Don’t Be Intimidated! Roast Chicken At Home Is Easy.

Roast chicken is a highly sought after dish in the hottest restaurants around the world. And because of that, it may seem daunting to cook it yourself at home. Not at all! Here is an easy, tender, juicy, restaurant-quality roast chicken recipe:

Attempting Roast Chicken At Home

Roast chicken at home is either a complete delicious success or a flat our failure. Failing includes undercooking the chicken because you were too impatient with time, or over-roasting the bird and drying out all the meat.

The secret to a successful roast? Time, patience, your attention, and maybe a timer to help guide your attention.

Easy, Tender, Juicy Roast Chicken Recipe

Serves 3 to 4
Ingredients:

2 to 3 lb free-range chicken
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
optional: ground pepper, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme

Kitchen Equipment:

poultry scissors
roasting pan or glass baking dish
large spoon

1. First, preheat the oven to 350 F, or 180 C with the rack in the middle of the oven. Then, you need to clean and prep the chicken for butterflying. Using poultry scissors, cut off the spine of the bird. Follow the line of sides of the butt, and cut upward towards the neck. Then, clean and rinse off the innards and excess fat. Also, cut off the wing tip for aesthetics and roasting purposes.

2. In a roasting pan or glass baking dish, lay out the bird like in the photo above. To further flatten the chicken, press on the center of the breast until the sternum cracks and the chicken lays flat. Also, adjust the legs and thighs so they do not lay over the breast.

Note: You can whole roast the chicken as well. In this case, start by roasting the chicken breast side down. After 40 minutes, rotate the bird. Then, follow the methods and techniques in the next step.

4. The secret trick to getting your roast chicken fall-off-the-bone tender and juicy is this: Every 15 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, using oven mitts, of course. Carefully, tilt the pan so the juices are easy to scoop. Use a large spoon to scoop up the au jus and baste the entire bird. You will notice that each time you do this, the natural juices get more and more.

5. Continue to baste the bird every 15 minutes for at least 1.5 hours. Do not be afraid to go up to 2 hours – in fact, this will make the chicken even more tender. Roast the chicken until it reaches your desired browning state.

6. Serve with your favorite sides that complement a roast dish, such as roasted potatoes, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, or rice stuffing.