How long to roast a chicken?

Ah, the age-old question of how long to cook something. You can get shot for asking this in a professional kitchen. And if they spare your life, you most likely get an answer like "when it's done, just make it nice". Not so helpful, eh? The real answer is once the internal temperature of the thickest part of the thigh clocks 165° F on a meat thermometer. At the high temperatures called for here, this takes about 50 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of your bird.

Should you wash a chicken before cooking?

NO! Never, ever rinse or wash a raw piece of meat. This adds moisture to the skin or outside of the cut and will prevent browning during cooking. Rinse, and you're creating one more hurdle to crispy chicken skin or wonderfully cooked steak with a nice crust. More importantly, rinsing chicken or any of its animal protein friends could potentially splash foodborne germs like salmonella, campylobacter, or e. coli all over your sink and kitchen. Just. Don't. Do it.

What's the best pan to roast a chicken in?

There's obviously more than one pan you can use. And a few are better than others. The key is to choose a pan that allows the heat of the oven to reach as much of the chicken as possible. So baking pans with low sides, and better yet one with a rack, will let the hot air of the oven circulate all around. For my top pan picks that prevent soggy chicken bottoms, read this .

Chef Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken of Bouchon Fame

Name: Chef Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: about a gallon of water; 6-8 ounces/about a ½-¾ cup of kosher flake salt; 1-2 lemons, quartered; fresh thyme; fresh parsley; 2-3 bay leaves; a small handful of whole black peppercorns; ⅓ cup raw honey, optional; whole roasting chicken, 3-4 pounds, any innards removed (no rinsing or washing!); melted clarified butter (ghee) or high-temp oil like avocado; salt; few pinches of fresh thyme leaves picked off the stems

Ingredients

Scale

Brine

about a gallon of water
6-8 ounces/about a ½-¾ cup of kosher flake salt
1-2 lemons, quartered
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
2-3 bay leaves
a small handful of whole black peppercorns
⅓ cup raw honey, optional

Simple Roast Chicken

whole roasting chicken, 3-4 pounds, any innards removed (no rinsing or washing!)
melted clarified butter (ghee) or high-temp oil like avocado
salt
few pinches of fresh thyme leaves picked off the stems

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Instructions

Brine + Dry Chicken

Combine half of the water and brine ingredients in a large pot, and bring just to a boil. Stir to dissolve the salt and honey, then remove from the heat.
Pour the hot brine mixture into a very large bowl with the remaining half of water, and cool until chilled. A faster way to cool down the brine is to add an equal amount of ice in place of the cold water.
Fully submerge the chicken in chilled brine, cover, and brine for about 8 hours. Overnight can be a great way to achieve this time frame. If you plan on brining longer or think you'll forget to take it out on time, use half the amount of salt to be safe.
Remove the chicken from the brine, and store it uncovered in the refrigerator for up to three days. This will dry out the skin, which will then get wonderfully crispy in the oven.

Roast + Rest

Let the chicken sit on the counter to come to room temperature. This can take up to an hour or more for a larger chicken.
Preheat the oven to 475° F.
Truss the chicken (optional). Take a long piece of kitchen twine and place the center underneath the bottom of the neck (top) of the chicken. Wrap it around the side of the legs, then cross and bring both sides of twine up in between the legs. Wrap around the end of the leg bones, and tie a knot to bring the legs together.
Brush or drizzle the room temperature chicken with a high-heat oil or melted, clarified butter (ghee).
Rain down salt from a foot or so above the chicken, covering it evenly and seasoning inside the cavity. Sprinkle the thyme leaves on in the same way.
Place the chicken breast-side up in a sauté or roasting pan. Or my favorite, sitting upright on the tube of a bundt pan.
Roast for about 20 minutes at 475° F, then turn the oven temperature down to 400° F. Take the temperature of the thickest part of the chicken thigh to get an idea of how it's coming along.
Finishing roasting for about 20 to 40 more minutes. Do not baste the chicken or cover it with foil.
Remove the chicken when the skin is dark golden-brown, and the temperature inside the thickest part of the thigh reads at or almost 165°F on a kitchen thermometer. The breast will likely reach a higher temperature, but the brining will keep it moist and tender even if it surpasses 175° F.
Let the chicken rest in the pan for about ten minutes before carving and serving.
Store leftover chicken covered and chilled, and reheat in a 350° F oven.

Notes

On roasting time and oven honesty: Every oven is different. And the size of fresh and frozen chickens can vary significantly (this recipe is designed for a three to four-pound chicken). To gauge how fast your chicken is roasting, begin checking the internal temperature of the thigh after 20 minutes in the oven. To know if your oven readout is telling the truth, I recommend buying an inexpensive oven thermometer. Meat thermometers also need to be calibrated occasionally, and the best way to do so is to check the manufacturer's recommendations.

On brining: The formula for a basic, gentle brine is about half of a cup of flake salt (5 ounces) for every gallon of water. Using table salt? Use about half the measure, as table salt is much stronger by weight than kosher or any flake salt. I personally don't recommend iodized or table salt, as it contains fillers and added sugar.

Seasoning with salt: Season the brined chicken with salt all over the outside and inside the cavity. Evenly, excessively, and everywhere. Pinching salt in your fingers and raining it down from a few inches above the meat is a great way to get a nice covering. And prevents random bites with too much salt or any without enough.

For extra crispy skin: Leave your brined (or not) chicken uncovered in the fridge for a couple of days. The skin will go from opaque to translucent. If you really want to get crazy, place a battery-operated fan next to it. No, the chefs at Bouchon don't do this. But the large walk-in coolers at most restaurants are equipped with fans that blow the cold air around. A small battery-operated fan would be the home hack.

Author: Christina
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Category: Dinner
Method: Roasting
Cuisine: French
Diet: Gluten Free

Nutrition

Serving Size: 6 ounces
Calories: 123
Sugar: 3 g
Sodium: 311.2 mg
Fat: 9.4 g
Saturated Fat: 4.6 g
Carbohydrates: 5.1 g
Protein: 5.5 g
Cholesterol: 25.6 mg

Keywords: thomas keller roast chicken, thomas keller's roast chicken, simple roast chicken, how to roast chicken, how to brine chicken