Dutch oven roast chicken is one of the easiest meals out there to make. It’s a one-pot meal with simple ingredients that will have you coming back for seconds.

If anyone was to ever ask for a good homestead meal, this would make the top of the list. The chicken skins get nice and crispy and when served with some fresh garden veggies or root vegetables, it never disappoints. This meal is full of whole food goodness, normally providing not just one meal, but gives us leftover chicken and bones to make chicken broth with. Cooking up a fresh whole chicken is so simple that it can almost be deemed foolproof.

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Ingredients for Dutch Oven Roast Chicken

• 1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tbsp dried thyme
• 6 potatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, quartered

How to Make Dutch Oven Roast Chicken

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut up potatoes and onions.

Rinse chicken under cool water and pat dry with a paper towel.

In a small bowl, combine seasonings, herbs, and salt.

Drizzle the chicken with olive oil. Afterward, rub the mixture all over the outside of the chicken. Save a bit for the vegetables.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil on the bottom of dutch oven. Place potatoes and onion in the bottom of the dutch oven. Sprinkle remaining seasoning onto the potatoes and onion.

Lay the chicken on top, breast side down.

Cover and bake for one hour.

After an hour, lower the temperature to 400 and remove the lid and bake another 20 minutes.

Flip the chicken so it will be breast side up (allowing this side to get golden brown) and bake another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees F when you check it with a meat thermometer.

Take chicken out of oven and let the roasted chicken rest for 10 minutes before cutting into it. This provides with more juicy meat. When you cut into it, the juices should run clear, not pink. If the juices do run pink, just throw back in the oven to continue cooking for a bit longer.

Going Out For the Day?

• If you need something to cook for you and have a complete meal ready to go after a long day, try using a slow cooker instead. Place potatoes and onions in slow cooker. Then, place chicken on top, cover, and cook on low for 7-8 hours. This will not produce a crispy skin, so if you miss that, place chicken under the broiler in the oven for a few minutes until that extra crispy skin is achieved.
• You can also make this in the instant pot. Depending on the size of the instant pot though, you might not be able to add as many veggies in. This also does not give you the crispy roast chicken, so broiling will be necessary if you want that.

Other Options:

Instead of potatoes and onions in the bottom of the pot, try these variations:

• Instead of white potatoes, try sweet potatoes. For extra ummph, throw some maple syrup in with it. Yum!
• Instead of quartering up potatoes, use fingerling potatoes.
• Throw in any old vegetables that are sitting in your refrigerator and need to be used up.
• Throw in a bag of frozen brussel sprouts with the potatoes and onions.
• Use fresh herbs instead of dried herbs when they are in season. Fresh rosemary or a sprinkle of parsley is great.
• If you don’t want to use olive oil, use coconut oil.

After Eating This Easy Dinner:

• Do NOT waste the chicken bones. They are still useable. Make some homemade chicken stock to use for other recipes later on.
• If you have leftover chicken, use it for other recipes, such as chicken salad or chicken noodle soup.

Save This Dutch Oven Chicken Recipe for Later

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