30 roast chicken recipes you need to try (2024)

MShev/Shutterstock

Chicken is one of the most versatile meats around, able to take on a variety of flavours from salty and spicy to herby and fruity. We've pulled together some of our favourite oven-cooked recipes, from the ultimate roast chicken and simple traybake suppers, to midweek meals like sticky chicken wings and dishes with warming Moroccan flavours. If you have leftovers, even better – they’ll be perfect mixed with grains and roast vegetables or simply tossed into salads.

Click or scroll through for our best-ever roast chicken recipes.

Louise Hagger/Quadrille

This Malay-inspired recipe consists of a whole chickenmarinated overnight in a creamy, fragrant and spicy coconut rub, resulting in a tender, flavour-packed roast. The easy marinade is simply whizzed up in a blender. For a wonderful crispy skin,leave the marinated bird at room temperature for two hours before roasting. This is deliciousserved with rice and stir-fried greens, or as a twist on the usual Sunday roast dinner with all the trimmings.

Get the recipe for coconut and lemongrass roast chicken here

Graydon Herriott/Ebury Press

This easy one-pan meal consists of chicken marinated in a warm, garlicky rub, stuffed with a lemon and garlic butter, then baked in a roasting tin with fresh herbs and vegetables. The chicken is spatchco*cked, which simply means the backbone is removed for faster, more even cooking. Just cut it out with kitchen shears, then flatten it on a chopping board. Many butchers will do this for you too.

Get the recipe for roast chicken with paprika here

Robert Bilington & Adam Wiseman/Hardie Grant

Ancho chilliesare commonly used in Mexican cooking and bring a mild to medium heat, along with a fruity, smoky flavour.Here, they're combined with fresh orange, sugar and spices to make a paste that's spread onthe chicken before roasting with garlic, ginger and more orange. The result is a tender, slightly spicy, smokychicken, which is deliciousserved with a crunchy slaw.

Get the recipe for ancho rub pot chicken here

Matt Russell/Bloomsbury

In this Mediterranean style recipe, spatchco*ckedchicken is marinated in lemon, garlic and herbs, and served with a crisp salad. It cooks in around 40 minutes but it's important to regualrly bast it to ensure moist and flavoursome results.Here's a clever tip: try rubbing salt and baking powder into the chicken skin prior to cooking and leave for at least 20 minutes to make it crispier.

Get the recipe for herb and paprika chicken here

Steve Lee Studios/Parmigiano Reggiano/loveFOOD

This roast with a difference isserved with a creamy, herby, savoury lemon and Parmesan sauce instead of traditional gravy. The spatchco*cked chicken is roasted on a rack over the backbone, giblets and wing tips, which combine with the chicken juices to help form the foundations of the flavourful sauce.

Get the recipe for roast chicken with lemon, herb and Parmesan sauce here

Paul Stuart/Penguin Random House

Dukkah is an Egyptian spice blend based on hazelnuts and coriander seeds, which you can either make yourself (here's a recipe),or buy ready-made. Here, the chicken is roasted on a bed of preserved lemons, fresh rosemary and chilli, with pomegranate mixing with the juices from the bird to create a sweet, spicy gravy. Rest the chicken for half an hour or so before scattering with dukkah to serve.

Get the recipe for dukkah roast chicken here

Eat to Beat Illness/Harper Thorsons

This easy one-pan traybake, with tender chicken thighs,takes just 25 minutes to cook. Combined with sweet apples, chestnuts, sage and Savoy cabbage, the addition of yeast extract and stock make a savoury sauce. You can play around with this dish too, adding kale, different nuts and extra proteinsuch as beans or chickpeas.

Get the recipe for chicken thighs with red onion, apple and chestnuts here

Waitrose & Partners/loveFOOD

This is roast chicken with a delicious difference. The skin is rubbed with smoked paprika and ground ginger to add spice, then it's served with a homemade mayonnaise flavoured with peppery watercress and sweet stem ginger. You could simply add the flavourings to shop-bought mayonnaise, using around six tablespoons. You can also use chopped rocket leavesin place of watercress. Any leftovers will be incredible in a salad or served with Thai-style noodles.

Get the recipe for roast chicken with ginger mayonnaise here

Laura Edwards/BBC Books

Looking for a new midweek meal to add to your repertoire? This dish of succulent chicken thighs cooked in white wine withmushrooms, bacon, cream and fresh herbs is perfect, made in one pot and takesjust 15 minutes to prepare. It also freezes well for even easier meals in the future,or you can make it a day aheadthen add the mushrooms, cream and crisp sage leaves when reheating. Serve with rice or new potatoes.

