I remember growing up and having amazing roasted chicken every Christmas. I loved every time Christmas came around… are you kidding me… gifts and ROASTED CHICKEN. Best case scenario for any non-vegan kid. To this day I’m grateful but it also gave me a warped idea about certain aspects of cooking. As if roasting a chicken would really require a special occasion to justify the work.

Roasting a chicken is tricky. Yes. I’ve been doing this for quite some time and I’m not gonna lie. It’s can be scary if you’ve never done it or are just getting started. Every oven is different. Every chicken is different. Every recipe out there is crazy different. Getting good at something requires recognizing patterns and practice. So there’s really no secret. Just knowing a few things is key. Heat cooks food. Food has humidity. Humidity in the oven changes as the cooking progresses. Air is a poor conductor of heat. Salt diffuses into food at a specific rate, etc, etc, etc. But that’s always the case no matter what you cook. And roasting a chicken isn’t more or less complicated than frying an egg. Set your fears aside if you have any, and make this dish whenever the hell you want. Don’t wait for a special occasion! I guess that was my point all along.

Ingredients:

Before I get too carried away with the how. Let me list the whats.

1 chicken. Butterflied.

40 garlic cloves. Peeled.

1 small white onion diced.

Salt.

Servings and Cooking/Prep times:

Serves about 4 people.

Prep time is about 15 min.

Bringing the chicken to room temp can take about 1 hour.

Oven time is 1 hour. Hour and a half, tops. If you’re roasting 2 chickens, 2 hours or so.

Butterfly that chicken!

The reason behind butterflied chickens isn’t about presentation. It’s a technical one: Even cooking. Some take it a step further and place bricks on the chicken to flatten it even further while roasting. The reason is still the same. Getting around the issue caused by that hollow cavity a.k.a the chicken’s thorax. Because air is such a poor heat conductor, this air cavity makes cooking difficult. Radiant heat also has a problem getting in there. But don’t get me wrong. You can still roast your chicken without butterflying it. It will take longer will very result in overcooking the outside. That’s all. It will still be delicious!

Remove the spine of the chicken using kitchen shears. Don’t bother with a knife. You will have to go through so much bone and cartilage that you’ll need good shears to do this. To finish off, cut the wish bone in half or remove it. Then with a sharp paring knife cut down the sternum … at this point I think I need to shoot a video to show you. It’s not hard to do. Go on Youtube! There’s tons of tutorials.

Season that chicken!

I keep things simple. I just rub the chicken with salt. If I have time I like apply an overnight dry rub. With overnight dry rubs I include more stuff like garlic powder, mustard powder, black pepper, etc. I also brine my chickens overnight from time to time, but it takes more work. It’s slightly wasteful too since the seasonings get diluted. It has the advantage of adding extra moisture. Which means you can roast for longer and get a deeper golden crispy skin.

Make a Garlic Bed! Garlic Confit Bonus.

I love garlic. If you’ve been reading this blog it’s probably obvious. In this recipe, I suggest using a TON of garlic cloves. Peeled. I used probably like 40 cloves. A single layer of goodness. I also diced a white onion and added it to the pan. Place the chicken right over the garlic bed. The chicken fat once rendered will slow-cook the garlic. If you’re lucky, some of the garlic will be golden brown. It’s a magical thing. Just try it and let me know. Every I make chicken this way, it’s amazing.

Roast that chicken!

If your chicken is room temp, even better. More evenly cooked and a lot faster. If not, no worries. Add maybe an extra 20 minutes of cooking time. The base cooking time is about an hour. I don’t cover the pan. I don’t move the chicken. I don’t do anything. I just go watch TV and come back when the smell of success calls my name. Usually 1 hour at 415F.

Serve and protect!

Give this beautiful chicken a moment to take a break from the hellish heat in your oven. A good 10 minutes before serving should do. Make sure to serve some of that garlic confit as well. And if you have excess confit. Jar it. It’s pure gold. Also, please serve something sharp and bright like pickled vegetables. Giardiniera works extremely well. It cuts right through the fatty goodness and balances it all out.

Let me know what you think! If you have made this dish, let me know if you have any suggestions! Until the next one. Stay safe.

And if you want more amazing chicken recipes I got you covered:

WHOLE SOUS VIDE ROASTED CHICKEN 70C 3H

SMOKED SPATCHCOCKED GOCHUJANG CHICKEN

THE SIMPLEST ROASTED CHICKEN I CAN THINK OF.

ROSEMARY AND GARLIC ROASTED CHICKEN : HOME KETCHUP : HOME FRIES

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