One-Pan Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables | Julia at Home

Juicy roast chicken and tender root vegetables complement each other on the plate. But could they work together in the oven?

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– Today, I’m making my favorite back to school supper of roast chicken with schmaltzy root vegetables. Now, if you’re gonna roast one chicken, you might as well roast two, because having cold chicken in the refrigerator is like having gold in the bank, ’cause you can use it for all sorts of things,

From salads, to quick soups, or stews. And, if you’re gonna roast some chickens, you might as well throw some root vegetables underneath, ’cause they get schmaltzy, and, those vegetables, you can fry up with an egg for breakfast, you can throw into a super stew.

So, they’re useful to have in the refrigerator as well. Alright, so here I have two chickens. The chickens are out of their packages and they’re resting on paper towels. Now, a note about rinsing chicken, don’t do it. It’s a hard and fast rule. Don’t rinse chicken. You’re not rinsing away any bacteria,

But what you are doing is spreading bacteria all over your sink and probably the counters. Alright, speaking of edge, there’s a lot of edge going in this pan. We’re gonna have a pound of carrots, a pound of parsnips, a pound and a half potatoes, and some six halved shallots. It makes a ton,

But I love frying it up in the morning with an egg on top. I call it my last minute hash and it is the breakfast of choice for me in the fall. Alright, so I started some of the prep, but I wanna show you how you should prep these root vegetables

So that they all cook at the same rate. So, here we have the carrots, peeled them already, and I’m just gonna trim off the edges, the ends and the root ends, and now we’re just gonna cut them into one inch pieces. Now, if you cut it lengthwise first,

Depends on the size of the carrot. These look pretty uniform to me, so I’m just gonna go ahead and cut them into nice big rustic chunks. They’re about an inch Into a bowl they go. Next up, some potatoes. Now, these are little red potatoes. You don’t have to peel them, which I love.

Give them a good scrub. And, they come in a variety of sizes. And, again, you want everything to be about an inch. So, how much you cut them depends on their size. So, this one’s a bit on the big side. Gonna do that. This one? Yeah, and half, and half, and half.

This one, a little on the big side. There you go. All about roughly one inch into the bowl. Parsnips. Now, parsnips can be a controversial ingredient. Some people love ’em, some people hate ’em. I love ’em. But, they are pretty potent. So, when you throw them into a super stew,

They kind of take over. But, in this dish, that doesn’t happen, because all these vegetables are roasting independently. So, even if you don’t love the strong flavor of parsnips, it’s worth putting in this dish. Alright, now the other thing about parsnip, it’s really thin on this side and really thick on that side.

And, again, we want even sized pieces for cooking. So, I’m gonna cut it like I did the carrots to start. Alright, now these pieces look good. These pieces need a little attention. Cut that in half. Cut that into quarters. This, I’m gonna cut into sixths. And, there you go.

One inch chunks into the bowl. Last but not least, shallots, about six shallots all tolled. And, what we’re gonna do is cut them in half and notice I’m cutting through that root end. I want that root end to stay intact, ’cause it helps hold all the layers together as they roast.

You’re just gonna peel back the skin and maybe that first layer if it looks a little bruised, and that’s it. The shallot can just roast like that. Alright, these vegetables don’t need anything, but a little salt, pepper, and about a tablespoon of olive oil, a little bit of salt and pepper,

About a half a teaspoon of each. It’s a lot of vegetables. Alright, into a nice big roasting pan they go. I know, it’s a brand spanking new roasting pan. It’s its debut use and I’m very excited to try it out for the first time. Nothing like a fresh piece of equipment.

It only look like this for today. Every day after is gonna be a little grimier. Alright, just giving the vegetables a nice toss. Make sure they’re evenly coated with that olive oil, salt, and pepper. Alright, that’s pretty good. Now, I’m gonna put a roasting rack right on top.

And, this is where the chickens are gonna roast. I’m gonna give that rack a quick spray, that just prevents the chickens from sticking, obviously. Alright, set this aside for now and let’s talk about the chicken. Now, I don’t like fussing with a lot of chickens. The brining, the salting, all that’s great.

But, for me, a midweek meal, I just like throwing the chicken in the oven with some vegetables. One trick I’ve learned, however, that is worth taking time, because it doesn’t take much time, is to put some fresh chopped tarragon right under the skin. You need about a tablespoon and a half per chicken.

