chicken generously on both sides with the herbs and spices. Remove the cast iron pan from the oven and place the chicken in the pan. Cook on a low rack for 45 minutes to an hour. Check to see that the internal temperature of the chicken is at least 165 degrees with a meat thermometer. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
Ingredients:
For the roasted vegetables
6-7 medium whole carrots, scrubbed or peeled
2 gold or red potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes
1 yellow or red onion quartered
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 bulb of garlic peeled
1 tbsp or rosemary or any other preferred herbs
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the carrots on a baking pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on a medium rack for 15 minutes. While the carrots are cooking, put the rest of the vegetables, herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil in a large bowl and toss until the vegetables covered in olive oil and the herbs and spices. Remove the carrots from oven and add the rest of the vegetables to the pan. Shake the pan so the vegetables are evenly distributed. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 30-40 minutes, or until the vegetables are fork tender.
