With grilling season underway, this barbecue roast chicken recipe offers a lighter, flavor-packed alternative to the traditional Sunday roast. Featuring a homemade barbecue glaze and a clever roasting tip to keep the chicken moist, it is an easy crowd-pleaser for warm-weather meals.
Make a big tub of the barbecue sauce, label it, and keep it in the fridge to jazz up pork chops or sausages for the barbecue. The skin is high in saturated fat, so we recommend serving it without the skin for a healthier meal. But don’t worry, as the flavors will have soaked into the chicken.
Barbecue roast chicken recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 160 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 kg Chicken (whole 3-4kg)
- 2 Onions
- 1 tsp Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 2 tsp Cider vinegar
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tbsp Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
Instructions
Preheat Oven to 350ºF (180ºC)
Take the chicken out of the fridge, 20 minutes before cooking, and place it in a roasting tin. Remove the roots from the onions, cut them in half, and place them in the chicken cavity. No need to peel them.
Mix the remaining ingredients into a paste.
Lift the skin and carefully spread the paste all over the chicken.
Place in the oven for approximately 1hr 60 (approx) minutes or until chicken is cooked. (Clear liquid runs out when pierced)
Cover the chicken with foil when it is dark golden. Baste from time to time.
Remove skin, slice, and serve hot with roast root potatoes or cold with salad.
Remove all the meat from the chicken, store it in an airtight container for the next day, and make a chicken stock with the carcass.
Tip: Place a layer of diluted chicken stock at the bottom of the roasting tin when covering the chicken with foil to keep it moist. It may require a little longer cooking, though.
Enjoy!
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* Originally published in 2016 and updated in May 2026.
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