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Easy Oven Roasted Spatchco*cked Chicken is my new favorite way to bake chicken. It takes less time than traditional baked chicken and is scrumptious: moist, juicy chicken with deliciously crispy skin.
Easy Oven Roasted Spatchco*cked Chicken
Hi. It's Lois at Recipe Idea Shop, with an easy spatchco*ck chicken recipe: moist, flavorful, and super easy.
This ain't your momma's chicken; at least it's not mine: it's so much better. In the past, I have roasted whole chickens. That's pretty simple, but it takes a long time. Usually 1½ hours in the oven, plus 15 minutes resting time.
I needed a faster cooking method, and this oven-roasted spatchco*cked chicken is ready to eat in about an hour, and once you are good at it, it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare it. Plus, the chicken skin is so crispy and amazing!
The Quest
We had to eat early one day because Don was driving to Baltimore after supper, and that's about a five-hour drive. So I planned dinner for 5:30. I thought I'd pick up one of those delicious roasted chickens at the grocery store, but they didn't have any ready when I was there. So, not one to be deterred when I have my taste buds set on something, I bought a whole chicken and decided to bake it myself.
I must admit that regular baked chicken is a mystery to me. Sometimes it's moist; sometimes it's dry as a bone; sometimes it's under-cooked. It probably has more to do with my attention span than anything, but you do have to pay attention. And I usually don't do a consistent job with slow cooker chicken. It's often too dry for me. (It's better to put the chicken in the pot frozen.) What's the knack?
So I decided to spatchco*ck the chicken.
What You Need
This cooking method requires a good pair of poultry shears or a sharp knife.
I use a jelly roll pan instead of a roasting pan, but you can use any rimmed baking sheet.
And measuring spoons, of course. I like the magnetic type of measuring spoons.
Why Spatchco*cking is Different
Spatchco*cking is almost foolproof. The chicken cooks evenly because you cut the breast bone out (save it for homemade chicken stock) and flatten the chicken before baking it. That makes it so most of the parts of the chicken are equal in thickness, and it cooks evenly and quickly.
True confession: I have only cooked a chicken this way five times, once on the grill and four times in the oven. But I don't think I will ever cook another whole chicken the old-fashioned way again. However, I suggest you cover your baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper for easy clean-up. I made quite a mess of my pan!
Use this trick: Be sure to cook some small potatoes sliced in half and place sliced side down on the pan to prevent your chicken from splattering all over your oven. The added advantage is having nice, roasted potatoes to eat with your chicken dinner.
The first time I did it, I made it the way Martha Stewart said to make it. It took hours. Six to eight hours marinating the chicken, 15 minutes of prep, and about 35 minutes to cook it. Our Grilled Spatchco*cked Chicken was amazing. But you have to plan for it. You can't just heat the oven, cut the chicken, throw on some fresh herbs or spices, and pop it in the oven. And, although it tasted heavenly, it wasn't beautiful. Believe me, it doesn't look so great, but that charred black skin is amazing. Take a look:
On the other hand, this Oven Roasted Chicken took one hour and 10 minutes, including resting time. And it is my new favorite way to make chicken. It's not only delicious. It's gorgeous and simple.
And I roasted the potatoes in the same pan at the same time. You could do this with any root vegetable as long as you have room on the pan.
Why Rest the Chicken?
Or meat, for that matter? There's a science behind it. As you cook the chicken (or meat), the juices ooze out and gather in the pan, which can dry out your food. As it rests (10-15 minutes for chicken, 15-20 minutes for roasts), the juices are slowly reabsorbed into the meat, making it juicy and flavorful.
So, it's best to let your meat sit on the counter in the pan for a few minutes (rest) before carving. Trust me, it will stay hot.
Variations
I like this recipe just as described here, but you can make some variations if you're missing some of the ingredients or want to customize it to your taste.
For example, you can replace the fresh garlic with garlic powder (garlic paste will work even better; I keep a tube of this Amore garlic paste in my pantry).
You can replace the olive oil with avocado, vegetable oil, or a couple of tablespoons of butter (use herb butter for more flavor).
Add more veggies: roasted vegetables are the perfect side dish.
Use a chicken spice blend to jazz it up. This delicious spice rub perfectly blends kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic: YUM!
Lemons are a great addition to chicken. You can add lemon zest, lemon juice, and even a few lemon slices if you like roasted lemon, like I do.
Easy Oven Roasted Spatchco*cked Chicken Recipe
Lois Carter Crawford
This "Spatchco*cked" (or flattened) Chicken is juicy and flavorful, and takes less time than traditional baked chicken.
5 from 3 votes
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Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 50 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins
Course Chicken, Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings
Calories 269 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken 4 pounds or so, parts removed; there's usually a bag in the cavity
- 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and sliced into strips
- 6 sprigs about 2" long fresh rosemary
- ½ teaspoon Herbes de Provence
- 1 lemon sliced
Instructions
Heat the oven to 450°F.
Spread two tablespoons of oil long the baking sheet. Don't put too much oil or it will splatter all over your oven unless you line your pan with potatoes or vegetables.
Place the springs of rosemary and garlic slices in the middle so that they will be completely covered by the chicken when you place it on the pan.
Using a sharp knife or kitchen shears, cut the backbone out of the chicken, cutting down both sides of the backbone and removing it. (Save the backbone in a bag in the freezer to make broth in the future.)
Place the chicken, back side down, opened wide, on the baking sheet over the rosemary and garlic.
Press on the breast to flatten the chicken.
Drizzle the chicken with the a little olive oil.
Sprinkle salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence over the chicken.
Spread the sliced lemon around the chicken and on the pan.
Bake the chicken at 450°F for 40-50 minutes until nice and brown and the internal temperature reaches 185F degrees (breast) and when you poke it, the juices run clear.
Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.
Notes
I looked at a few videos on YouTube to see what temperature to roast the chicken and found it varies. Valerie Bertinelli (the actress) had the simplest method, and I modeled my recipe after hers. The extra time in the recipe is for letting the chicken rest (10 minutes).
IMPORTANT NOTE 2: If you put small, new potatoes sliced in half all around the pan surrounding the chicken, it won't splatter as much in your oven. I didn't do this the first two times I made this recipe, and I had to clean my oven both times!
Nutrition
Calories: 269kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 18gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 358mgPotassium: 190mgFiber: 0.2gSugar: 0.02gVitamin A: 172IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 17mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
More Chicken Recipes
- How To Spatchco*ck a Chicken
- Croatian Grilled Chicken
- Easy Chicken Marsala
- South Beach Balsamic Chicken
- Easy Fried Chicken
- Baked Chicken Breast With Stuffing
- Spicy Shredded Chicken
Easy Oven Roasted Spatchco*ck Chicken, just like Valerie Bertinelli's roast chicken. 1 hour, 10 min to superior chicken.
Lois Carter Crawford
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Lois Carter Crawford is an author, home chef, health advocate, and food coach who fought her way back from several debilitating health issues, including a moderate heart attack! She discovered that inflammation caused by the food she ate was the underlying cause of most of her health problems and developed a method and tools to help others research their food sensitivities.
