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40 Cloves of Garlic Roast Chicken

Heidi Larsenby Updated: Aug 5, 2025

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In this 40-clove garlic roasted chicken, garlic becomes soft and sweet roasted alongside this whole chicken, imparting a mellowed garlic flavor for everyone’s favorite chicken dinner.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I made your 40 clove roasted chicken for dinner tonight. It was so easy to do and turned out so delicious! My kitchen smelled wonderful while it roasted. I will definitely made this again.” -Edna, FoodieCrush reader

roasted 40 clove garlic chicken on white platter

40 Cloves? Yes, Really!

Photo of Heidi from FoodieCrush

The stinking rose. Dracula’s repellant. A bad blind date’s breath mint. This is the beauty of garlic.

I don’t recall where I first read about a recipe calling for 40 cloves of garlic, but I do remember being somewhat shocked by the fact it was actually a recipe and not a misprint. It was when I first really started exercising my cooking chops and exploring things in the kitchen other than my mom’s spaghetti or our favorite Parmesan noodles.

40 cloves of garlic sounded so contrary, there must be a secret! I mean, I’m a real garlic lover, but 40 cloves of garlic loving? That might be stretching things a bit.

But after making this garlic roasted chicken over and over through the years, there’s really no mystery to it. Except for the fact that roasted garlic becomes soft, buttery, and surprisingly sweet, making it a perfect roast chicken dinner everyone will wonder why you don’t make more often.

Heidi
sliced 40 clove garlic roasted chicken on platter

Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success

  • Flavor the chicken from the inside-out. The key is loosely stuffing the cavity with your choice of aromatics (garlic, celery, onion, lemons, leeks, carrots, etc.) and creating a butter rub under and over the skin for a juicy bird every time. This time around I kept my aromatics simple and let the garlic rise to the occasion.
  • Flip the bird in the final 20 minutes of roasting. Most roast chicken recipes have you keep the chicken breast-side up the entire time. I prefer using a pair of kitchen tongs to carefully flip it over so the bottom can also get nice and crispy, and I can baste the bird all over rather than just on top.
  • Don’t toss the garlic! After being roasted, those buttery soft garlic cloves are perfect for making garlic bread, slathering onto rolls, or mixing into your favorite mashed potatoes. Or, you know, eating with the chicken.

The Main Ingredients You’ll Need

The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.

aromatics and tarragon butter on countertop
  • Whole chicken — You’ll need a 4(ish) pound whole bird for this recipe.
  • Garlic — You can purchase already peeled garlic for the convenience. I used both pre-peeled and unpeeled garlic in my version, along with a whole garlic head cut in half to make for a pretty presentation. You’ll find that the garlic roasted in the peel becomes softer and more buttery than the peeled version.
  • Aromatics — The secret to keeping the chicken moist and flavorful is to loosely stuff it with your favorite aromatics. I used roughly chopped onion, carrot, and celery.
  • White wine — Gets poured into the roasting pan and infuses the vegetables and bird with aromatic flavor.
  • Butter — Once softened to room temp, the butter mixes easily with the dried tarragon for a simple slather that helps keep the chicken moist and crisp up the skin.
  • Dried spices — A little dried tarragon, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper are all you need.

Heidi’s Tip: If you prefer not to cook with wine, you can sub chicken broth instead. Just keep in mind that the alcohol cooks out and is just a flavoring agent.

How to Roast a Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

unbaked oven roasted whole chicken ready for the oven
40 Cloves of Garlic oven roasted whole chicken
  1. Season and stuff the chicken. Remember that you’re seasoning a full 4 pounds of meat, so don’t be shy with the kosher salt and black pepper. Then, stuff the cavity (remove those giblets!) with the aromatics and truss it with kitchen twine to keep everything inside.
  2. Slather with tarragon butter. Use your fingers to coat every nook and cranny with butter, and try to get under the skin too.
  3. Roast, basting often. Once the bird’s been properly flavored and rubbed every which way with butter, it goes into the oven for a little over an hour. The garlic cloves are scattered around the pan and a little wine or sherry is added for moisture and flavor.

Heidi’s Tip: I turn over the whole chicken halfway through and continually baste it in its own juices to keep it moist and add flavor.

Let the Chicken Come Up to Temperature as It Rests!

