It’s so easy to make this delicious Roasted Apple Butter Chicken at home. This crispy, crust chicken on top of a bed of veggies is comfort food you can’t resist.
There is nothing that screams comfort food more so than a roasted chicken. Look at that skin on the Roasted Apple Butter Chicken, isn’t it gorgeous? Bonus…it tastes good too.
I am also a sucker for root vegetable anything. Have you ever tried my Winter Root Vegetable Puree? It’s so amazing. And I’m also not above adding sweet potato to almost everything, like this favorite Sausage and Sweet Potato Hash. These are two dishes I make again and again throughout the season.
It’s obviously so much easier to run into Costco and pick up one of their awesome rotisserie chickens, but there is also something very special about creating your meal from scratch, where the littlest touches make it special.
I used sweet potatoes, red potatoes, turnips and red onion. Parsnips would also be good or rutabaga. All are my favorites.
I place my roast chicken breast side down so the breast meat remains juicy and moist. You can do it either way depending on where you want your crispy skin.
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, how do you roast chicken? Without one, you risk the chance of overcooking or under-cooking your chicken. Don’t let that happen. This one is my favorite and I highly suggest having one in your kitchen toolbox.
Just a thought, the apple butter basting would also work well on turkey, bone-in chicken breasts and even pork tenderloin.
Those veggies.
Can’t wait for you to put this showstopping chicken on your dinner table.
There are so many delicious fall meals you can make! It’s so hard to choose, but here are some great ideas. This Party Minestrone Soup is great to feed a crowd and Sauteed Chicken with Apples and Rosemary is perfect for a weeknight. There is nothing like Vanilla Cider Pork with Pears & Walnut Wild Rice on a cool, fall evening. This Sheet Pan Sausage dinner needs to go on your monthly meal rotation as well as this Southwest Black Bean Stuffed Butternut Squash.
Four years ago I made this Cranberry-Vanilla Cinnamon Smoothie and it’s still a fall favorite. And six years ago these Antipasto and Cheddar-Pickle Skewers were made for a party and are still a guest favorite.
Roasted Apple Butter Chicken
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 (5-6 lb) roasting chicken*
- kosher salt
- coarsely ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
For the veggies:
- 3-1/2 lbs veggies: sweet potato, red potato, red onion and turnips, all peeled and chopped**
- salt and black pepper
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
For the baste:
- 1/3 cup apple butter or apple cider butter
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken giblets and rinse the chicken inside and out. pat dry. Generously salt and pepper the inside and outside of the chicken. Brush the outside of the chicken with butter and salt and pepper again. Set aside.
- Mix together chopped veggies with oil, salt and pepper and add them to the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan. Place seasoned chicken breast side down on top of the veggies. (I place my chicken breast side down to keep that cut of the meat juicy. If you want your breast skin crispy, then roast breat side up.) Roast for one hour.
- Melt apple butter and butter for the baste in a small saucepan. After one hour, begin basting chicken every 10-15 minutes, until the thickest part of the breast registers 165 degrees F on a meat thermometer. Tent with foil and let rest 15 minutes before carving. (If your chicken is becoming too brown, do not stop basting, but a place a sheet of foil over the top.) Toss veggies with any drippings in the pan before serving.
- *Make sure chicken is completely defrosted and it's a good idea to let the chicken sit out a couple of hours before roasting, so it's not so cold.
- **When chopping your veggies, be sure to leave sweet potatoes a little larger than your red potatoes and turnips, since they tend to cook a little faster.
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