Roast chicken... two simple words that evoke images of comfort, warmth, delicately crisp, golden brown skin, finger-licking chicken juices dripping down your chin… Okay, enough of that. Go take a cold shower.
While this dish can be so simple — and great to have in your dinner repertoire on cold, wintery nights — it seems that roast chicken nirvana lies just beyond the grasp of many home cooks.
Here are a few tips to take your chicken to the next level:
1. Spatchcock your chicken.
Wait, come back! It's a lot easier than it sounds and makes an enormous difference. Starting with a whole bird, take any innards out from the cavity and discard them. Flip the bird (!) onto its breast. With a sturdy pair of kitchen scissors, cut from tail to neck just to the left, then just to the right of the backbone to remove it. Discard the backbone or save for chicken stock. Flip it back to breast-side up and push down on it to flatten. That's it!
In this "butterflied" state, the chicken will cook faster, the skin will crisp up better (no steamy, pale "under" parts), and the breast and dark meat will finish cooking at the same time. Bonus: when it's time to serve, it's super easy to hack it up into neat, individual pieces, instead of wrestling with a roly-poly, trussed up bird (as entertaining as that would be to watch).
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2. For better browning and crisping, start at a moderate heat.
Begin cooking your chicken at about 375°F, until the breast meat is roughly 125°F (about 40 min. for a 5 pounder), then blast it for the last 20 min. at a super high heat (475°F) or until the breast meat reaches 165°F. For an extra pop of roast-y, toast-y color, you can even broil it on high for a couple of minutes.
3. Season the heck out of your chicken.
Don't be afraid of salt. Chicken is a mild bird; even the highest quality chickens are still fairly tame in flavor. Use your seasonings liberally on the inside and outside (or top and bottom, in this case), particularly on the breasts, which have a much lower ratio of skin to meat than the thighs and drumsticks.
4. Switch up your seasonings.
I love slathering the whole bird with softened butter, finely chopped garlic, whatever herbs I have lying around, lemon zest, and lemon juice, but when I'm feel frisky, I'll use a rub of chili powder, lime zest, lime juice, cumin, brown sugar, and cayenne or I'll brush the chicken with a potent mixture of coconut milk, soy sauce, and Thai red curry paste.
5. Do NOT cover it with tin foil once it's out of the oven.
Why did you just work so hard to get that skin crisp if you're just going to steam it all away? Let the chicken rest, exposed, for 10 min. before serving. Trust me, it'll still be plenty hot when it lands on your plate.
To round out the meal, throw a bunch of seasoned, 1-inch chunks of veggies — carrots, Brussels sprouts, red onions, parsnips, and potatoes come to mind — under the chicken for a satisfying, one-pan meal.
Or, better yet, take it a step further by making an out-of-this-world bread salad. Toss those roasted, chicken-fat-infused veggies (maybe don't include the starchy potatoes) with some zesty vinaigrette, a few cups of toasted bread, cut into 1-inch chunks, and fresh arugula.
Another of my favorite ways to serve roast chicken combines memories of my honeymoon in Paris with one of my favorite guilty pleasures: frozen shoestring fries. Serve the roast chicken with a pile of golden frites and a simple green salad for a meal that's très Parisienne.
More chicken-roasting secrets from the Good Housekeeping food department:
For extra crispy skin: "After I trim the chicken and pat it dry, I also air-dry it, uncovered, in the fridge for a few hours before roasting to evaporate any moisture." — Susan Westmoreland, Food Director
"Kosher chicken, especially the breast meat if I'm just roasting parts, is my chicken of choice if I don't have time to brine it myself. It's already salted, so you can use less, and the meat always comes out moister than a regular chicken breast." — Cathy Lo, Associate Food Editor
"My boyfriend taught me to rub a mixture of melted butter and hot sauce all over the chicken before roasting it. It's ridiculously tasty (and not even spicy)! The vinegary hot sauce just brightens and enhances the savory, chicken flavor. I won't make roast chicken any other way — I'm hooked!" — Erin Phraner, Associate Food Editor
TELL US: What's your go-to trick for roast chicken? Share it with us!
What she does: As associate editor, Sherry develops recipes for the magazine and the site, styles food for photo shoots, pitches ideas for future issues, and keeps the test kitchen humming along through all the film shoots, photo shoots, press events, and anything else that pops up.
What she cooks at home: While she loves experimenting with a wide range of recipes, she’s consistently drawn to experimenting with twists on the comfort foods she craves, like braised duck tacos, roasted cauliflower carbonara, or chorizo-fried rice.
Her #1 piece of cooking advice: Taste your food before serving it. Not seasoning properly while cooking is the biggest reason a lot of home cooking doesn’t live up to its potential and it’s the biggest difference between home cooks and professional cooks.
Favorite indulgence: Anything fried.
