Nothing beats a good roast chicken. The perfect accompaniment to a Sunday roast and the leftovers make for delicious sandwich fillers or even as a final touch to a hearty bowl of soup.
However, nailing that juicy texture can be difficult, especially if you’re putting together several components of a meal at once. Who has the time for basting?!
In fact, according to research from Asda, nearly one in four people lack the confidence to cook a traditional roast dinner, with this figure rising to nearly half for Gen Zs.
With the meat often being the trickiest part of a roast to cook... how do we nail this?
Thankfully, Asda’s Senior Innovation Chef, Rich Harding has the ideal tip for improving roast chicken and it is almost no extra effort.
How to make roast chicken juicier
So, Harding explained that nailing a roast chicken starts before you’ve even turned the oven on, saying: “Before you start cooking, leave the chicken out for 15 minutes so it’s not fridge cold.
“Then, stuff the cavity with half a lemon and half an onion. Next, slice the other half of the onion and place under the chicken as a trivet and squeeze the juice from the other half of the lemon over the chicken. Season generously and cook”.
I’m salivating already.
The real magic happens once the chicken is fully cooked though, according to Harding. He continued: “Once the chicken is removed from the oven, I recommend using some tongs and turning the chicken upside down so all the lovely juices run back into the breast meat, giving your main the ultimate juicy flavour.
“Don’t forget to pop those juices into your sauce or gravy (or just dip bread in them!)”.
Counting the minutes until I can make my own, to be honest.