Easy, delicious and done in 45 minutes!
When my niece was in her early 20s, she moved to a new city, got her first grown-up job and was living on her own. I was helping her in the kitchen. She jokingly lamented to me, “How did I ever get this far without basic life skills?”
Basic life skills include learning how to:
· Interview for a job
· Live on a budget
· Be a good guest at someone’s home
· Cook for yourself and others
During your lifetime, you’ll consume about 100,000 meals. And you can’t eat all of those from fast food joints, carboard boxes, yogurt cups and restaurants. Learning to cook is part of your survival skills, but it also adds a richness and joy to life.
That’s why mastering even a few basic recipes is important.
"You’ll consume about 100,000 meals. And you can’t eat all of those from fast food joints and carboard boxes..."
Roasting a chicken is one of those bedrock recipes. Yes, you can buy one of those rotisserie chickens from the grocery store – and there’s no shame in that. They’re a great convenience in a time crunch. But somehow, making a homemade roasted chicken is so much better. And, literally in less than an hour, it’s done with ease.
With just a whole chicken, butter, salt, pepper and garlic powder, you can create a dish your friends will marvel at. It’s crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside.
Roasted chicken has so many uses. You can always have it with some great sides like our Sunny Carrots & Wilted Arugula. Or use some leftover deboned meat as a basis for Creamy Chicken Enchilada Nachos, Portable Pesto Chicken Salad or Comforting Chicken Vegetable Soup.
I’ve roasted whole chicken a lot of ways – and it does look impressive and tastes good. But unless you have a rotisserie like in the grocery stores – the chicken’s not going to be crispy on the underside. And frankly, that mean half the bird is a little soggy. Roasting a whole bird also takes an hour or more, which is sometimes longer than I have to get a meal on the table.
Here’s what I’ve come up with that solves both those problems. I simply cut the bird down the middle. By splaying it, the whole bird is crispy and brown and cooks in 45 minutes. Some people call that spatchcocking it – but usually that means taking out the back, which seems a little wasteful since that piece can be one of the crispiest.
This Crispy Roasted Chicken is a dish that makes a novice cook look like a pro and is one a pro can always fall back on for a perfect, simple comfort food.
Pair it with some sauteed mushrooms or any veggies roasted or mashed. You can even make a quick sauce out of the drippings or even simpler, just ladle some of the drippings over the meat and sides when you serve it.
Want another basic recipe to master? This one can double as breakfast, lunch or dinner? Master perfect scrambled eggs. Try our Royal Scrambled Eggs. It’s so good, you could make this for an elegant candlelight dinner, and no one would fault you.
Cooking tip:
One thing you may want to keep in mind with this dish is filling the oven with other things that steam. So, if you’re going to do a tray of veggies in the same oven, start them a little earlier to let some of the moisture evaporate. You don’t want to create more steam than necessary. For instance, putting a pan of potatoes to roast in the oven is fine too. Potatoes need an hour, so it let’s them get going before the chicken.
Use an instant read thermometer to verify that it’s done. Chicken is done at 165-175 degrees. So take it out slightly underdone because the temperature will continue to rise as it rests for the next 10 minutes.
If you have a convection setting on your oven, use it. That will help make the skin crispy while keeping the meat moist.
Crispy Roasted Chicken
Recipe Ingredients
Everything you'll need for this delicious recipe is below.
1 whole chicken
¾ stick butter (6 T) softened but not runny
1 t salt
¾ t pepper
¾ garlic powder
Preparation Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 (Convection if you have it.)
2. Make sure to check the cavity to make sure it’s empty.
3. Dry chicken with paper towels.
4. With a sharp knife, cut down the side of the bird along the ribcage.
The legs and back should be on one half and the breast on the other.
(See this video on how we did it.)
5. Lay the bird skin side up on a rimmed baking dish.
6. Using clean hands, smear the butter all over the bird’s skin.
7. Then season liberally with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
8. Place pan in hot oven in middle of the rack with nothing above it.
9. Check at 45 minutes with an instant read thermometer.
10. The thickest part of the meat should be at 155 degrees.
11. Remove chicken from oven and lightly tent with foil.
12. Let rest for 10 minutes.
13. Check chicken again. It is done at 165 degrees internal temperature.
14. Slice and serve.
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