Cooking Time For Italian Roast Chicken

Our answer

Nigella's Italian Roast Chicken With Peppers And Olives (from NIGELLISSIMA) is a one-pan dish where the vegetables are roasted in the same pan as the chicken. The cooking time is 1-1¼ hours for a 1.5kg/3-pound chicken.

Larger chickens may take a little longer but a 1.7kg chicken is only likely to take about 15 minutes longer. The vegetables are in the bottom of a roasting pan and are bathed in the juices from the chicken and shielded slightly from the direct heat of the oven by the sides of the roasting pan. So the risk of them burning is quite low. If you put the vegetables in later then they may end up being undercooked. So we would suggest starting the vegetables and chicken together and then checking the chicken after 1¼ hours. If the chicken is not quite cooked, transfer it to a baking sheet or another roasting pan, return the chicken (alone) to the oven and cook for a further 15-30 minutes, until cooked through. Leave the vegetables in their pan, loosely covered, in a draught-free place then uncover and put them back in the turned-off oven for 10 minutes while the chicken rests. To check if the chicken is cooked, insert the tip of a thin, sharp knife into the thickest part of the thigh. The juices should run clear. If the juices are pink, or there are any traces of blood, then cook the chicken for 10 minutes longer and check again.