I’ve cooked and eaten a good amount of roast chicken in my day. I like to think I’ve seen it all — from birds so bland and boring they weren’t worth eating to cluckers so juicy and succulent I devoured every last bite.
I’ve discovered two things that are key to making a perfect roast chicken_ 1) cooking at a very high temperature so that the skin becomes crispy and golden and seals the meat inside so it remains moist and 2) buying the best quality chicken possible.
To perfect this recipe I experimented for an entire week, flipping, seasoning, and cooking at different times and temperatures. I roasted the chickens of several different store brands as well as a few from my favorite farmer’s market vendors. When it came time to taste test, I found that the quality of the bird had everything to do with the amount of ooh’s and ahh’s it received.
As you can probably imagine, I wound up serving my family chicken every night that week, but the recipe turned out so well, everyone was as enthusiastic with dinner on day 4 as they were on day 1 — and my husband insists that this is the best chicken he’s ever tasted.
So kick your oven temperature way up, buy the best quality bird you can get your hands on and watch your family devour this chicken. Just make sure to set aside 1/2 cup or so to make Chicken Bean and Cheese Quesadillas for school lunch the next day!
Perfect Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 4-pound chicken
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3-4 sprigs thyme
- 1 small lemon, cut in half
Instructions
- Wash the chicken and pat dry, removing as much excess liquid as possible.
- Rub the salt all over the chicken — inside and out.
- Place chicken in a 9-inch skillet with an oven-proof handle. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 3-24 hours.*
- Heat oven to 475°F. **
- Place the skillet, without the chicken, in the oven for 15 minutes or on a stovetop burner for 1 minute to heat.
- Stuff chicken with thyme and lemon and tie legs together.
- Place chicken breast-side up in the pan and bake uncovered, for 30 minutes.
- Flip chicken over and place back in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Turn the chicken breast-side up again for an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow chicken to cool for 10 minutes and serve.
- * If you don’t have a skillet with an oven-proof handle, use a baking dish just larger than your chicken. Though in step 6, do not heat dish on the stovetop — only in the oven.
- ** Use the convection setting on your oven if you have one, reducing the cooking time in step 7 to 25 minutes.
[…] Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken, adapted from Ina Garten and Weelicious. […]
This chicken was the best home-cooked chicken I’ve ever had. I couldn’t believe I made it myself! So cool. Now I can join the ranks of those who make a weekly roast chicken. In the past, I never bothered to make roast chicken because the result was always mediocre. Plus, I got to use my stainless steel pan and made a delicious gravy (although it was a bit salty). I’m wondering how to make the pan juices less salty. Maybe clean the salt out of the pan between marinading the chicken and heating the pan in the oven…
Anyway, thanks a million for this jewel!
[…] Perfect Roast Chicken – Tired of turkey but still craving a bird? Try this perfect roast chicken. It is super-easy to […]
[…] Perfect Roast Chicken – Tired of turkey but still craving a bird? Try this perfect roast chicken. It is super-easy to […]
Great roast chicken! The salt was the key, brining it to give it moisture. I will definitely make this again and use the flavorful pan jus to make gravy!
Great roast chicken! The salt was the key. I loved the crisp skin – yum! No smoke in my kitchen either. Will make again and will use the pan jus for gravy!
[…] the oven means the meat is too dry, and not enough seasonings and the flavor falls flat. Thanks to Weelicious our roast chicken nightmares have come to an end. With just the right amount of time in the oven […]
I also had a problem with the chicken smoking up my entire house. It tasted great, but I don’t think my family can handle the mass quantities of smoke and watering eyes that it caused! Did anyone ever figure out a solution to this problem, as it sounds like a few others have had it, too? Do you think it would it help to vent the oven like I do when I use the broiler?
Made this tonight, and after reading the reviews, I was totally prepared to have my kitchen smoked out – but lucky for me, it never did! I didn’t use thyme or lemon (not a favourite in our house) so I just melted butter and poured it over the top, salt and pepper and threw a few garlic cloves inside the chicken. Turned out great. I made a nice pan gravy with the juices and little bits that were leftover from roasting. Thanks for another great recipe!
Excellent – thanks so much!
