Classic roasted whole chicken at home that is juicy and crispy. This is the ultimate comfort food. Just follow these easy step by step photo instructions.
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Introduction and My Rating
This is very close to that "ideal" recipe of just throw something in the oven and have it come out with great taste and moisture with crispy skin.
Based on a Cooks Illustrated recipe called Weeknight Roast Chicken. I took the technique and expanded the details and a few other changes.
The general idea is to preheat an oven with a skillet to 450, prep the chicken with some oil or butter, and season to taste. Put the chicken in the hot pan so the dark meat will cook faster, being in direct contact with the skillet.
Also, the pan will keep the liquid from evaporating completely for a pan sauce or in my case, gravy. Cook until breast temp of 120 and then turn off the over and let it continue to cook in the hot oven. It works well.
My Rating
A great roasted chicken your family will love.
🐓The Chicken
Cooks Illustrated called for a 3 1/2 to 4-pound chicken. Mine was 5 pounds, so a little bigger. Mine took 35 minutes to reach the "turn off the oven" point vs. their 20-25. The bigger the chicken, the longer it will take.
I no longer recommend rinsing chicken. See Chicken: To Rinse or Not To Rinse? for detailed discussion. But drying the skin is critical for crispy skin.
♨️OVEN WARNING
OVEN WARNING
I have done this in three different ovens with good results, but I suspect there are some ovens that will lose heat faster and may not get to the 165 after turning the oven off. Note: This is a well tested Cooks Illustrated technique but this is my warning, not theirs.
Try not to open the oven when the oven is off. Use a remote thermometer if you have one.
If turning the oven off makes you too nervous or you don't trust your oven, leave the oven at 200°. I recommend using a remote thermometer of some type to monitor for 165° in the breasts. Never cook by time.
⏰🌡️Cooking Time and Temperature
This technique takes about 1 hour and starts with a high-temperature oven of 425° convection or 450° conventional oven but then turns off the oven and finishes cooking as the oven slowly cools. This technique addresses the need for different final temperatures for dark vs white meat.
If you want to just straight-up roast the chicken without this technique, you would generally start with a high (425 to 450) oven and then turn it down to 350° after about 20 minutes then to 350° for about another 40 minutes. But this will tend to leave the thigh area undercooked or breast overcooked depending on your choices.
Safety note: Chicken needs to reach 165° for safety. For texture, dark meat is better at 180°-185°. So you are cooking to a final internal temperature and never by time alone. So you must use a thermometer.
Remember that whole chicken vary a lot in size and sometimes thickness. So the real cooking time varies by size of the chicken and not the clock.
🖊️Notes
Oil vs. Butter
The classic thought is always to use butter. Some feel it adds some taste.
The argument for vegetable oil is several studies show the skin to be a bit crispier, and many people don't think the butter adds any taste.
The choice is yours.
Spicy Option
Do you want more taste? Kick it up several notches with a spicy rub.
Mix the spicy rub: 4 teaspoons kosher salt, 1 teaspoon each of pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and sugar. 2 teaspoon paprika and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional).
I would not do gravy if using the spicy rub.
The Gravy
I'm using the slurry method of homemade gravy in this recipe. You can easily adjust the volume to your needs. While 2 cups are enough if you just want some on the meat, you will want 4 cups if you are doing potatoes and gravy as a side dish.
See How To Make Gravy at Home for a more detailed discussion.
📖Whole Chicken Recipes
Grilled Whole Chicken on a Gas Grill
BBQ Grilled Butterflied Whole Chicken
Alabama BBQ Chicken with White BBQ Sauce
🖼️Photo Instructions
Spray a 12-inch oven-safe pan (cast iron preferred) with PAM. Place in the oven and preheat to 425 convection or 450 conventional.
Pat dry a whole chicken, tie legs together with butcher twine and tuck wings under.
Coat the surface with a tablespoon of butter or a bit of vegetable oil.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste. I'm using some of my 7:2:1 All Purpose Seasoning .
Transfer the chicken to your preheated pan. Let it roast until breast temp is 120, and thigh is 135. About 30 minutes, it depends on size and oven.
Turn OFF oven and let set in the hot oven until breast temp is 165 and thigh is 175+, about 30 minutes. (Please read oven warning in the post above or the recipe card notes.) Move chicken to a plate and pour any liquid in the chicken cavity into the pan.
Combine flour with a cup of cold water. You need 2 tablespoons of flour for every cup of gravy you are making. You can use a bowl and whisk to combine the flour and water, or I like to use a Tupperware shaker.
Move the pan to the stovetop and add the amount of chicken broth you want for gravy. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil.
Slowly add most of the water/flour mixture while continuously stirring. In about 2-3 minutes, the mixture will thicken. Add more flour mixture is not thick enough and continue to stir. Continue this until the desired thickness. Add salt to taste.
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📖 Recipe
Simple Roasted Whole Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken - about 4-5 lb.