Get the recipe for chicken casserole here

Joff Lee/Ebury Press

The oven does most of the work forthis tasty one-pot recipe. Tender chicken breasts are roasted in stock with herbs, garlic, tomatoes and chunks of pumpkin – usesquash when pumpkins are out of season. The addition of balsamic vinegar adds sweet and sour notes anda lovely stickiness. You could also make this with chicken wings or thighs.

Get the recipe for chicken and pumpkin traybake here

John Carey/Quadrille

'Nduja is a fiery pork sausage with a soft, spreadable texture, thathails from southern Italy. Here it brings a sweet, smoky spice when mixed with butter, garlic and lemon to melt over roasted chicken fillets, aubergines and avocado. This is a great way to use avocados that are a tad underripe, as roasting will soften them. Scatter with fresh herbs and serve with crusty bread to mop up the spicy butter.

Get the recipe for roast avocado and chicken with 'nduja butter here

Cook Up a Feast/DK

Taleggio is a washed-rind, semi-soft Italian cheese with a mild fruity flavour thatmelts to perfection. Mixed with pesto, basil and cream cheese, spooned over chicken breasts, then covered with crunchy crumbs, it makes a heavenly combination in this easyyet stunning one-pan dish. Ripe cherry tomatoes are added at the end to soften and sweeten. Serve with greens and new potatoes.

Get the recipe for chicken with pesto, Taleggio and roasted tomatoes here

Dan Perez/Phaidon

You don't have to add potatoes to this one-tin wonder but, if you don't, you'll be missing out on perhaps the tastiest potatoes you've ever tried. They soak up the delicious Middle Eastern flavours and juices from the chicken, while cooking it all together in the oven gives them a wonderful crispness too. Of course, the fragrant chicken thighs are the stars here, stuffed with a nutty, herby, spicy lemon filling.Serve with a crisp green salad or green beans.

Get the recipe for herb, garlic and chilli-stuffed chicken here

Louise Hagger/Hardie Grant

The recipe title says it all.Chicken wings are baked in the oven until crisp and then coated in a hot and sweet sauce to make an irresistible sticky glaze. A final blast in the oven helps the glaze to stick.There are a couple oftricks to achieving perfection here. Firstly,add bicarbonate soda to the dry rub to make the wings super crispy, and don't preheat the oven – putting them in cold helps to slowly render the fat as the oven heats up.A perfect Friday night treat.

Get the recipe for crispy, sticky chicken wings here

Benito Martin & Jess Johnson/Hardie Grant

It's the long, slow, gentle cooking of chicken legs and wings in wine and stock for this recipe that results in such wonderfully tender and flavoursome meat.The addition of almonds, olives, dried fruit, garlic and sherry vinegar gives it a sweet, salty and pleasantly sour taste. It takes a while to cook, but there's little preparation time, and it's perfect served with couscous or wholegrain rice.

Get the recipe for braised chicken with almonds, olives andraisins here

Levon Biss/Penguin Random House

This is the perfect dish for chilli lovers with layer upon layer of fragrant spice. A whole spatchco*cked chicken is rubbed with harissa paste and smoked paprika, then served with a fiery peri peri sauce. The chicken is open-roasted on the oven shelf over a tray of potatoes, roasted onions and chillies. Serve with a crisp green salad and coleslaw.

Get the recipe for easy peri peri chicken here

Jenny Zarins/Ebury Press

This wonderfully tender and beautifully spiced chicken dish is perfect for a sharing platter for four. Musakhan is the national dish of Palestine, with the chicken pieces roasted in a fragrant spice mixto be served on toasted flat breads with melted spiced onions, toasted pine nuts and fresh herbs, served with lemon wedges and thick yogurt on the side. It's meant to be eaten with your hands, tearing off pieces of bread to scoopup the glorious chicken and mop up the juices.

Get the recipe for chicken musakhan here

Sam Folan/Quadrille

A simple tray of chicken drumsticks and wings is transformed with a garlicky baste of hot chilli, sharp lime, sweet orange and honey, making the skin wonderfully sticky. Line the roasting tin with oiled foil to save on washing up, as the honey will stick to the tray and make a bit of a mess otherwise. Serve with rice or flatbreads and a mixed salad.

Get the recipe for chicken with lime, orange and jalapeño here

Pete Cassidy/Kyle Books

Chicken legs are marinated in spicy yogurt, cooked in a hot oven until beautifully crisp, then served with a cooling coriander and garlic raita. The yogurt marinade acts as a tenderiser as well as imparting flavour, so do try to marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes or overnight if possible. The recipe for the raita asks for black salt, though sea salt works fine here too.

Get the recipe for tandoori chicken with bhurani raita here

Alex MacKay/lovepotatoes.co.uk

For this straightforward one-pan roast, chicken breasts are lightly spiced and served with chunky, spicy chips and a sweet and hot sauce. The recipe, inspired by the classic Jamaican dish,uses shop-bought jerk seasoning, so there's no need to make your own. It's moderately hot rather than fiery as the recipe calls formild chilli, though you can dial things up with hotter varieties such as the traditional scotch bonnet. Serve with a cucumber salad.

