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One of my very favorite (and economical) dinners is making a roasted chicken.  Depending upon how many mouths you have to feed, you can get multiple dinners out of this and get some excellent bone broth as well (more on that later).

I do buy rotisserie chickens from the store, but when I’m cooking I always start with an organic, free-range chicken.  These birds are much less fatty and juicier in my opinion.  They are so much better for you and were raised in a humane way.  And while you pay a premium relative to regular chicken, it still is a much better value than red meat.

My favorite seasoning is Emeril LaGasse’s  Original Essence.  Unlike what you may think of Emeril, this seasoning is flavorful – not the ‘BAM’ or the heat you may associate with Emeril.  My household tends to prefer things on the milder side and this fits the bill without giving up on the flavor.

I rinse my chicken, pat it dry with paper towels and rub in olive oil.  I then sprinkle liberally with Emeril’s Essence inside the cavity and out.  It does have salt in it, so you don’t need to use extra salt.  As an alternative you can put parsley, tarragon, rosemary, and/or lemon slices  in the cavity and sprinkle with salt and pepper as well.  It’s all good.

I place the bird in a pan at 350 degrees with some water in the pan.  One of my secret kitchen weapons is an instant read thermometer.  You can figure about 20-30 minutes per pound of chicken.  But with the instant read thermometer, it takes the guesswork out of things.  I use the thermometer for fish and red meat as well.

While the bird is cooking it’s easy to throw sweet potatoes or squash into the oven as well. It takes a bit of time to cook but hardly any prep.  Once it’s in the oven you are free for about 1 – 1 1/2 hours until it’s ready to pull out.  Enjoy this simple tasty dinner, my favorite roasted chicken, that is perfect meal for a Sunday dinner.  You will have leftovers that can be used in so many ways as well.