- 1 tablespoon butter - Or Oil
- 1 teaspoon Salt and Pepper - to taste
Optional Gravy - this is for 2 cups. Double if having potatoes and gravy
- 1/4 cup AP flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- to taste salt
Instructions
- Spray a 12-inch oven-safe pan (cast iron preferred) with PAM. Place in the oven and preheat to 425 convection or 450 conventional.
- Pat dry a whole chicken, tie legs together with butcher twine and tuck wings under.
- Coat the surface with a tablespoon of butter or a bit of vegetable oil.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste. I used my 7:2:1 All Purpose Seasoning . (See Spicy option in notes below).
- Transfer the chicken to your preheated pan. Let it roast until breast temp is 120 and thigh is 135. About 30 minutes depending on size and oven.
- Turn OFF the oven and let set in the hot oven until breast temp is 165 and thigh is 175+. About 30 minutes.
- See oven warning in notes below.
- Move the chicken to a plate and pour any liquid in the chicken cavity into the pan.
Optional Gravy Instructions
- Combine flour with a cup of cold water. You need 2 tablespoons of flour for every cup of gravy you are making. You can use a bowl and whisk to combine the flour and water or I like to use a Tupperware shaker.
- Move the pan to the stovetop and add the amount of chicken broth you want for gravy. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil.
- Slowly add most of the water/flour mixture while continuously stirring. In about 2-3 minutes, the mixture will thicken. Add more flour mixture is not thick enough and continue to stir. Continue this until the desired thickness. Add salt to taste.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- This should be fine for 4 to 5-pound chickens. The times will vary by size.
- Season to your taste.
- Crispy skin depends on drying the skin well with a paper towel before starting.
- Most people will use butter to coat the chicken, but the oil may give a crisper skin.
- The gravy is optional. 2 cups are enough for just the chicken, but you will want 4 cups if doing mashed potatoes with gravy.
- Spicy option: Change the seasoning: Mix the rub: 4 teapoons kosher salt, 1 teaspoon each of pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and sugar. 2 teaspoon paprika and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional).
- Gravy is not included in nutrition.
OVEN WARNING
- I have done this in three different ovens with good results, but I suspect there are some ovens that will lose heat faster and may not get to the 165 after turning the oven off. Note: This is a well tested Cooks Illustrated technique but this is my warning, not theirs.
- Try not to open the oven when the oven is off. Use a remote thermometer if you have one.
- If turning the oven off makes you too nervous or you don't trust your oven, leave the oven at 200°. I recommend using a remote thermometer of some type to monitor for 165° in the breasts. Never cook by time.
Nutrition
Editor's Note: Originally Published October 22, 2011. Refreshed with expanded and clarified instructions and updated photos.
Lindsey
Oh no, where is the recipe This used to be with the paprika, salt, onion and garlic powder? Was literally my family’s favorite! Been using the link from Pinterest for 2-3 years and now this recipe is totally different. I can vouch for the cooking method, love that, but want the spice misfire recipe back!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Lindsey,
Sorry for the move. The spicy version had almost no traffic so it is now gone. BUT it is the same recipe as this with a spice rub that is in the body of the post and #6 in the recipe notes on the recipe card. So it got folded into this. It is still there. If you want a pdf of the old recipe card, email me and I will forward a copy to you.
Dan
MaryKay Lawrence
A straight sided canning jar works perfectly for mixing the flour and water for the gravy!
Denise Stratton
I used your chicken drummie recipe on chicken leg quarters and it works great! I just had to add a little extra time to the baking (about 15 mins). My husband LOVED the skin (he said it was PERFECT)!!! :)
A little suggestion? You might want to clarify the amount of flour to liquid used in this recipe for making the gravy. Your recipe says: "combine 3/8 cup AP flour with equal amount of CUP cold water", but some people might think they should add one cup of cold water instead of an equal 3/8 cup of cold water. Since I've been cooking a while I knew what to do, but it might confuse some inexperienced cooks.
I love your recipes!!! Thank you for sharing...
DrDan
Hi Denise,
It has apparently been like that for over 6 years. I have clarified the whole section.
Actually, I want the flour in one cup of cold water. An equal amount works as you know but I'm trying to get the volume up for the total amount of gravy to be more reasonable for a whole chicken.
Thanks so much for the proof-read and welcome to the blog.
Dan
Cole
I notice that you oil your whole roasted chicken but not your drummies. Why the difference?
Dan Mikesell
Ho Cole,
Good question. With the drumsticks, I what very crispy skin so no oil. Here I want a skin with a little flex that will stay on the pieces when cut. Also I wanted some butter taste and it does help hold the spices. Lastly a little butter in the gravy is always good for taste. But you can skip it if you want.
Dan
Mnique S.
Please send me recipes as you make them. I like what you do.
Chris
That breast looks perfectly cooked. I do a similar roast chicken except I do mine spatchcocked and start skin down at the beginning just for a quick sear. That gets the color started well but yours turned out great too. I'll have to experiment with this.