Sweet Onion Garlic Confit Whole Roasted Chicken

This chicken is destined to be on a late spring, early summer back porch dinner table this year. I think a simple dish like roast chicken with lots of herbs, lemon, and, in this recipe, LOTS of garlic/onions is often overlooked, but it truly makes the best blank canvas for a dinner or lunch. It can be served with such a wide range of sides, and honestly, I find whole meats or fish to be the epitome entrée of a perfect family-style dinner.

While this recipe might take a day or two to make, it’s really so simple and such an easy main dish that’s perfect for an elevated dinner party or casual weeknight dinner. The only time intensive things are making the confit and if you choose to let the chicken dry out in the fridge for a day or a few hours. The latter is totally optional but ensures an extra crispy skin.

This confit recipe takes lot of olive oil but you can strain the leftover oil, reserve it in the fridge, and use it as onion/garlic infused olive oil for up to 1 month — just make sure to keep it in an airtight container and refrigerated!

Feel free to play around with different herbs and spices, as well. I kept things simple with just salt/pepper on the actual chicken since the confit was infused with herbs and peppercorns, but this recipe is really a blank canvas — you can hardly go wrong with adding any spices to garlic, onion, herbs, and lemon!

Sweet Onion + Garlic Confit Whole Roasted Chicken

Yields 1 roasted chicken + extra garlic/onion oil

Prep Time: 3 hrs - 1 day | Cook Time: 45-1 hr minutes, depending on the size of the chicken

Sweet Onion + Garlic Confit

• 2 heads of garlic

• 1 sweet onion

• Olive oil, a lot

• 1 bay leaf, 10 black peppercorns, 1 sprig each fresh rosemary, thyme, and tarragon (any combination or only one also works)

Begin by making the garlic/onion confit. Peel all of the garlic cloves from the 2 heads but leave them whole. Slice the onion in half, remove the peel, and thinly slice the onion following the direction of the lines. Put all the garlic/onions in a pot, cover them with olive oil to completely submerge and bring to a simmer. Add in the bay leaf/peppercorns/herbs and turn to a very low simmer - let cook until the garlic/onions are soft and golden brown, about 1-1.5 hours. Let cool and strain from the oil. Store the confit garlic/onion in an airtight container enough oil to cover them, reserving the rest of the oil in another airtight container/jar - put both in the fridge once cooled down enough to handle.

Roasted Chicken

• 1 whole chicken, roughly 3-6 lbs.

• Salt and black pepper

• 1 lemon, cut in half

• 1-2 sprigs each herbs of choice: rosemary, thyme, tarragon, oregano, parsley

To get the crispiest skin, if you have a few extra hours or 1 day to sparee: place your chicken on a rack-lined sheet tray and pat it dry. Clean the cavity of any excess inards or moisture. Use about 1 TBS of salt and rub it all over the chicken directly on the skin. Place it in the fridge, uncovered to dry out for 3 hours and up to one day. The skin will be shriveled, especially after leaving it for 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Remove the garlic/onion confit and the chicken from the fridge. Pat the chicken dry again of any extra moisture. Take all of the garlic/onion confit and rub it in every cavity of the chicken. Smoosh the garlic/onion pieces under the skin, gently lifting it up from the flesh by pushing your fingers under it. You can also smoosh the garlic onto the skin. Place the excess garlic/onions in the cavity of the chicken. Make sure the entire thing is covered in the oil, using any of the extra reserved oil if necessary. Season the cavity well with salt/pepper. Re-season the bird with salt/pepper thoroughly and generously. Fill the cavity more with the 2 lemon halves and thee fresh herbs. Truss the chicken legs together tightly to compact the chicken. Place it in a roasting pan with a rack or if you don’t have one, rest on top of large cut onions/potatoes (tossed in some of the reserved oil and seasoned as well) or tin foil balls to allow the chicken to be raised up off the bottom of the dutch oven (this will ensure even roasting on all sides).

Roast the chicken until the middle of the thighs reach an internal temperature of 155 - thighs generally take the longest time to cook. Remove from oven and all it to rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting. Carve the chicken and serve with the juices from the bottom of the pan.