Get the recipe for jerk roast chicken with spicy chips here

Gousto/loveFOOD

This easy, colourful and full of flavour Indian-inspireddish makesa perfect midweek meal.With a spiced yogurt marinade, the chicken cooks in one pan along with onions, potatoes and fresh spinach, so no other sides are needed. A final squeeze of lemon really makes this dish zing, and it's on teh table in under an hour.

Get the recipe for spiced chicken traybake here

John Carey/Quadrille

Chicken wings are deep-fried until crisp then coated with a zingy, hot butter before being popped into a hot oven to finish off. The depth of flavour from the gochujang –a Korean paste made from fermented chillies –makes this a moreish crowd-pleaser. Serve with toasted flat breads to mop up the buttery juices. You could also roast the wings on the barbecue, though they'll be at their crispy best if deep-fried first.

Get the recipe for chicken wings with gochujang, lime and herb butter here

Ellis Parrinder/Ebury Press

This warming dish is a complete meal in one tray. Chicken thighs are roasted with bell peppers, tomatoes, sweet potato and olives, with a satisfying kick of heat from chorizo and fresh chillies. Cajun seasoning also adds warmth – follow our recipe to make it from scratch or buy a spice mix to save time. Top tip: leaving the chicken to marinate for up to an hour in the spices before cooking will give it extra punch and depth of flavour.

Get the recipe for spicy chicken and cashew traybake here

AS Food studio/Shutterstock

Think of this as roast chicken, southeast-Asian style. The bird is rubbed with a marinade of honey, soy, lemongrass, chilli, ginger and orange before roasting. Use a dark, runny honey for the best flavour, and give the chicken an occasional baste while in the oven so the flavours can really penetrate.Serve with stir-fried rice or lemony roast potatoes and greens for a roast with a difference.

Get the recipe for honey-glazed chicken here

Kamila I Wojtek Cyganek/Shutterstock

There's a lot to love about this elegant yet simple dish. Chicken breasts are stuffed with mozzarella and basil, wrapped in Parma ham then roasted until crisp on the outside yet wonderfully juicy on the inside thanks toall thatmelted cheese. It's an easy dish and the potatoes are roasted in the same tin as the chicken, meaning less washing up too. Ripe cherry tomatoes are added towardsthe end of cooking time, and it's all ready in an hour.

Get the recipe for Italian roast chicken with rosemary here

Tatiana Bralnina/Shutterstock

Pot-roasting a chicken ensures flavoursome, tender and juicy chicken every time, and it's so easy. In this Spanish-inspired recipe, the chicken isrubbed with oil and smoked paprika, placed ona bed of vegetables and fennel seeds and then cookedin white wine and a little sherry vinegar. Serve with rice or oven-roasted sweet potatoes, which will really complement the smoky spices.

Get the recipe for Spanish chicken pot roast here

Matt Russell/Bloomsbury

Maftool is often known as giant couscous, and it's perfect in therefreshing, zingy herb salad served with the chicken. The recipe uses legsmarinated in za'atar, a spice mix with dried, woody aromatic herbs such as marjoram, zesty sumac and creamy sesame seeds. Once you've rubbed this into the chicken, leave the bird torest for a couple of hours before roasting until crisp on the outside and buttery softin the centre.

Get the recipe for warm maftool salad with za'atar chicken here

Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock

You really can't beat a tray of hot, sticky, crisp buffalo wings served with a blue cheese dip and cooling celery sticks. This is a really simple recipe, but it is important to marinate the wings overnight in their garlicky rub for the best flavour. The wingsare then baked in a sweet, hot chilli buffalo sauce, resulting in the perfect finger-lickingfood.

Get the recipe for buffalo wings here

The French Revolution/Seven Dials

This simple yet flavoursome one-pot dish sees chicken legs gently baked with potatoes, peppers, white wine, herbs, garlic and tomatoes. Much of the fragrant heat comes from the piment d'Espelette, or Espelette peppers, chilliesgrown in southwest France with a mild and fruity taste. You can substitute with chilli flakes if you can’t get hold of any, though.

Get the recipe for Basque-style chicken here

MShev/Shutterstock

It doesn't get much more British than a Sunday roast of stuffed chickenwith gravy and all the trimmings. This recipe uses a classic apple and herb stuffing, which helps to keep the breast meat moist. With a tastyyet easy gravy to accompany it, the chicken just needsroast potatoes and plenty of vegetables to make the perfect family lunch.

Get the recipe for classic roast chicken here

Dan Jones/Quadrille