This one pot easy Cajun Whole Roasted Chicken is the most juicy, tender, and delicious whole roasted chicken recipe bursting with cajun spices and butter for a spicy, flavorful whole roasted chicken you can make in just one pan or dutch oven!
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One Pot Easy Cajun Whole Roast Chicken
Whole roasted chicken is one of my absolute favorite Sunday dinners. It’s delicious, juicy, filling, and goes with just about anything – perfect for the whole family! I am pairing two of my all-time favorite flavors here – spicy and smoky cajun butter and buttery rich whole roasted chicken – for a showstopping dinner you can have on the table in under 15 minutes active time and just shy of an hour and a half in the oven.
While and hour and a half might seem like a long time, trust me, this is one of the easiest and most flavor-packed whole roasted chicken dinners you’ll find – and you literally just need to prep your chicken, toss it in the oven, and try not to drool as the most amazing cajun butter chicken flavor drifts through your house.
How to Cook Whole Chicken
Whole roasted chicken is one of my favorite easy dinners because it takes very little work to get a show stopping roasted chicken dinner that is perfect for a family meal everyone loves – and is impressive enough to make for a big gathering, picnic, or dinner party.
While cooking a whole chicken in the oven can be intimidating, these tips and tricks are tried and true ways to get delicious juicy chicken with a crispy skin right from your oven in a dutch oven or large pot!
You won’t need any special materials or experience to create a gourmet cajun whole roasted chicken dinner – though I’m including a quick and easy recipe for a cajun chicken brine and injectable cajun butter if you want to kick your whole roasted chicken flavor up a notch!
Tips and Tricks for Perfect Cajun Whole Roast Chicken
Check out my tips and tricks below for a perfect result every time.
Get a good thermometer. Since chicken size varies so much, watch your chicken’s temperature as it cooks and measure in the deepest part of the chicken meat, taking care to not touch bone with the thermometer. You will need a high-quality thermometer; I prefer this digital one.
Try a dry brine chicken for a day before cooking instead of a wet brine. Brining chicken helps to not only add a ton of juicy moisture into your chicken it can help flavor your chicken’s meat, too. Simple rub your rinsed and dried chicken all over in salt and pepper and set it in a casserole dish, covered in the refrigerator overnight.
Inject chicken with flavored butter. Find my cajun injectable butter recipes and ideas below for super juicy and moist cajun roasted chicken.
Pat chicken dry before cooking. Removing any excess liquid from the chicken (there is a lot of liquid from the chicken when it is packaged from the store) will help your chicken skin from getting flabby and soggy.
Generously cover in butter. Butter is great for helping chicken skin crisp to a lovely golden brown – and getting a rich, salty flavor that is irresistible. Generously slather butter on top of your chicken to get delicious crispy skin. Also tuck some butter under the skin.
Cook the chicken without the lid the final 30 minutes. To help your chicken skin crisp up, cook without the lid for the last minutes of cooking.
FAQs
While trussing the legs can help a chicken cook more evenly it is not necessary in this case since the Dutch oven cooks the chicken very evenly without it.
The point of basting is to add more moisture that has escaped back to the breast. In this case the chicken will be retaining its moisture really well anyway since it is contained in the Dutch oven so there is no need to baste.
Yes, however you will need to tent it well with a double layer of tin foil to account for the get the effect of the lid on the Dutch oven.
What to serve with Cajun Roasted Chicken?
Try these sides with your succulent chicken:
Check out our other one pot recipes by clicking here!
Easy Cajun Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe
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One Pot Easy Cajun Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe
One Pot Easy Cajun Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe - the most juicy, tender, and delicious whole roasted chicken recipe bursting with cajun spices and butter for a spicy, flavorful whole roasted chicken you can make in just one pan or dutch oven! Perfect for meal prep or a hearty easy whole roasted chicken dinner.
Ingredients
- 8 cups water, warm
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 whole chicken, 3-4 pounds
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 1/4 cup garlic cloves
- 14 oz chicken stock
Instructions
- In a large bowl or container with a lid, add water, sugar, soy sauce, salt, and olive oil.
- Mix well and stir to dissolve.
- Add chicken and cover with ice, place lid or plastic wrap over chicken. Place in refrigerator or keep adding ice to keep chicken cold as it brines.
- Brine chicken for at least 6 hours and up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove chicken from brine and pat dry thoroughly.
- Mix butter and remaining herbs and spices and rub generously all over outside and inside of chicken.
- If injecting chicken with cajun butter, melt butter and spices and inject throughout chicken.
- Stuff onion, lemon, and garlic into chicken cavity. Truss if desired.
- Place chicken in dutch oven and place stock in bottom. Cover with lid.
- Roast chicken at 350 degrees for about an hour with lid on. Baste occasionally with chicken stock.
- Remove lid from dutch oven and cook the rest of the 30 (+/-) minutes until an internal temperature reads 160 degrees.
- If chicken skin is not crisp enough, place under broiler the last 5-10 minutes on high (watching carefully to prevent burning) until skin gets crispy and golden brown.
- Remove chicken from dutch oven and place on cooling rack, tent with foil and let rest for 15 minutes to lock in the juices.
- Carve and serve - enjoy!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra expense to you.
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Lodge EC6D33 Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven, 6-Quart, Blue -
Ofargo 304-Stainless Steel Meat Injector Syringe Kit with 4 Marinade Needles for BBQ Grill Smoker, 2-oz Large Capacity, Both Paper User Manual and E-Book Recipe
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ThermoPro TP-17 Dual Probe Digital Cooking Meat Thermometer Large LCD Backlight Food Grill Thermometer with Timer Mode for Smoker Kitchen Oven BBQ, Silver
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 347Total Fat 21gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 75mgSodium 6443mgCarbohydrates 16gFiber 1gSugar 10gProtein 24g
Brendan Erie
DONT Baste!!!! All the rub and seasoning came right off.
Taryn
Excited to try this- just wondering if you used dry or fresh rosemary and thyme for this recipe??
Taylor W.
So crispy and flavorful! Yum!!
Sabrina
This was so delicious and super easy to make! The crispiness of the skin was exactly what I was craving.
Tara
So many amazing flavors going on here. Can’t wait to try it! And thanks for the tip about trussing the chicken — I’ve always wondered if it was *really* necessary.
Bec
This is a great recipe to use for meal prep for the week! I can’t wait to try it.
Kimberly
Soooo flavorful, such a great blend of ingredients!