Lemon, thyme and garlic-roasted chicken with chestnut stuffing-filled red onions
Serves: 6 with leftovers
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
This recipe makes more lemon and thyme butter than you need - use half and save the rest to flavour roast vegetables (try our recipe for Roasted carrots, parsnips and sprouts with pancetta and lemon-thyme butter). For the perfect roast potatoes to accompa
Lemon, thyme and garlic-roasted chicken with chestnut stuffing-filled red onions
Serves: 6 with leftovers
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
711Kcal
Fat
29gr
Saturates
11gr
Carbs
29gr
Sugars
9gr
Fibre
4gr
Protein
77gr
Salt
1.3gr
Sainsbury's magazine
Our team of trained chefs and skilled food writers love cooking up everything from innovative seasonal recipes or clever shortcuts, to step-by-step guides and classic recipes for friends and readers alike.
Sainsbury's magazine
Our team of trained chefs and skilled food writers love cooking up everything from innovative seasonal recipes or clever shortcuts, to step-by-step guides and classic recipes for friends and readers alike.
Ingredients
- 1 x 3kg whole chicken
- 100g cooked whole chestnuts
- 1 x 28g pack flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
- 100g white breadcrumbs
- finely grated zest of 2 lemons
- 500g sausage meat
- 6 medium red onions, trimmed
- 1 x 15g pack thyme
- 1 garlic bulb, halved horizontally
- 100g softened butter
For the gravy
- 150ml white wine
- 300g fresh chicken gravy
Step by step
Get ahead
The stuffing can be made the day before. Cover and chill.
- We've used a very large chicken to serve 6, but if yours is smaller, cook for 20 minutes per 500g (stuffed weight), plus 20 minutes extra.
- Make sure that you remove the chicken from the fridge about 1 hour before cooking, to let it come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 9. Put the chestnuts and parsley in a food processor and pulse gradually until you have a coarse mixture, which is well chopped but not too fine. Tip into a bowl and add the breadcrumbs, zest of 1 lemon and the sausage meat. Season and mix well.
- Cut a third off the top of each red onion and use a teaspoon to scoop the centre out to create a shell, leaving about 2-3 layers of onion. Reserve the onion trimmings.
- Put the chicken in a large roasting tin and spoon two-thirds of the stuffing mixture into the neck end, then close up by securing the skin with a couple of cocktail sticks. Fill the body cavity with the reserved onion trimmings, half of the thyme sprigs and the garlic, plus the zested lemon, cut in half.
- Put the softened butter in a bowl; mix with the remaining lemon zest and the leaves from the rest of the thyme sprigs. Season, then set aside half of this mixture for your accompanying vegetables (see below) and smear the rest all over the chicken breast, legs and wings. Cover with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Fill the onions with the remaining stuffing; set aside.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas 4, and roast for a further 1 hour, basting a couple of times. Tuck the stuffed onions around the chicken and cook for a further 1 hour, basting occasionally.
- About 30 minutes before the chicken is ready, remove the foil and roast uncovered until the chicken is cooked and golden brown. The juices should run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a skewer. Transfer to a platter with the roasted stuffed onions to rest, loosely covered with foil, while you make the gravy.
- Spoon the fat out of the roasting tin, but keep the caramelised juices; put the tin on the hob over a high heat. Add the wine; boil for about 5 minutes until reduced by half. Add the chicken gravy; season. Simmer for 5 minutes then strain into a warm jug. Serve the carved chicken with a stuffed onion and the gravy.
