Black Garlic Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken with all the trimmings or even simply with a salad. Does it get any better? My Black garlic roast chicken recipe is just like how a good roast garlic chicken should be. Juicy and full of flavor on the inside, with a bit of crispy skin to fight over, on the outside.

I cook roast chicken most weekends or for Monday night dinner. They basically can be the centerpiece for ANY occasion. Family dinner, date night, Sunday afternoon lazy lunch. It’s endless! They are easy to cook and require little hands-on prep time. My kind of dinner really! Lately, I love to serve a roast with boiled kipler potatoes, homemade chicken gravy, and a green salad but the rest of my tribe prefers all the roast trimmings. It’s a constant debate in our house about how it will be served!

What is black garlic?

Black garlic is garlic bulbs that have been aged through a fermentation process at a constant regulated humidity and temperature for a month or so. It’s not as intense as regular garlic but rewards with a delicious, subtle, rich flavor in a sticky black-colored clove that adds such depth to a dish. Use this fermented garlic wherever a recipe calls for garlic or experiment when you want an added oomph to a recipe.

I add to soups, stews, sauces, pasta & roasts, but by far, my favorite way is to add a crushed clove to a little butter and smother (and let melt) over a resting steak – you can thank me later!
Black garlic can be found in most gourmet food stores and trust me, it’s totally worth it!
Black garlic salt and black garlic powder are also readily available and total flavor bombs in the kitchen

What you need to cook black garlic roast chicken

• Organic whole chicken
  
  
  
• Black garlic cloves- can’t get enough of this stuff.
  
  
  
• Butter – always good unsalted butter. Soft but not melted.
  
  
  
• Parsley – flat continental parsley. Washed and picked of leaves. If you have any extra parsley, pop some in the chicken cavity along with the butter and garlic.
  
  
  
• Sea salt. Do you have a favorite salt? I’m a Murray River Salt Flake kinda girl. I find it a perfect seasoning salt.
  
  
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
  
  
  
• Extra virgin olive oil.

The black fermented garlic butter

Combine the soft butter, cloves of black garlic, salt, and parsley in a small bowl. Give a quick mix to combine. I tend to use my hands to squish the garlic and parsley into the butter.

How to stuff a chicken

The best way to impart flavor to a roast chicken is to stuff it with a good bit of butter. When I say stuff it, I mean add a layer of butter underneath the skin. With the chicken legs pointed towards you, gently place your fingers under the chicken breast skin and loosen the skin from the breasts. Some people find using a spoon instead of your fingers to separate the skin from the meat works really well. Try both ways and do what works for you!

Take ¾ of your butter and push it under the skin. Use your fingers to spread the butter on the breasts and legs (still under the skin).

Put the remaining butter in the chicken cavity along with the fresh garlic cloves. Feel free to add a few sprigs of parsley if you have any leftover stems – it’s all flavor!

Now, drizzle the entire chicken with a little olive oil and rub it with any remaining butter. Give it a good massage and sprinkle with a very generous grind of black pepper and a good sprinkle of sea salt flakes.

Cook the chook

Pop the whole chicken in a roasting dish and pop the whole thing into a preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Don’t forget to baste your chicken every 20 minutes with the pan juices. The chook will be cooked when you can insert a skewer into the meat and the juices run clear as well as a lovely golden brown, crispy skin. Alternatively, using an instant-read thermometer, check that the internal temperature (I suggest in the chicken breast) is 74 degrees Celsius. Remove from the oven, and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Equipment

A good high-sided roasting pan is essential for cooking roast dinners. My go-to is a stainless steel roaster that works in the oven as well as on top of the stove. Once you’ve roasted your meats, all those baked on bits and pan juices make the best gravy, so when looking for a roasting pan, look for one than can be used on both heat sources.

What to serve fermented black garlic roast chicken with?

Dress it down with a simple caprese salad, corn ribs, and Colcannon (Potato Mash with Cabbage). Cooking black garlic roast chicken for the holidays? Try serving it alongside Smashed Duck Fat Potatoes with Truffle Salt, all the steamed vegetables, and lashings of homemade chicken gravy.

More black garlic recipes

• Black Garlic Potato Gratin
• Slow-Cooked Beef Stroganoff
• Black Garlic Butter

Ok, so are you convinced you need to cook a roast chook this week?

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