Honey Glazed Roast Chicken with Carrots and New Potatoes
- Savory
- Oven
A one-tray Easter roast: chicken roasted over carrots and new potatoes, finished with a sticky honey and thyme glaze that caramelizes at the edges.
- Total
- 1 h 55
- Prep 20 · Cook 85 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Roasting · Resting meat
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 200°C. Halve the new potatoes and cut the carrots into 4 cm batons. Toss both on the large roasting tray with the olive oil, 1 tsp of the salt and the black pepper.
~15 min
Cutting the vegetables to an even size and coating them in oil helps them cook evenly and brown rather than steam.
Cut the carrots and potatoes to a similar 4 cm size so they finish cooking at the same time as the chicken.
-
Pat the chicken dry, rub it all over with the remaining 1 tsp salt and set it breast-side up on top of the vegetables. Strip the leaves from 4 thyme sprigs and scatter them over the chicken.
~5 min
A dry skin and a raised position let the heat circulate and the fat drip onto the vegetables, giving crisp skin and flavourful potatoes.
-
Roast until the chicken skin is golden and a kitchen thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh reads 74°C, about 70 to 75 minutes, turning the carrots and potatoes once halfway through.
~75 min
The thigh is the last part to reach temperature, so checking there guarantees the whole bird is safely cooked without drying the breast.
Roasting Roast at high heat with the chicken raised above the vegetables so air circulates; watch for golden skin and caramelized edges rather than pale, steamed results.
-
While step 3 cooks
While the chicken roasts, melt the butter in the small heatproof bowl in the oven, then stir in the honey and the leaves from the last 2 thyme sprigs to make the glaze.
~5 min
Warm butter and honey combine into a smooth, spreadable glaze that clings to the skin instead of sliding off.
-
Brush the honey glaze over the chicken and toss the carrots and potatoes in the pan juices. Return to the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the glaze is sticky and the vegetable edges are caramelized.
~10 min
Honey caramelizes and browns quickly at high heat, so adding it late builds a sticky glaze without burning it bitter.
Brush the glaze on only for the final stretch: honey burns quickly, so adding it at the start would leave the skin bitter and dark.
Roasting Roast at high heat with the chicken raised above the vegetables so air circulates; watch for golden skin and caramelized edges rather than pale, steamed results.
-
Move the chicken to a carving board and rest it loosely covered with aluminium foil for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with the glazed carrots and new potatoes.
~10 min
Resting lets the juices redistribute through the meat so they stay in the slices rather than running out onto the board.
Resting meat Rest the bird loosely covered for 10 minutes so juices redistribute; carving too soon lets them run out and leaves the meat dry.