Chicken is considered safe to eat when it registers 165ºF. I like to pull mine out of the oven when the skin is crispy and the thickest part of the breast is 160ºF. As the bird rests in those 5 to 10 minutes before carving, the juices will redistribute for a tastier bite and the temperature will rise that final 5º.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.

4.77 from 21 votes

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken Recipe

In this 40-clove garlic chicken, garlic becomes soft and sweet roasted alongside this whole chicken, imparting a mellowed garlic flavor for everyone's favorite chicken dinner.
Print
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 229kcal

Ingredients 

  • 4 pound whole chicken*
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt , divided
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , divided
  • 3 heads garlic (or 40 cloves peeled)
  • ½ onion , quartered
  • ½ rib celery ,cut into 3-inch pieces
  • ½ carrot , cut into 3-inch pieces
  • ½ cup white wine or sherry
  • 4 tablespoons butter , softened at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  • Remove the neck and giblets from the whole chicken, rinse with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place in a roasting pan and season the inside of the chicken with ½ teaspoon of the kosher salt and ½ teaspoon of the freshly ground black pepper. Stuff the chicken with the onion, celery, carrot and 6 garlic cloves. Truss legs with cooking twine and tuck wings under bird.
  • In a small bowl, mix the butter, the remaining kosher salt and black pepper and the tarragon until blended. Gently work your fingers under the skin of the chicken breasts and rub half of the butter mixture under the skin, then rub the rest of the butter over the top of the chicken skin.
  • Scatter the remaining garlic cloves around the chicken and pour the wine or sherry into the pan.
  • Roast the chicken for 30 minutes or until the breast is firm and just beginning to brown in spots. Using tongs, turn the chicken breast-down, baste with juices and roast for 20 minutes longer, until the skin is lightly browned.
  • Using tongs, turn the chicken breast-side-up and baste again. Add a ½ cup of water if the pan is looking dry. Roast for about 20 minutes longer, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the inner thigh registers 160° to 165° and juices are running clear.
  • Transfer the bird to a cutting board and tent with foil. Carve the chicken and serve with the roasted garlic.

Notes

*If you use a bird weighing more than 4 pounds, add about 10 to 15 minutes cooking time per pound and use an instant read thermometer to check for doneness at 160-165ºF (the chicken will continue to cook as it rests) and when juices run clear.

Nutrition

Calories: 229kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 726mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1721IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg

What to Serve with Your Roast Chicken

More Whole Chicken Recipes You’ll Gobble Up

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KitchenAid sent me a slow cooker and blender to add to my small appliance collection. As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. There may be affiliate links in this post of which I receive a small commission. All opinions are always my own.

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Heidi of FoodieCrush

Hi! I’m Heidi and I cook real good, real food I hope you’ll love to make, too.

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  14. Sooraj Krishna

    Hi ,

    Thanks for sharing the delicious recipe with us. I cooked chicken delivered by licious and it was yummy. My kids loved it. The packaging and delivery was excellent. It was delivered in thirty minutes.

    Reply

  17. Christina

    I’m making this tonight! Serve garlic as a side? Did I read that right?! Eat the roasted garlic or put along side for look/ smell?? Hmmm:). Thanks!

    Reply

  19. kristy

    your recipes always leave my mouth watering and my stomach growling. will definitely try this on turkey day. are there any caveats/suggestions for using a gobbler?

    Reply

  20. El

    The last [and only] time I ever roasted a whole chicken was over 35 yrs ago, when I was in university. Didn’t know how to carve the darn thing … used my anatomy text book as a guide. Although I do cook a great turkey, I still can’t carve a bird worth a damn. This recipe sounds so wonderful, that I shall attempt to overcome the “trauma” of my earlier chicken experience and try it! MTF [sorry – More To Follow] on this adventure! Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes – I salivate just reading them!!

    Reply

  21. Rony Jahid

    I love garlic & made with garlic recipe. The marinate is beautiful, when the roast was made then outside color was very nice. I always like this type of grill chicken & want to make it. Really nice post.

    Reply

  23. Luke's House Cleaning Marietta

    Wow! I love garlic and union and this recipe has so much garlic in it! I will definitely try it this night. What I loved the most is that it is pretty easy recipe and my wife will be happy because the kitchen won’t look horrible after me :) So less time for cleaning, more for enjoying the night :)

    Reply

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