Easy Italian-Style Roasted Chicken {Recipe}

This Italian-style roasted chicken recipe is one of the few recipes that can be prepared with a meal budget of $20 for a family of four. Including all the necessary ingredients you’ll need for this tasty chicken meal, you’ll still be able to meet your budget! I also took advantage of the heated oven and roasted some vegetables: carrots sliced wide (1/2 inch), an onion, fennel (bulb), and two medium potatoes, with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Italian-Style Roasted Chicken {Recipe}

Serves 4
Cooking time: 1 hour & 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 lbs)
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp oregano, crushed
• 1 Tbsp basil, crushed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp thyme, crushed
• ½ tsp rosemary
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp butter

Note: You can substitute the oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary with 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 ° F.
2. Combine the vinegar, oil, lemon juice, oregano, basil, garlic, salt, thyme, rosemary, and pepper in a small bowl. Divide the herb mixture in half.
3. Rinse the inside of your chicken and pat dry. Slip your fingers between the skin and the breast meat, adding half of the herb mixture with a spoon into the pocket that forms to separate the meat from the skin.
4. Add butter in between the skin and breast meat as well.
5. Season remainder of chicken (including over the skin), with the remaining half of the herb mixture.
6. If you want, you can tie the legs of the chicken with a cord. (optional)
7. Marinate in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
8. Place chicken, breast side up, on a rack or pan and roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes in your preheated oven.
9. Remove chicken from oven. Cover with foil and let stand 10 minutes before carving.

Jeannette Quiñones-Cantore is the CEO and founder of Sazón Boricua. She started her blog from Puerto Rico in 2008 to share recipes, advice and tips for the home. She collaborates with Qué Rica Vida, has been selected as a Top Bloguera by LATISM 2012, and is also the founder of Red Bloguera de Puerto Rico. You can follow Jeanette on Facebook, Twitter, or via her blog Sazón Boricua.

Photo © Jeannette Quiñones-Cantore