If there is one thing that everyone should have in their cooking repertoire is a good roast chicken!
However roast chicken can be difficult to get right! How do you get that wonderful crispy skin but not overly dry breast meat?
This is a question I have tried to figure out for many years. I have followed numerous recipes, trying various methods such as basting, marinating, stuffing, low heat, high heat – you name it. And although the outcome has been good – it has never been stellar.
Then C comes along and after a few attempts (some of which were rather unsuccessful, I might add). He figured it out! The secret? Thomas Keller and bringing everything back to basics!
This has really become the go to recipe for us and it is so simple! It works as mid-week meals, Sunday roasts or even dinner parties – Everyone loves roast chicken!
Ingredients:
- 2.3 kg (5 lb) chicken, room temperature
- Salt
- Pepper (black, white or both)
- Herbs (optional)
Equipment
- String
- Skillet (oven proof pan or roasting pan works well too)
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 205ºC (400ºF)
Pat dry your chicken to make it as dry as possible. Liberally salt and pepper your chicken both inside and out. The salt helps to create the crispy skin.
Truss your chicken. Basically you want it as compact as possible to ensure even cooking.
Pop it into the oven for 1.5 hours.
Allow the chicken to rest for 10-15 mins. Carve and Serve!
Thats it! So simple, so straight forward, so delicious!
Here are the step-by-step photos instructions:
The Travelling Chopsticks 
I’ve never roasted a whole chicken- I’ve always been intimidated! This looks simple enough and super delicious, always a great motivating factor. Thanks for sharing!
xoxo K
http://peeledwellness.com
That is so lovely to hear – I do sincerely hope that you give this a go and I would love to hear from you if you do. I think its important that you have a meat thermometer at hand, just to make sure you have reached the proper internal temp of the chicken. :)
the other thing you can do is to put 2 lemons inside before you truss it…. pierce them all over with a skewer or a fork first! it’s the italian way.
Great to visit your site as always! So glad to have your simple recipe for roast chicken on hand, it’s such a staple in any kitchen….
Is that a cast iron skillet? If so being that said material maintains and distributes heat so well (evenly across surface) is it better suited for this recipe? Or does oven cooking render pan make irrelevant? Sorry for being such a geek. The finished bird looks yummy and I want mine to be a perfect copy.
Hi Alex – yes it is a cast iron skillet! I am really not certain if oven cooking would render the pan irrelevant in the technical sense, however, we have used both the cast iron and a normal oven proof pan with the same results! Let me know how it goes :)