The Perfect Roasted Chicken

In our family we eat lots of chicken and it can be difficult to come up with new and creative ways to prepare it. My recipe for the Perfect Roasted Chicken is a staple in our household. The secret is the spice rub that gets massaged into the chicken skin so every bit of it comes out crispy and delicious. There is usually fighting over the wings at the dinner table which gave me an idea to make baked chicken wings with the same spice rub. They were so good we ate all 5 dozen wings and my little picky 3 year old ate 8 on her own.

To make this meal even easier, while the chicken is roasting in the oven, throw some Brussels sprouts tossed in reserved bacon fat (or diced pieces of raw bacon) on a sheet pan and roast for 30-40 minutes.

This is also a great meal for when I have to cart the kids around to after school activities. I can prep the chicken and put it into the preheated oven, set the cooking time (which automatically shuts off the oven when the time is up), and when I arrive home after ballet, piano, or soccer practice I have dinner ready and waiting for me in the oven.

A little trick I learned when trying to make the perfect roasted chicken with the crispiest skin is the chicken needs to be elevated. I used to bake my chicken in a glass or ceramic baking dish which would give me great results for the top half of the bird and then the bottom half, the thighs and wings, would come out of the oven with soggy skin because it was sitting in all of juices that rendered from the cooking bird. No one would want to eat the thighs or wings and we would end up wasting it or some poor person (usually the baby) would have to eat it the next day for left overs.

To prepare your pan for the chicken, cover a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper and place a wire cooling rack (the kind you use for cooling cookies) on top of the foil. If you have a fancy roasting dish with a rack insert that will work just as well, but this is my hacked version. The foil helps with clean-up because I have yet to meet someone who enjoys doing the dishes, except maybe my mother. Here's what the prepped pan should look like:

Next, prepare your spice rub and cut a long piece of kitchen twine to tie up the bird. Once you've got everything ready to go, clean your chicken really well. I like to remove any excess fat from the cavity or tail end of the chicken. Then, taking a coarse salt like kosher salt, sprinkle a few handfuls all over the chicken and massage. The salt scrub will help to remove any impurities.

Place the chicken on the rack in the pan and dry with paper towels, inside and out. Starting with the back of the chicken (the side with the thighs) rub the spice rub mixture all over the bird. Flip the bird over, breast side up, and continue rubbing the spice mixture coating the entire chicken. With the last few teaspoons of spice rub, coat the inside of the bird. Now it's time to tress the chicken with your twine. Place the middle of the string under the neck and wing portion of the chicken, bring the string up over the top of the chicken creating an X. The X should then be pulled down toward the bottom point of the breast where the chest cavity opens up. Next, take the legs and place them on top of the X of the string and cross one leg bone over the other, creating an X with the bare ends of the leg bones. Wrap each end of the string around the leg bones, pull tight, and tie a square knot on top.

The chicken is ready to go into the oven. Roast in a preheated 425 degrees oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, for a 4-5 pound chicken. For every extra pound, add 15-20 minutes more cooking time. 

The Perfect Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

4-5 pound whole chicken 

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 Tbs. Spanish smoked sweet paprika (not regular paprika, it won't taste the same) 

A pinch cayenne pepper

2 Tbs. olive oil

Kitchen twine

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix spices and olive oil to form a loose paste. Clean chicken, pat dry and rub spice mixture all over the skin and inside the cavity of the chicken. Place chicken on an elevated wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes for a 4-5 pound chicken. Add 15-20 minutes of cooking time for each additional pound. Remove chicken from over and rest 15-20 minutes before serving.