Simple. Simple. Roasting a chicken has become something I do once a week. Not only is it super easy to roast a chicken, but as soon as I roast one, I have 6 cups of fresh broth the next morning for my soup of choice with minimal cost or preparation!

1 whole chicken
Olive oil
orange or apple
lemon or lime
Herbes de Provence (or preferred chicken rub/herbs)
sea salt
ground pepper
1/2 onion
3-4 garlic cloves
1/2 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse chicken and remove any innards. Give your bird an avocado oil, or preferred oil, massage (inside and out) with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season liberally with salt, pepper and preferred seasonings/rub.

Stab your lemon/lime several times with a knife. Insert into the chicken cavity. Stab your apple/orange several times with a knife. Insert in to the chicken cavity.

Place chicken into a Dutch Oven (or other preferred roasting pan). Pour in water. Roughly chop garlic and scatter around the pan. Roughly chop the onion and scatter around the pan.

Cook for 1.5 to 2 hours until thoroughly cooked at about 175 degrees when a thermometer is inserted in the breast. Let rest for 20 minutes. Pull chicken apart from the bones.

Once you are left with a carcass, place this in a crock pot. Pour 6 cups of water over the bones. Also, include the remnants of the Dutch Oven ingredients (the onions and the garlic cloves). Add two stalks of chopped celery. Add 1-2 chopped carrots. Add 1-2 tsps sea salt. Add any veggie scraps or herbs you have in your refrigerator (*NOTE BELOW)!! Put your crock pot on low overnight. Strain ingredients and yield 6 cups of yummy, fresh chicken broth for your soup of choice!!

*NOTE:  I don’t compost (for shame!)…but what I do is this:  because I roast a chicken each week and make my broth, I also keep a veggie bag in my refrigerator.  When I cut an onion, slice a bell pepper, cut some celery, etc…I throw the ends and leaves and scraps in a bag.  At the end of the week, this is what I throw in the water with my chicken bones.

Enjoy!