Don't get me wrong. I love Costco's rotisserie chicken and would supplement my cooking at least once a month with one of their roast chickens.
But roasting your own chicken means crispy skin! And who doesn't like that?
I like to spatchcock the chicken (remove the backbone, and flatten chicken: video of how to here) so that it roasts faster and cooks more evenly. No dry white meat here with this method! I also like to marinate the chicken overnight uncovered in the refrigerator so that the skin is dry and will crisp up nicely when roasting.
You can roast some potatoes, and vegetables (such as zucchini, cauliflower, onions) tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, in a separate pan next to the chicken to make this a whole complete meal with minimal hands on time.
Updated April 20th, 2020: Some friends commented that the chicken wasn't salty enough while my sisters and niece thought it was just right, so I decided to update the recipe to just "salt to taste" and give a rough guideline to how much salt to use per pound of chicken. I also rotated the chicken pictures and added a video link on how to spatchcock a chicken to alleviate any confusion on how a spatchcock chicken is suppose to look like. Truly sorry if I caused anyone any confusion on which bone to cut out. Thanks all for giving the recipe a try and giving me feedback! I really appreciate it!
Yields 6 servings
Ingredient:
- 5 to 6 lb whole chicken
- salt and pepper to taste*
- 1 t dried oregano
- ½ t dried thyme
- 1 t garlic powder
- ½ t sugar
- 3 T butter
Procedures:
1. Wash and clean whole chicken. Make sure to remove the giblets, liver and neck, which is usually tucked inside the chicken cavity.
2. Place chicken breast side down on a cutting board. Using kitchen scissors, remove the backbone of the chicken by cutting along one side of the backbone starting at the thigh end. Turn chicken around and cut along the other side of the backbone. Discard the back bone or save for soup stock. Good video to spatchcock chicken here.
3. Liberally season the chicken on both sides using the salt (*generally 1/2 t salt per pound of chicken for a lower salt diet), pepper, oregano, thyme, garlic powder and sugar.
4. Place chicken skin side up in a foil lined baking pan and allow to marinate in the refrigerator uncovered overnight. (see photo)
5. The next day, take the chicken out of the fridge and leave at room temperature about 1 hour before you are ready to roast so that it is not cold going into the oven.
6. Right before roasting, place about 3 T of sliced butter on top of the chicken (see photo).
7. Roast the chicken for 50 min at 400 F, turning around at the 25 min mark. (Juices should run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh.) Remove from oven. Allow chicken to rest for 10 min before carving. Serve chicken with pan juices.