The Most Delicious Garlic Parmesan Roast Chicken And Gravy

Cooking up a whole chicken might be intimidating at first, however, with less than fifteen minutes of hands on work you’ll have a dinner that looks and tastes like a meal for a special occasion. With crispy skin and juicy meat, you’ll be making this garlic, parmesan roast chicken and gravy recipe over and over again.

Making a roast chicken is not only simple, but also nutritious. There is no waste with this recipe, every part of the animal will be used to nourish you and your family. The leftovers will be used to make additional meals, broth, and even blood and bone fertilizer for your garden. 

What you need for this chicken and gravy recipe 

First thing of course is a chicken. Buying a whole chicken from the store is cheap… and you will be able to taste that in the quality of the meat. I highly recommend you buy pastured chickens. The taste is unparalleled by the factory farmed birds as well as the nutritional content. 

If you are worried about the expense, understand that no part of that bird will go to waste. One pastured bird will provide you and your family with at least one meal, if not two if you have a small family. It will give you 3-6 quarts of broth, and if you are a gardener, those bones can also be dried and powdered for a homemade blood and bone fertilizer. 

How to source good quality pastured chicken

You can source pastured chicken through websites such as localharvest.org, or you could also use meat delivery services such as Moink or Good Ranchers. We have used Moink for several years and we love it. However, I’d love to find a local farmer to purchase from in bulk. 

For less than a trip to a fast food restaurant you will have the protein for two meals, 6 quarts of broth and practically free fertilizer for your garden. 

You can make this as plain or fancy as your heart desires. I’ve come up with a combination of herbs, garlic, parmesan, and butter for under the skin, and a blend of spices and herbs for the skin, that we just love. I prefer to butterfly my chicken (cut out the spine) so that all the skin becomes beautifully browned and crispy. The skin is so good for you so we need that to be the most delicious part of our chicken. If you’d rather keep the spine in, you’ll still get a delicious product.  

In the bottom of the baking dish I add some chicken broth and an onion cut in half. This helps to keep the chicken moist, provides more juices for making our gravy later, and the onion keeps the skin out of the juices and adds flavor to the broth. You can also add a garlic bulb under the chicken as well. 

How to roast a whole chicken

To start, you are going to need a sharp knife and a cutting board. Cut along the spine, you shouldn’t have too much interference from bones until you get to the area near the thighs. Try to go between the bones as much as possible, once you can’t avoid them anymore, push your knife down and break the spine free. 

Keep the spine in a ziploc bag, or another container in the freezer until it is time to make broth. 

Flip the bird breast side up and grab yourself a small spoon. Starting at the bottom of the breast, slip the spoon beneath the skin to loosen it from the muscle. Loosen the skin around the thighs and drumsticks as well.

We’ve noticed over the years that we don’t really eat the wings on a roast chicken. So, we now remove the wings from the bird and save them for a dedicated wing night. If you want to do that, go ahead and remove the wings at this point.

Pull the wings out from the body and cut along the shoulder joint. You will be cutting through the joint, not the bone. If you feel resistance, pull the knife out and try to readjust the next cut. It should go through smoothly.

Add the parmesan, garlic, butter under the skin

Now that the skin is loose, mix together the butter, garlic, parmesan, and garlic salt (or garlic powder, salt, and parsley). Scoop small spoonfuls and begin stuffing the butter under the skin. Massage the skin to spread the butter evenly underneath. You will likely not use all of the butter. You can either put leftover butter on top of the skin or save it for another chicken later. 

Mix together the dry spices and herbs, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, parsley, paprika, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle the seasonings on top of the skin. Again you will likely not use all of the mixture so save it for the next chicken. 

Assemble the chicken for the oven

Cut an onion in half, leaving the skins on, and place it side by side in the bottom of a 9×13” baking dish. Place the chicken, skin side up, on top of the onions. Pour in about one to two cups of broth on the bottom of the pan, do not pour over the skin. You want the bottom to have about an inch of liquid in it. 

To fully cook a whole chicken keep in mind that 1 lb. = 20 minutes of cook time. For a 4 ½ lb. chicken that equals 1 hour and 30 minutes in the oven. 

For the first 30 minutes we are going to roast our chicken at 400°F. Remove from the oven, baste the chicken, and reduce the temperature to 375°F. Cook for another 30 minutes, baste, another thirty minutes, done. 

How to make gravy from scratch

Gravy is very simple and very nutritious. It’s a wonderful way to put bone broth into kids who aren’t fans of soup yet. To make gravy you’re going to need the drippings, fat, of your cooked meats, a thickening agent, and broth. You don’t have to add extra broth to the drippings, however, I like to make enough gravy for everyone to have what they want.

From the cooking dish, spoon out all of the drippings and add them to a small pot. Add flour to the drippings first, then over medium high heat slowly add remaining broth. For this recipe we are using 1 quart of broth, 1-2 cups cooking with the chicken and the rest will be added while we make the gravy.  Stir frequently until the gravy just reaches a boil.

If you cannot have gluten you can substitute the flour with cornstarch, or arrowroot starch, you will need less starch than you will flour.

Depending on how much drippings your chicken produces you may need to add more or less flour. Start with 3tbsp to 1/4 cup of flour. If you find that you need more, remove some of the gravy mixture from the pot to a small bowl. Add flour to that bowl and stir until combined. Then add that back to the pot. Adding flour directly to the pot after it’s hot will cause the flour to clump up and it won’t incorporate smoothly.

Once the gravy is done, dinner is ready to eat. Serve your roast chicken and gravy with homemade mashed potatoes for a special occasion or with rice as we do most often. 

Roast Chicken and Gravy Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, about 4 1/2 lbs 

For the butter filling:

• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp garlic salt

The spice rub:

• 1 tsp each onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, parsley, paprika, sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

Under the chicken:

• 1 medium onion
• Optional: 1 garlic bulb
• 1-2 cups chicken broth, or white wine

For the Gravy:

• 3 tbsp – 1/4 cup flour
• Drippings 
• 2-3 cups chicken broth
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Mix together the butter, parmesan, garlic, and garlic salt
3. Remove the spine from the chicken
4. Slide a spoon under the skin to loosen skin from muscle, starting at the bottom of the breast and working your way to the thighs and drumsticks. Can also access the thighs from the back of the chicken
5. Spoon butter mixture under the skin, massaging the skin to evenly spread the butter.*
6. Cut an onion in half, leaving the skin on and place it at the bottom of a 9×13” baking dish. If using a garlic bulb repeat the same process for that as well. 
7. Pour 1-2 cups in the bottom of the pan. 
8. Place the chicken, skin up, with the thighs up as well, on top of the onion.
9. Sprinkle the dry seasoning over the top of the skin until evenly distributed.*
10. Place the chicken into the oven for thirty minutes. Remove from the oven, baste and reduce heat to 375°F. Cook for another 30 minutes, baste, and then cook for an additional 30 minutes. After this point the chicken should be fully cooked and should be at least 165°F internal temperature.
11. Spoon the drippings out of the pan and place into a small pot. 
12. Add flour and stir until well combined and thick.
13. Place pot on stovetop and cook over medium heat, slowly adding 2-3 cups of broth.*
14. Cook until thickened.
15. Serve with rice or potatoes.

Notes:

*You will likely have leftover butter and seasonings. You can either use it all now, by placing the butter on the skin, or save it for another chicken. Same for the seasonings, save what is left for the next chicken.

*This recipe uses 1 quart of broth. About half will cook with the chicken, and the rest will be added when making the broth.