Deliciously Organic - Carrie Korem, FNTP

Healthy recipes, nutrition and thyroid disease information written by Carrie Korem, FNTP

Butterflied Roast Chicken with Red Onions

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Last Updated on July 14, 2025 by Carrie Korem, FNTP

Butterflied roast chicken with red onions is my “I don’t want to cook” meal. It’s fast and requires very little hands-on preparation.

Butterflied Roast Chicken with Red Onions

To prepare – I butterfly the chicken, brush it with ghee, add some onions, season with coarse grey Celtic sea salt and freshly ground pepper, put it in the oven and walk away. About one hour later I have a beautiful chicken with roasted onions!

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to butterfly a chicken. It’s super easy!

Butterflied Roast Chicken with Red Onions

If you’ve never roasted red onions, you’re in for a treat. The high heat brings out the sweetness of the onion and those last bits on the edges of the pan are the best!

I’ve made this multiple times for company – two chickens, onions, and a big salad. Throw in some fudgy chocolate tarts, and maybe a glass of wine or kombucha, and you’re done!

Butterflied Roast Chicken with Red Onions

I usually have some chicken left over for lunch the next day and then I use the bones for homemade chicken stock. Even in the heat of summer, I don’t mind turning the oven on, because I’m not standing over it to cook.

Butterflied Roast Chicken with Red Onions

Turn it on, pop in the food, and walk away. Roast chicken done easy. Welcome to delicious, organic “fast-food”.

 

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Butterflied Roast Chicken with Red Onions

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5 from 1 review

This is a variation of a recipe from my cookbook, Deliciously Organic. Other vegetables that you can use are: zucchini, cauliflower, squash, bell pepper, etc.

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

  • 1 (4-5 pound) chicken, butterflied
  • 4 tablespoons ghee, at room temperature
  • 2-3 tablespoons fresh thyme
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Celtic sea salt, divided
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the Onions:

  • 2 large red onions, cut into wedges
  • 1 tablespoon ghee, melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F and adjust oven rack to medium position.
  2. Pat chicken with a dry cloth to make sure the skin is dry. Stir together softened ghee (clarified butter), thyme, and 1 teaspoon sea salt in a small bowl. Gently lift the skin and rub herbed butter under the skin of breasts, thighs, and legs. Season the entire chicken generously with sea salt and pepper.
  3. Place chicken in roasting pan. Toss red onion wedges, melted ghee, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Pour onions around chicken in roasting pan. Roast chicken for 30 minutes and then rotate pan 180 degrees. Continue to roast, about 25 minutes, until crisp and golden brown, and when a thermometer reaches 160°F when inserted in the thickest part of the breast. Remove from the oven and before serving, let the chicken rest for about 15 minutes to allow juices to redistribute.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: Serves 4-6

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41 Comments

  3. Liz

    Just had something almost exactly like this last night! variations: Heat the oven to 450 but turn in down to 400 when you put the chicken in. Cooks in 60-90 minutes, depending I don't butterfly the chicken (going to try it though!) but I stuff a pricked lemon and a bunch of thyme and rosemary into the cavity (1 each) In addition to red onions, I do a few cloves of garlic, carrots, celery and sometimes potatoes I love this meal!
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  7. yumgoggle

    Just now, I have realized I have never roasted red onions. Not that I did not want to, I just perhaps never got around doing it. I know somewhere somehow I have encountered a recipe needing roasted red onions, but may be the recipe was not inspiring enough. This I've really gotta try. This is definitely a " relaxation weekend with the family" type of dish. Yummy! Anyhoo, we have just recently launched a food photo submission site, Yum Google that allows you to showcase all your great work and share it with all of our visitors. Your phenomenal photos have caught our attention. We’d be proud to have your work as part of our growing collection to continue to have a larger reach and further inspire all fellow food lovers out there! (sorry for the blatant shameless plug)!
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  15. Jill

    This is the second time I'm making this. Butterflying helps with the cooking time. I always had trouble getting the whole chicken done evenly before. I used small white potatoes, whole carrots, and the onions (LOVE red onion any way you use it) and put the chicken on top. As it cooked, I lifted it to stir the veggies around some. They come out tasting so incredibly rich and flavorful. My hubby said he can hardly wait for leftovers tomorrow! Maybe next time I'll do some sweet potatoes. I used a huge cast iron skillet, which is my fave cookware. And Lodge Cast Iron is still made in the USA. I have cast iron pieces more than 100 years old, and they just add to the look of this gorgeous dish. Thanks a million for this one!
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  16. Selah

    I make this chicken all the time using the recipe from your cookbook-- which is slightly different and uses coconut oil. The coconut oil always "spits" in the oven causing my smoke alarm to go off- which is a little annoying but not enough to get me to stop making this since it is the best roasted chicken I have ever had! But I'm wondering, will the ghee prevent the smoke or should I just use a slightly lower temperature (425 perhaps)?
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  19. Teri Nagy

    I made this tonight. I added some halved baby potatoes to roasting pan. After drying the chicken, I salted it and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge. And, instead of putting the herb butter (which I added garlic salt, & greek spice too) onto the chicken before roasting, I brushed it onto the finished chicken. That chicken was absolutely spectacular. The skin was crispy and bursting with flavor. The potatoes were perfectly dark and caramelized on the outside and creamy on the instead. The onions were a perfect compliment with deep caramelization. Thank you for sharing this, its easily one of the best roasted chickens I have ever tasted!
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  21. Natalia

    Hi! This recipe is delishious! This is the second time I made it and it has been such a success with the whipole family. I wanted to add my variations for insight for others... I used thyme and rosemary and also put potatoes, zucchini, and carrots in the roasting pan with the chicken. This makes it a one pot meal and makes life that much easier. All the veggies come out tasting amazing! Thanks Carrie!
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