So, for two, about three tablespoons. I love using tarragon, tarragon and chicken, these root vegetables is a really nice combination, but you could use rosemary, you could use thyme, and, again, it’s just an easy way to up your game a little bit with roast chicken. Alright, so here I have some beautiful tarragon.

I washed it already, of course. And, I want about three tablespoons when it’s chopped. Gonna give it a rough chop. Oh, the smell of tarragon as soon as you start to cut it. Tarragon to me just smells like fall, because I love roast chicken with tarragon.

I only put the tarragon in the fall. I don’t know why. It’s not a summer dish for me. This is a fall flavor. That looks pretty good. Alright, gonna set this tarragon aside in a bowl. Alright, now time to focus on the birds. Alright, so not a lot of trussing

We’re gonna have to do here. You see how these wings are mostly tucked. If they’re not tucked, and usually they come this way, you just… All you do is take this tip you just bend it back behind the breast. That just gets it out of the way

So the breast can get nice and brown. Alright, so now I’m gonna take my fingers and just loosen the skin on the breasts. And, now, I’m gonna take some tarragon, put it right underneath the skin, spread it out as best you can. Alright, now I’m just gonna season the chickens

With salt and pepper pretty liberally on both sides. And, if you notice, I pre-mixed the salt and pepper, which is a trick I do if I’m cooking a lot of meat or I’m out at the grill. It just makes it easy not to contaminate the nice pepper mills.

Alright, on the front side, also the back, don’t forget the backside. Now, the only other prep we have to do to this chicken before we can put it in the oven is to truss it by tying the legs together, because, well, one, it’s prettier, but, two, it prevents the skin on the breast

From really splitting in the oven. So, if you don’t do this, it’s okay. Your bird will still turn out, but if you do do it, you get slightly better skin. And, it’s as simple as taking twine and tying the two drumsticks right at the bottom together. And, that’s it.

Into the roasting pan these go. And, if you notice, I’m putting them in the roasting pan upside down. Now, that is on purpose, ’cause the breast meat and the dark meat, the thigh and drumstick, they need to cook to different temperatures. The breast meat, 160, the drumsticks and thighs to 175.

And, so the way to do that is to roast them upside down where the breast is protected, the heat’s not gonna get to that breast for a good 20 minutes. But, this top part, this is where the dark meat is exposed is gonna get the blast of heat right away,

So it’s gonna jumpstart the cooking of the dark meat. So, we’re gonna roast these birds upside down for 20 minutes then we’ll flip ’em over and we’ll continue roasting the whole thing for about another hour. Okay, these chickens look great. The oven is heated to 475 degrees

And I just need to wash my hands. And, we’re off to the races. The aroma coming out of this kitchen right now is so fantastic with the tarragon, the chicken, and you can smell the roasted carrots and parsnips. Now, again, I’m gonna temp the chicken.

We’re looking for the breast meat to be 160. Alright, 160 in the breast, which is perfect. Now, I’m gonna take the chickens out of the rack and let them rest for at least 15 minutes. Just ’cause these are hot, there’s lots of juices,

And what I’d like to do is tip the chicken up, and let the juices drain out right onto the vegetables. This is actually how I was taught to tell if a chicken’s done. We didn’t use thermometers in culinary school. You let the chicken drain its juices

And you looked at the juices at the very end, the tail juices, and you wanted them to run clear. That’s the old school way of telling if a chicken’s done. Alright, chicken number two. Oh, those are beautiful. Now, I’m just gonna tent the chickens with foil.

That just helps to trap the heat as they rest. This foils a little on the skinny side so I’m gonna use two pieces. There we go. Just a light tenting. Now, we got the rack outta the way, and these vegetables are roasted through, but they look a little pale,

And there’s a little extra liquid in the pan. So, what we’re gonna do is spin the pan sideways so that it covers two burners if you can. I’m gonna turn the burners on, looking for medium high heat, and I’m just gonna stir the vegetables,

And let them cook on the stove top for about 10 minutes, evaporate some of that liquid, and the vegetables will get nice and caramelized. Okay, so while those veg are browning, it’s time to make a quick sauce for the chicken. I’m gonna make a vinegarette using some tarragon and some parsley.

So, you want about a third of a cup of chopped parsley. Obviously, I washed these already. So, when you’re chopping fresh parsley, you really don’t wanna add these thick stems at the bottom. They can taste a little bitter and be quite fibrous, but they’re fabulous when you’re making stock or broth.

