How to Cook a Whole Frozen Chicken in the Oven: No Instant Pot

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If you’ve ever thought that a frozen whole chicken can’t be roasted in the oven, think again! This easy recipe for a whole chicken will impress both you and your guests: even when you’ve forgotten to thaw that chicken out. I’ve gotten so many good responses from people loving the moist results of cooking a frozen roast in the oven, that I thought I’d share this chicken recipe with you as well!

This has become one of my favorite ways to make chicken because there’s no extra brain power put into meal prep. It’s not your typical grocery store bought rotisserie chicken. On the contrary, this recipe is an easy way to make a one pot homemade meal.

Why A Whole Frozen Chicken Roasted in the Oven Is so Good

While any oven roasted chicken is amazing with some fresh herbs and veggies, there’s a special way moisture is retained in a chicken started from frozen. No, it doesn’t leave edges dry or cook it unbalanced. You can even have that crispy skin on the outside when it’s made in the hot dry oven!

The cook time will vary depending on the size of the bird, how frozen it was and also if you are cooking vegetables with it. The great thing about an oven is you don’t have to guess a time and stick to it. We’ll check the bird after an hour and then return it to the oven for the specific time it needs as shown below.

Things You Don’t Need to Cook your Frozen Chicken

What? It’s time to make dinner and you’ve no thawed chicken and no instant pot? No worries!

This recipe does NOT use a slow cooker, a pressure cooker (No need for that high pressure setting), air fryer or instant pot. Just your run of the mill oven. Yup, imagine that! You don’t actually need fancy equipment. I believe the oven is the best way to cook a whole chicken from frozen to get that traditional roasted texture.

Slow Cooker

While you can roast a whole bird from frozen in the crock pot quite easily, it will not have the same crispness to the edges as the oven gives. Slow cookers keep in moister for the entire time. This is great for fall-off-the-bone meat, but in my opinion, overdo it, changing the texture.

Slow Cookers can be a great option if you are gone all day and need to start early with nothing to do close to dinnertime. If however, you’re looking for a really great taste and texture, I’d avoid the slow cooker.

Instant Pot

I do love the ability to make a frozen chicken in the instant pot as well. The new fangled pressure cooker is a wonderful hands off tool and my Instant Pot Whole Chicken recipe is so flavorful!

The cons to pressure cooking chicken are that not everyone owns an instant pot and you won’t get the extra crisp on the outside, as you do with an oven. Make sure if you do roast the chicken in the instant pot, you use a 6 quart instant pot size or larger.

Air Fryer

This is a good option too but as with an instant pot, not everyone owns one including me! If interested in cooking a frozen whole chicken using an air fryer check out this recipe. You will have to stay a little more present with this recipe, as the chicken will need to be turned 30 minutes into the cooking time.

Things You’ll Need to Cook your Whole Frozen Chicken

Though you don’t need a special cooker for your frozen chicken, you will need a few essentials.

Large Bowl

Thaw the outside skin of the chicken and remove any stuck packaging by first soaking the bird in a bowl filled with cool water.

Meat Thermometer

There are so many different types of thermometers now days! You could try a digital or instant-read thermometer, dual probes and more. Here’s a list of some recommended styles. Personally, I just use the simplest version.

Dutch Oven or Roasting Pan and Lid

A dutch oven is perfect for this task because you can both roast the edges of the chicken in butter before baking and cook it all in one dish: no extra mess. It’s also my favorite because of the ability to preheat it before adding in your chicken.

The deep dish style provides the perfect place to trap moisture in while your chicken cooks, creating an especially moist chicken dinner.

If you don’t own a dutch oven you can still use a roasting pan with a lid to make this recipe. Also check out how I created the same cooking environment of a dutch oven for baking bread in this video. It’s the same concept!

Ingredients for Cooking an Entire Frozen Chicken

One frozen Chicken (about 4 pounds)

You’ll want to use about a 4 lb bird or less to make sure the size of your chicken fits into your dutch oven. Make sure that whatever chicken you are using either does not have a giblet bag inside it’s cavity or, if it does, it’s edible. For this recipe, I used a Costco organic chicken which has a paper bag inside. Do NOT cook a chicken with a plastic bag inside.

Butter or Coconut Oil

This is an important ingredient for flavor. You’ll use the fat to fry the outside of your bird before cooking in the oven. Butter is my favorite. You could also use other oil such as avocado or lard. I don’t recommend olive oil for this job.

Seasoning

Oh boy the fun part! Always add salt and black pepper, then sprinkle with some fun flavors. There are so many great options but if you have a hard time picking, I’d go with a good taco seasoning. It’s zesty and can make great taco leftovers. Other tasty options are paprika and garlic powder or use a blend of herbs such as thyme, sage and rosemary. I also like using my sweet blend created for venison. It just happens to work for a lot of different meats!

Distilled Water

You don’t need much water but I do add just a bit into the bottom of the pot to help with moisture content while the chicken is first cooking. Over time, more moisture will develop into a delicious chicken broth at the bottom or your baking dish.

The Recipe For Making a Whole Chicken From Frozen

Ingredients

Here’s the list of foods required for making this dish. Remember you can also add vegetables such as I did in the photographs. Make sure they are cut to 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide in order to cook through.

One Frozen Whole Chicken
2 Tablespoons Butter or Coconut Oil
1-1 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt
1/4-1/2 Teaspoons Ground Pepper
1 Tablespoon Seasoning or Fresh Herbs of choice

The Directions

First, unwrap the frozen bird and place in a large bowl of cool water for 15-20 minutes or until any packaging padding can be taken off. Preheat Dutch oven oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit while it’s sitting in water.

Next, remove chicken from cold water and pat dry. Sprinkle entire chicken generously with salt, black pepper and desired seasonings. Melt the butter or oil in the dutch oven. Fry both sides of chicken for 1 minute each in the hot dutch oven. Position chicken as desired for cooking. Pour your little bit of water into the dutch oven around the chicken. Try no to wash off the seasoning.

Cover with lid and place in oven for 60 minutes. When the timer goes off, take the dutch oven out of the oven and check internal temperature of your chicken by inserting a meat thermometer into thickest part of breast.

Check how close the chicken temperature is to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Poultry should be cooked to 165 degrees f to ensure you don’t get food poisoning. For every minute needed to get to 165 from the current temperature, cook 1-3 minutes. Here’s some examples to help with how much time you have left to cook:

• If at 135 degrees Fahrenheit, cook 30-40 minutes, then check temperature

• If at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, cook 25-35 minutes, then check temperature

• If at 145 degrees Fahrenheit, cook 20-30 minutes, then check temperature

I like to cook a little over 165 to ensure that the frozen areas have all cooked through. In my experience, going a little over 165 degrees Fahrenheit hasn’t caused any dryness. Allow chicken to cool ten minutes. Serve cooked chicken with your favorite sides.

To Cook Frozen Chicken with Vegetables:

Add in 1 1/2 -2 inch cubed vegetables after chicken has cooked for 60 minutes.

Cover and cook 15 minutes. Remove lid and finish cooking time to get internal temperature to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Favorite Side Dishes to Go with A Roast Chicken

Whether made from a fresh chicken or frozen, here are some favorite sides that are sure to make this oven-roasted chicken dinner five star.

Glazed Carrots

Einkorn Garlic Herb Sourdough Bread

Buttermilk Biscuits made with Einkorn Flour

Pesto Asparagus

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

What are your favorite sides for chicken? Let me know and do tell how this recipe turns out for you. Hope you enjoy!

From the Hilltop,

Krista