As I talked about in my last post about the cost of meat - and I shared a great list of budget friendly ground beef recipes - it’s just getting more and more expensive to feed a family. So we have to come up with ways to get more for our money. I think that the whole chicken is one of the absolute best budget friendly cooking tips there is. Chicken is by far the least expensive meat right now, and buying whole chickens are the lest expensive way to buy chicken.

I love the whole Costco roast chicken as much as the next person, but sometimes it’s nice to skip the store bought convenience and cook your own from scratch.

So once again I reached out to my followers to ask for new ideas. I asked everyone for their favorite ways to cook a whole chicken. And once again my friends did not disappoint with all of their amazing ideas and suggestions for healthy and easy whole chicken recipes.

This isn’t a food editor’s list, this is real people commenting on the recipes they actually make and use to feed their families. I definitely got some new ideas to try from these suggestions, and you can expect to see some these in my meal plans in the future. I hope you find this list helpful too.

Reader favorite whole chicken recipes:

Marcella Hazan’s Roast Chicken With Lemons - if you’ve ever cooked any of Marcella Hazan’s recipes, you’ll know that they are always sure winners.

Whole Soy Sauce Chicken from Tiffy Cooks - an Instant Pot recipe for a delicious Asian flavor spin on the whole chicken.

Buttermilk Marinated Roast Chicken - from Samran Nosrat (of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat). This is probably the simplest recipe you will ever make. It has literally 3 ingredients - chicken, buttermilk, and salt - and yet makes for some of the most delicious chicken you will ever eat.

Chicken in Coconut Milk with Lemongrass - from the kitchn - this is my personal favorite on this list. Moist and juicy chicken with a unique blend of flavors that you might not initially think would be good but they make the chicken and resulting broth taste amazing.

Jaime Oliver’s Chicken in Milk This one is the original inspiration for the coconut milk recipe above. And again from a well loved cook whose recipes never disappoint.

Zuni Cafe’s Roasted Chicken + Bread Salad - recipe from Smitten Kitchen - Deb at Smitten Kitchen is known for her adaptations of other famous recipes, and this is her version of a well loved restaurant dish.

Do you have other favorites?

I would love to know if you have tried any of these, or if you have any other favorite whole chicken recipes that you love. Let me know in the comments here, or jump on over to that Threads post and add to the conversation.