So, if I’m using a ton of parsley and I have a lot of these stems around, I save them in the freezer and then I throw them into the pot when I’m making stock. Now, I’m also gonna add some fresh tarragon, want about three tablespoons of that.

I’m gonna chop ’em all up together. That looks like the right amount. Alright. Making fresh sauces like this with just some chopped herbs and some olive oil is something I do all the time, all year long. And, the herbs can change. I love using cilantro or basil.

Sometimes, I throw scallions or chives in there. Mint often makes an appearance in the summertime and but it’s just a really easy sauce. Tastes good on everything, from beef, to fish, to pork, and chicken of course, and even vegetables. This kind of sauce on a roasted head of cauliflower is amazing.

So, if you’re gonna learn one sauce that you can vary and is easy to make, a fresh herb vinegarette like this is the one to know. Alright, let’s get all these herbs into a serving bowl. To this, I’m gonna add some olive oil, about a quarter of a cup.

Gonna add a little sherry vinegar, which has a really floral flavor. About two tablespoons of sherry vinegar. Gonna add a teaspoon of dijon. Gonna eye the dijon, pretty good with teaspoons. That looks good. And, a little bit of salt and pepper. Alright, that’s it for this simple tarragon and parsley sauce.

Now, we’re just waiting on those chickens to finish resting and the vegetables to finish browning. Those chickens have rested for 15 minutes. The vegetables got a little browning on it and it’s time to eat dinner. Now, two chickens, right? You think you could have one chicken one day and another chicken another day,

Which you really can. However, in my family, everyone loves the breast meat for dinner, and the dark meat, those thighs and drumsticks, I use to either make soup, or my daughter’s favorite, which is chicken and dumplings. So, what I’m gonna do is carve off the breast meat for dinner tonight

And save all that dark meat for something else. So, using a pair of scissors, just gonna trim off that twine. And, these wings, I’m surprised they’re still there. It is my favorite snack. And, when you roast two chickens, you get four of ’em which is a really nice appetizer.

Alright, so all I’m gonna do is just carve off the chicken breast. Of course, I’m gonna save the bones as well, because that’s how you get good stock. Now, the chicken’s hot, obviously, just came outta the oven. So, sometimes I like to have a kitchen towel just to help hold the hot chicken,

Because what you wanna do is slice down through the breast bone, and then really just, as you pull the chicken, and then you can kind of open up the chicken breast and use the tip of the knife to cut the breast meat off the bone. There we go.

Now, a little breast meat is left behind. That is either a kitchen snack, a dog snack or that goes into this stew. Now, I’m gonna flip the bird around, do the other side. Alright, there’s the second one. This chicken goes back onto the rack. Alright, set those aside. Out comes the second chicken.

Ah, these chickens are beautiful, aren’t they? And, that chicken is nice and evenly round all over that breast meat, because we tucked the wings and we tied those drumsticks up. Alright, using my towel. I go through a lot of towels when I cook chicken. There’s the last breast.

This goes back to the sheet pan. Gonna let that cool completely before I shred that meat and save those bones. This, I can take outta the way. And, now, working with each chicken breast, I can just slice it into nice slices that are easier to serve.

I’m gonna get those vegetables out of the pan. Oh, that brown fondy schmaltz on the bottom of the pan, my brother and I used to fight each other to scrape that up and eat it. Alright, now time to add the chicken Little vinegarette on top.

Oh, that fresh vinegarette is hitting the hot chicken and it is so aromatic. Alright, I am gonna just make myself a little plate. I say a little, but really I’m probably gonna make myself a massive plate. Little extra sauce on mine. I really love this sauce. Glass of rosé goes with everything.

First up, the chicken. That’s what roast chicken is supposed to taste like. Very clean, salt and pepper, a little bit of tarragon. It’s perfect. Some roast vegetables. Nothing better than schmaltzy roasted vegetables, the ultimate fall dinner with plenty for good leftovers. That was a one pan meal. Twin roasts chickens with root vegetables

And a lovely tarragon vinegarette. Thanks for watching. What’d you think? Leave a comment below and let me know what you’re excited to cook this week. And, while you’re at it, hit that subscribe button. You can get today’s recipes and more for free at our website, America’sTestKitchen.com/JuliaAtHome.