This chicken was sooooo delicious! I remembered reading your recipe awhile back and how you tried it lots of different ways. I decided to cook a chicken last night so I looked back to find the recipe. I am so glad I did. It turned out perfect. Crispy skin, so juicy. I used a cast iron skillet – I thought mine wouldn’t be big enough but the chicken tucked in there just fine. My kids went crazy for it! It was definitely the best roast chicken I’ve ever done – BY FAR! Try it!!!
I’m doing this chicken now and yes same thing is happening. My brand new stove is in bad shape with all the oil and our house is so full of smoke, I turned the oven down to 400. It truly is very scary but the chicken looks AMAZING and I know it will taste really nice. I’m doing it along with the roasted yukon gold potatos.
I don’t want to THINK about the clean up afterward but as usual, weelicious recipes are always delicious.
N.
Try patting the chicken dry with a paper towel just before placing it in the pan. If your chicken has water, moisture, or condensation on it that could react with the fat in the pan and splatter all over. It should definitely sizzle, though, when you place it in the pan initially! That’s how you know the pan is nice and hot and won’t make the chicken skin stick to it! 🙂
Sorry, obviously I took the chicken out of the “fridge” (not the oven) about 1 hour before I started cooking it…
Same thing here. I used a pyrex dish too. I even switched dishes because I thought it was the butter that I used to prevent the chicken from sticking and same thing. Tons of splashing and tons of smoke.
You live and you learn 🙂
I’m cooking this in a brand new oven…in my brand new house. Eyes tearing as I type. It is SO smokey! Doors open/ceiling fan on. oven fan on. When I opened the oven to flip the bird (as it were) it’s frying like a chicken in there splattering on my hands. Does it thrash your oven? I’m going to have to clean mine from all the splattering. I used a pyrex oblong pan.
It looks like it may be fancycook
I too love the skillet in the picture, please share your source!
Just made this today – DELICIOUS!! I used an All Clad skillet though, and my chicken seared and stuck to it when I placed it in the pre-heated pan, I had to really scrape it with a metal spatula in order to flip it. Next time I will lightly grease the pan first. But the finished product tastes perfect!
Isn’t it so pretty?! I got it from Green Cooking Pots, a small business in LA but I haven’t been able to find them in several months. 🙁 I’m still looking, though!
Were did you get the skillet that is pictured in the photo?
I love it!
Looks deeeeeeeelish.
I have never had a problem with the kitchen smoking up. That sounds awful! Maybe remove the bird from the bag for the final 30 minutes of cooking and you’ll get that crispy golden brown skin without the offending smoke!
Do you have any issues with it smoking up the kitchen? The last time I roasted without a bag, it did brown and look and taste great, but my kitchen got so smoky- I have no vent hood- so I resigned myself to using roasting bags, but the chicken does not get that wonderful golden brown color to it…
Yes, thank you and corrected!
*”Use the convection setting on your oven if you have one, reducing the cooking time in step 8 to 25 minutes.” Step 8 is only 20 minutes. Do you mean step 7?
#1 was definitely the chicken from the Farmer’s Market!
#2 was the Rosie’s Chicken from my local grocery 🙂
Which chicken was best?
You say you experimented with several store bough brands as well. Did you find the ones from the Farmer’s Market to be the best quality?
Oh my that sounds delicious!
Thanks for the great recipe! Sometimes I like to dress up a chicken by stuffing between the breast and skin a mixture of cream cheese, thyme, and lemon zest. The mixture creates an extra fragrant and juicy bird. Give it a try!
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It depends where you live. I love Rosie’s chickens sold in California. I would buy an organic chicken, free range, the best you can find and/or afford.
I don’t buy whole chicken. So wondering what “brand” you used
You could totally use a Le Creuset dutch oven. I would add 5 minutes to the cooking time.
Would a round Le Creuset dutch oven be ok for this recipe? Would you recommend any changes to the recipe using a dutch oven?
Thanks!
In curious I why you refrigerate as well
Yes, a cast iron skillet would be great!
Would a cast iron skillet be a good pan for this?
I refrigerate the chicken because leaving it out for 3-24 hours is just too long to let chicken be at room temperature! I find the chicken sort of absorbs some of the salt and becomes more flavorful when I let it sit in the salt for a few hours prior to cooking. I flip it to get that beautiful golden brown color all over and to help it cook more evenly!
Hmmm, very similar to what I season mine with, but I use pepper too. Why do you refrigerate it? and flip it?
It seems so easy!
must try this tonight!