Orange Roasted Chicken

Nothing makes your home smell better than roasting a chicken. I usually roast a chicken at least once a week. It makes a perfect Sunday supper and we always have leftovers for sandwiches or chicken salad the next day. Roasting chickens are so much fun, and I have tried so many different flavor combinations. Since I’m a Floridian though, I have to have an orange flavored chicken pretty often. This is my favorite orange roasted chicken recipe for fall. I added rosemary and sage to compliment the orange flavor. Stuffing the chicken with the orange wedges keeps the meat very juicy. The flavor of the orange in the chicken is subtle, and compliments the herbs so well. Preparing the whole chicken couldn’t be simpler either, all you do is stuff the cavity of the chicken with orange wedges, onions, garlic, and herbs. For our small family, I just roast a small fryer chicken. Because we get small chickens, I’m lazy, and do not truss them. I just over-stuff their cavities and tuck their wings under them so they do not burn. For very large chickens and turkeys, I do truss though. If you want a great tutorial on trussing, I like Alton Brown’s demonstration. You can see Alton’s video about trussing here.

Orange Roasted Chicken Recipe

Ingredients
1 chicken, rinsed and patted dry
2 teaspoons dried rosemary, or 2 tablespoons fresh
1 teaspoon dried sage, or 1 tablespoon fresh
1 orange, sliced in wedges
1/2 onion, chopped in chunks
2 cloves garlic
kosher salt
pepper
olive oil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice oranges in wedges. Salt and pepper chicken. Put the chicken on a roasting rack in a roasting pan.
2. Add oranges, rosemary, onions and garlic to chicken cavity.
3. Drizzle the chicken with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.