7 Steps To Simply Roasted Chicken

A simply roasted chicken is a go-to for your dinner toolbox. Whether it’s for a Sunday Supper or mid-week fare. It will reward you with juicy meat, everyone’s favorite piece, shatteringly crispy-salty skin, and the best is the leftovers for lunches, salads, sandwiches, and bones for homemade chicken broth.

This is not really a recipe but a method for achieving perfectly roasted chicken every time. It can be dressed up any way your heart desires. Most of the time I keep the seasonings simple, so I can use the leftover meat and bones in any dish I please, but you can add any number of spice combinations, aromatics, and herbs.

Follow these simple steps and you are on your way to delicious crispy roasted chicken…

Step 1: Remove any giblets from the bird’s cavity, save these for stock.

Step 2: Season liberally, with a generous teaspoon of salt per pound and lots of pepper. Here’s where you can customize, add in any other spices, herbs, aromatics, etc.

Step 3: Let the bird dry brine for at least 2 hours, this is the key step! If you are in a time crunch and 2 hours is it, let the bird brine at room temperature. Otherwise, place in the refrigerator uncovered for up to 24 hours, this is my preferred time. Before moving on to the next step, let the bird come to room temperature for a minimum of 30 and up to 1 hour.

Step 4: Truss your bird! This is optional but will cook more evenly and keep the breast meat juicy. See my video below for a trussing demo.

Step 5: Roast at high heat. I call for 450 degrees here but you can go up to 500. You will want to start checking temperature sooner at the higher temperature. Roast the bird on the cooling rack lined sheet pan. This allows the heat of the oven to get all around the bird and brown the skin evenly. Place the bird into the oven with the feet towards the back of the oven if possible. The legs and thighs take longer to cook and the back of your oven is hotter than the front. Rotate 180 degrees after 30 minutes. When the thickest part of the thigh has reached 160 degrees remove it from the oven. Plan on about 15 minutes per pound.

Step 6: Let the bird rest for 30 minutes. It will continue to cook and come up to 165 degrees.

Step 7: Carve it up and enjoy!

Saves those bones for stock. I bag them up and put them in the freezer until I have 3 or 4 and then make a big batch.

Check out my full step by step video below.