There are countless ways to roast a chicken, and the truth is, if you salt and grease a bird and roast it until it’s cooked, it’ll be pretty good. You can feed a crew and pair it with whatever else is on the dinner menu.
But for a roast chicken that upstages the supermarket’s rotisserie birds, even when they’re glowing under their movie-star lights, try one of these seven easy upgrades that make the most of a basic roast chicken recipe. (For even more expert tips, see our ultimate guide on roasting a chicken.)
- Brine It
In some ways, marinating chicken in something acidic like feta, buttermilk, or yogurt helps solve many of the pain points of cooking chicken. It keeps the meat juicy while crisping and caramelizing the skin. What more could you want?
- Spatchcock It
For a quicker-cooking, uniformly browned bird, spatchcock it. Or butterfly it. The terms sound like you or the chicken might need to perform some gymnastics, but all they really involve is cutting the backbone out of the chicken so it can lie flat.
This exposes the thighs and legs to the oven’s heat, reducing the cooking time and allowing all parts to brown evenly.
- Bake It Low and Slow
Cooking under higher heat can turn a bird’s skin shatteringly crisp, while leaving the meat tender and juicy — if you time it just right. But, if you don’t, that same high temperature can leave the meat, especially the breast, dry and chalky.
Instead, reduce the temperature to approximately 325 degrees and cook for a longer period. The moderate heat cooks the bird gently, and the ample time in the oven gives the collagen a chance to really break down, for silky meat you can pull off the bone with your fingers.
- Double It
The next time you roast a chicken, any chicken, make two. There’s enough space on a sheet pan to do it (even if you spatchcock them). Eat one for dinner, then refrigerate the other for the week’s meals. Think about it as a D.I.Y. rotisserie chicken, personalized with whatever flavourings you desire.
- Make It a Complete Meal
There are many vegetables you can scatter around your chicken before they all roast in the oven: carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. But there’s more. Roast fruit until it is soft or tear pieces of bread until they crisp.
No matter what you decide to roast alongside the chicken for your side, it’ll end up savory and rich (because it was cooked in the chicken’s rendered fat).
- Add Butter or Parmesan
Brush the chicken with butter, and as it roasts, the fat will mix with the butter, making it perfect for basting. (Basting will also seal in the chicken’s juiciness and create a glossy crust.)
If you’re a crispy skin fan, sprinkle the chicken with grated Parmesan “to get chicken skin as crunchy as a strip of fried bacon,” as Melissa Clark writes. Any questions?
- Garnish With Herbs
Let’s lift those deep, roasted flavors by sprinkling fresh herbs over the carved and sliced chicken. Use chopped soft-stem herbs like dill or parsley, or a few leaves of thyme, tarragon, or oregano you may have stuffed into your chicken before roasting.
Whichever you choose, they’ll look nice, too, with their colour popping against the bronzed chicken.
