Paleo Oven Roasted Chicken (Whole30 Friendly)

I’ve made a whole chicken in my slow cooker and it was incredible, but I wanted to try a more risky way of cooking it. Baked chicken can turn out dry and tasteless if you don’t follow a few simple steps. After asking advice from my mom, and searching all over the internet for a few tips – these are the ones I chose to share with you.

1. When you get your chicken from the grocery store, you will have to clean it. Wash it well with lemon juice. This not only kills some of the bacteria, but it will also give the chicken a nice flavor.

2. Marinade your chicken overnight. I didn’t measure the seasoning I used, but I used garlic powder (lots of it because I love garlic), Mrs Dash, salt, black pepper, chili, paprika and my mom suggested onion powder, but I didn’t have any. Feel free to use whatever spices you like – about 1/2 tbsp of each.
Mix all your spices together and begin to massage the chicken with lots of love. Get underneath the skin, and throw some inside the chicken as well.
I used about 1 tbsp of ghee, split it into two half tbsp, and tucked it underneath the skin of the breasts.

3. Day of roasting – preheat your oven to 350. Place your chicken in the middle of a roasting pan. If you don’t have a roasting pan (with a roasting rack) I highly suggest you get one, they’re about $10 at a housewares store.
I cut one medium onion into 4 pieces and tucked a piece under each wing, and each leg.
Place your chicken in the middle of the oven and bake. For each Lb of chicken, you will want to bake for half hour. My chicken was 3lbs, so I baked for 1 1/2 hours.
At the 1 hour mark I added my diced sweet potatoes and beets – totally optional.

4. This is one of the most important parts to keeping your chicken super juicy. LET IT REST WHEN IT’S FINISHED BAKING. You will know its finished baking when the drumstick should move about freely when wiggled and the juices run clear. If your using a meat thermometer, insert it into the thickest part of the thigh without touching the bone and the temperature should read 180.
Take the chicken out of the oven and transfer to a plate, CAREFULLY. Last thing you want is your chicken to fall at this point.
Let it sit there for at least 15 minutes. This allows the juices to settle. See, if you slice it right away, all the juices will leak out and your chicken will be dry 😦

5. After 15 mins, slice (or rip apart with your hands like I did :P) and ENJOY!