Whole Roast Chicken Recipe

This is talons down our favorite way to prepare a whole chicken. The basic idea is that you brine the chicken to add moisture then roast it in a hot oven to seal in that moisture. A simple brine adds flavor and keeps the meat moist and the 450 degree Dutch oven yields crispy skin and heavenly drippings every time.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 whole chicken (3-5 lbs)

• 1 gallon ziplock for chickens less than 3.5 lbs, or 6-8 quart pot for larger chickens

• Dutch oven (we love our cast iron)

For brine (utterly simple - only first 3 ingredients, more complex add the additional):

• 3 Tbsp salt

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 4 cups hot water

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 apple (we like Granny Smith)

• 1/2 tsp ground Ancho Chile

• 1 lemon (juiced then sliced rind) or 3 Tbsp lemon juice

• 3 cloves garlic (minced)

• 2 Tbsp fresh herbs (we like thyme, rosemary and sage), use 1 Tbsp if dried

• Don’t wanna go to the grocery or get more ingredients? Just use salt/pepper/water and our chicken tastes great!

Step by step

The day before you want to serve the chicken, pull it out of the freezer and get it in the brine in the fridge. It can thaw and brine at the same time in the fridge.

To prepare the brine:

Combine 4 cups of hot water with the salt, pepper, ancho chile, herbs, apple and garlic (we like using a blender). Once salt is dissolved, add the bay leaf and lemon rind (but don’t put these in blender if used).

Rinse your chicken off under cool water. Since this is a locally processed bird that lived an active life, it may have some small pin feathers still in the skin. If you see any, go ahead and pick them out with your fingers or tongs now. Then place the chicken in the ziploc bag** and pour the brine from the blender into the bag, seal it up and stick it in the fridge for at least 6 hours.

**If your chicken is too large to fit in a 1 gallon bag, put it in a stock pot and add water and salt at a ratio of 1 quart water to 3 Tbsp salt until the chicken is covered.

The next day, take the chicken out of the fridge around 1.5 to 2 hours before you want to serve it. Pull the chicken out of the bag and set in a colander to drip drain and warm up a little. Preheat your oven to 450F. Heat your Dutch oven on the stovetop at medium high heat. Pat chicken dry with paper towel and wipe off any large chunks from brine (dry skin yields crispy skin, while wet skin will stay soft).

Add 1 Tbsp tallow/lard or high heat oil to Dutch oven. Using tongs, place chicken breast side up in the Dutch oven. Allow to sizzle and brown for around 1 minute, then flip breast side down for 1 more minute, then sear each side for 30 seconds.

With breast side up place uncovered Dutch oven in the oven for 25 minutes initially.

Then flip chicken breast side down and cover with lid. Continue roasting for:

• 15 minutes for 3 lb chicken

• 20 minutes for 4 lb chicken

• 25 minutes for 5 lb chicken.
  
  Finally remove lid from Dutch oven and flip back to breast side up to re-crisp the skin for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, check temperature of the chicken by inserting an instant read thermometer into the thickest portion of the breast (about 2/3 of the way toward the front). When the breast reaches 162-165F pull the chicken out of the oven and allow to rest for 15-30 minutes.  It’s important to let the chicken rest so the juices can redistribute in the meat and so it is easier to carve. The ideal temperature to carve is around 120F.

I like to carve the chicken up and place the sliced meat back into the still warm lid of the Dutch oven and then spoon all of the drippings over the meat, especially the breast meat before serving.

This pairs well with so many things. Our favorites are instant pot risotto, garden salad, rice cooked in chicken stock (just add chicken stock as you would water to your rice cooker), or crispy roast potatoes. This week we made it on Monday so we could have the leftovers in tacos for lunches at school and work. For this, we paired it with cheesy skillet black beans from Melissa Clark’s Kid in the Kitchen kids cookbook (p. 199). Our 5 year old had two and a half helpings.

Our family of four eat about half the chicken for dinner, leaving plenty for all of us to pack lunches. These simple tacos from the leftovers were quick, nutrient packed, easy and delicious.

And don’t forget- those bones and trimmings are the magic ingredient that will turn any rice, risotto or baked pasta into a meal worth talking about after you simmer them down into stock.

To make stock:

Add all the bones, trimming and skin (if it wasn’t all eaten) to a 6-8 quart pot and add 2 quarts water and 1 tsp vinegar. If you want to get fancy, add some carrots, celery and onion. We keep a ziploc in the freezer where we through the ends of vegetables when we are preparing them to pull out when we make stock). Bring pot to a simmer and let simmer for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours. Then strain through a colander into jars or freezer bags to use fresh or freeze. This yields around 6 cups of nutritious broth that is mild enough to elevate the complexity of any dish without stealing the show.