Roast chicken with apples is a delicious one-pan chicken dinner, with only 15 minutes of hands-on time.
This recipe combines classic, simple roasted chicken, but with a twist using classic Fall flavors.
It can be served alone, or with virtually any side dish you have on hand.
It's less than 20 minutes of hands-on time, so most of the actual cooking is in the oven.
Tip: You can use the leftovers bones to make immune boosting bone broth.
Ingredients
Apples- Honeycrisp apple is perfect for this recipe, but any sweet, slightly tart reddish apple or golden delicious will do. Avoid granny smith as they are too tart for this dish.
Chicken- The size of the chicken that you choose doesn't matter, but they tend to come in a 4-6 pound range. Choose a weight that best suits your family. (For our family of 6, I choose around a 6-7 pound chicken).
Pecans- I like to use pecan halves, but you can use chopped as well for smaller pieces; it's completely up to your preference.
Prep The Chicken
Clean the inside of your chicken. Some come with clean cavities, some don't. Rinse the inside and pat dry with paper towels.
Stuff the chicken with the sliced apples, shallot, garlic, thyme and cubes of butter (photo 1). This will infuse flavor into the chicken, and flavor the drippings as they release during the cooking process.
You can truss your chicken, if desired or leave it untied.
Prepare a bed of apples and pecans inside the skillet or roasting pan that the chicken will rest on (photo 2).
This will elevate the chicken, in place of a roasting rack and add additional flavor into what will become the pan sauce.
Place the chicken on the bed of apples and pecans (photo 3). Season the chicken and entire pan with salt and pepper.
Roast The Chicken
Roast the chicken at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes per pound, until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Remove the chicken from the pan, and let it rest on a cutting board for a minimum of 10 minutes.
The Pan Sauce
Place the apples and pecans skillet on the stove and heat to medium high heat with ¼ cup of wine.
Sauté for 10 minutes until wine evaporates and sauce becomes thickened. Salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.
Serving The Dish
Carve the chicken, and serve with the pan sauce, pecans and apples (photo 4).
Recipe Tips
- Cleaning out the inside of the chicken, and allowing it to "dry" in the fridge, uncovered overnight makes for a much crispier skin.
- The juices are released right before the chicken is about to be done; so keep an eye out for a dry pan, turned juicy.
- Allowing the chicken to rest on a cutting board before cutting into it, allows the juices to distribute, which guarantees the most juicy chicken possible.
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Roast Chicken with Apples
Equipment
- Cast iron skillet or roasting pan
- Knife
Ingredients
- 4-6 lb whole chicken inside cavity empty and cleaned
- 2-3 medium size red variety apples sliced
- 3 cloves garlic smashed, peeled, minced
- whole thyme sprigs
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 1 shallot sliced
- 1 cups pecans halves or peeces
- ¼ cup dry white wine like pinot grigio
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Clean inside of chicken cavity and pat completely dry. Pat dry the outside of the chicken so that there is no moisture. (Optional: let further air dry uncovered, in the refrigerator for 1-24 hours, til completely dry, resulting in a crispier skin.)
- Stuff the inside of the chicken with thyme, garlic cloves, and as many sliced apples as will reasonably fit. Tie the chicken legs with kitchen twine.
- In a large cast iron skillet or baking dish (lightly greased with butter if not non-stick), line the bottom of the pan with all the remaining sliced apples and pecans.
- Place the chicken on top of the bed of apples and pecans. Take both wings, bend down and around the back of the chicken, further propping it up over the apples and nuts.
- Heavily salt the chicken with coarse kosher salt, and lightly pepper. Place oven-go thermometer between the thigh and breast, but not touching any bone.
- Bake uncovered, for around 1 hour 15 minutes, until internal temp reaches 165 degrees. Periodically spoon over the pan drippings.
- Remove the chicken from the pan, allow to rest on a cutting board for a minimum of 10 minutes while you make the sauce.
- Scoop out the apples if you want their shape to remain intact, since they are soft, and set aside while you make the sauce.
- In the same pan, add the butter and shallot, saute until shallot is translucent. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and simmer until most of the liquid is evaporated.
- Transfer apples and pecans back to the pan, remove from heat and stir getly
- Carve the chicken, and spoon a bit of pan sauce, apples and pecans over the chicken.
- Serve with extra pan sauce, apples and pecans spooned over.
Notes
- Cleaning out the inside of the chicken, and allowing it to "dry" in the fridge, uncovered overnight makes for a much crispier skin.
- The juices are released right before the chicken is about to be done; so keep an eye out for a dry pan, turned juicy.
- Allowing the chicken to rest on a cutting board before cutting into it, allows the juices to distribute, which guarantees the most juicy chicken possible.
Dee says
*shallot
Erin says
Excellent catch Dee, thank you and thank you for trying the recipe! I'm so glad you liked it, it's one of my favorites. The printable version should be fixed now!
Dee says
This was delicious.
One thing - you forgot butter and scallion in step two of the printable recipe. It can be figured out but it would be easier if they were included in the printable version.