Easy Roast Chicken (Plus 5 Meals with Chicken Leftovers)

Feel like chicken tonight?

The Meat Club brings us classic roast chicken –  this recipe is guaranteed to please even the littlest eaters and we love how super simple it is to make. Make sure you buy a good quality bird free from hormones to ensure your family is getting the best protein. The Meat Club, a unique online marketplace for premium Australian meats and fish delivered to your doorstep, now stocks cage free, hormone free, chlorine free, halal chicken which is 100% Aussie, and only given non-GMO feed. The Meat Club stocks a full product range (breast, thigh, wings and the whole bird) – check out their special promotion below! We like to roast a couple of chickens at a time – eat one for dinner and then use any leftovers plus the second chicken for lunchbox meals and dinner midweek.

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Serves 4
Cook Time: 1hr 30

Ingredients
1 x 1.2 kg whole chicken from The Meat Club
500 g carrots
600 g potatoes
2 onions, sliced very thickly
1 bulb of garlic
1 lemon, quartered
2 Tablespoons ghee

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Grease your baking tray with 1 tablespoon ghee.
2. Peel and halve the carrots.
3. Peel the potatoes, and parboil for 10 minutes from cold water (you can leave this step out but it speeds up the potato cook time and results in crunchier roast potatoes). Then cut potatoes in half.
4. Rub the chicken all over with a pinch of salt and pepper, 1 tablespoon ghee and the juice of the lemon.
5. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving the skin on, lightly crush with the flat side of a knife. Stuff the chicken cavity with the lemon quarters and garlic.
6. Place the chicken on the tray, on top of the onions and surrounded by carrots and potatoes.
7. Reduce the oven temperature to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6, then add the chicken and veg and roast for 45 minutes. After which, turn the carrots and potatoes over and spoon any juices from the tray over the chicken, then roast for a further 30 minutes, or until the chicken juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh.
8. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes to rest the meat. Serve with green beans or a green salad.

Roast Chicken Leftovers.

If you have leftovers or if you’ve roasted two birds at a time to guarantee extra chicken, here are some ideas to use the leftover shredded meat for meals midweek. You can also freeze the cooked shredded meat and defrost for an emergency meal. Keep the chicken carcass and make bone broth for extra healthy goodness – all that collagen and gut-healthy nutrients like gelatin and glycine help to protect and heal your gut.

1. Chicken Bone Broth. Use any leftover bones and the carcass. Add to a pressure cooker along with a piece of kombu, peeled carrots, a handful of celery, an onion, garlic, turmeric and ginger, salt and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Cover with cold water, lock on the lid and cook for 8 hours. Strain veg and bones. Drink neat or freeze in cubes or use to make noodle soup below.
2. Chicken Noodle Soup. Use your bone broth and add in fresh green veg like bok choy or sweet potato leaves, shredded carrot and a crushed garlic. Cook noodles separately according to instructions. Then add in shredded meat, cook till warm through, add noodles and serve.
3. Chicken Tacos. Shredded chicken is delicious in tacos or wrap – perfect for Taco Tuesday or lunchbox meals for the kids. You’ll need corn or wheat wraps as a base. Then just add shredded chicken, shredded raw cabbage or lettuce, shredded carrot, mayo and cheese.
4. Chicken Stir Fry. Shredded chicken can be thrown in a stirfry mid week. Fry carrots, broccoli and sugar snap peas with garlic and coconut oil, when just cooked, add in the shredded chicken to warm through. Serve with noodles or rice.
5. Chicken Quinoa Salad. Another great one for kids’ lunchboxes. Soak quinoa for 12 hours, then cook and drain. Add shredded cold chicken, avocado, peas and cubed cucumber. Drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic and enjoy immediatly or pack in lunchboxes.