Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan)/200°C (conventional).

Stuffing the Chicken:

• First, place your chicken on a clean surface, breast side up, with the cavity facing you.
• Gently lift the bird to open the cavity, and use your hand to carefully loosen it slightly, creating a bit of room to work with.
• Grab a generous handful of your pre-made sage and onion sausage meat stuffing and press it into the cavity. Push the stuffing in towards the back, ensuring it’s tightly packed but not overly stuffed, allowing the heat to circulate and cook it evenly.
• Continue filling the cavity with the stuffing until it’s well packed. Ensure you leave a small gap at the end to avoid overfilling, which could lead to uneven cooking.
• Once stuffed, lift the skin at the neck end, add some stuffing and then tuck it under the bird or secure it with a small skewer to hold the stuffing in place.

Layering the Bacon on the Breast:

• Lay the chicken breast side up on a roasting tray.
• Take each slice of streaky bacon and lay it across the chicken breast, starting from the neck area and moving downwards towards the cavity opening.
• Slightly overlap each bacon slice as you work your way down, covering the breast evenly. This overlap helps keep the bacon in place as it cooks, ensuring an even coverage and a crispy layer.
• Once the breast is covered, take two slices of bacon and lay them diagonally over the legs, tucking them under each leg. This adds extra flavour and keeps the legs moist.
• Drizzle with a little olive oil and season lightly with black pepper on the outside (no additional salt needed as the bacon adds saltiness).

Roasting the Chicken:

• Place the chicken in a roasting tray, breast side up, and arrange a few sprigs of thyme around it for added aroma.
• Roast in the preheated oven for 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 75°C in the thickest part (or until the juices run clear from the thigh).
• Baste with the melted butter halfway through the cooking time for extra richness. If the bacon starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with foil for the remaining cooking time.

Rest and Serve:

• Take the chicken out of the oven and cover it loosely with foil, allowing it to rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.
• Serve with slices of the moist, bacon-wrapped chicken and portions of the sage and onion sausage meat stuffing.