Classic Roast Chicken

Dinner | British

Prep time: 20 min Cook time: 1 min Servings: 4

Everyone should learn how to make a great roast chicken. You can cook it up for Sunday lunch, dinner with mates or impress the family at Christmas. There are a few important steps that turn a decent roast into a great one: preparing the bird, building a compound butter, pushing it under the skin, trussing the legs and pulling it out of the oven at the right temperature. Get those right and you’ve got crispy golden skin, juicy breast meat and a chicken that looks as good on the table as it tastes on the plate.

Roast Chicken Explained

The compound butter

This is where the flavour comes from, both inside the meat and on the skin. We're going to mix soft unsalted butter with lemon zest, grated garlic, picked thyme leaves, a pinch of salt and freshly ground white pepper. Black pepper is fine if that’s what you have. I always use unsalted butter as you can add salt but you can’t take it out, so i would rather manage the salt levels myself. Half the butter goes under the skin to baste the breast as it melts, and the rest goes on top of the bird at the end of trussing to crisp the skin.

Prepping the bird

First we take the wishbone out. It’s a small Y-shaped bone running from the neck up to the top of the breast and pulling it makes carving so much easier later on. Feel for it at the neck end, scrape down each side with a paring knife to expose it, then hook your finger under the top and pull it out in one piece. Then, season the inside of the cavity with salt, drop the halved lemon and any leftover thyme inside, and season the underside of the bird with salt and a little bit of butter.

Next, gently lift the skin away from the breast meat by working your fingers under it from the cavity end so you have two clear pockets above the breasts. Push a quarter of the compound butter into each side, then massage the skin from the outside to spread it evenly across the breasts. Finally, rub the remaining butter on the outside of your chicken.

Trussing

Trussing pulls the bird into a compact shape so it cooks evenly and looks like a proper roast on the table. Take about a metre of butcher’s twine and slip the middle under the wings on the back of the bird. Pull both ends up over the body and cross them over the top of the legs, then loop around the leg knuckles, criss-cross again, and pull everything tight so the knuckles cross over each other. Loop around the knuckles once more and tie it off. Rub the remaining compound butter over the outside of the bird and season generously with salt and pepper.

Cooking and resting

Roast at 200°C in a fan-forced oven, or 210°C without a fan. A small bird (around 1.5kg) takes 45 to 50 minutes, a larger one (around 2kg) closer to 1 hour 10. The target is 62°C in the thickest part of the leg, which is the slowest part to cook. Pull the chicken out and rest for 15 minutes. Carryover cooking takes the internal temperature over 70°C and the rest gives the juices time to redistribute through the meat instead of running out the second you start carving.

Ingredient Notes

Chicken: Go for a free-range or organic bird if you can. They have better flavour, better texture and a bit more fat that helps the skin crisp up. Aim for around 1.5 to 1.8kg for a 4-person roast.

Butter: Always unsalted. You’re seasoning the bird heavily on the outside, and salted butter compounds that fast. Soft, room temperature butter is essential for mixing with the other ingredients and pushing under the skin without tearing it.

Thyme: Fresh thyme only. Pick the leaves off the stems by running your fingers down the stem from top to bottom, then chop the leaves roughly. Dried thyme will go bitter and stalky in a compound butter.

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Paring knife
Microplane or fine grater
Mixing bowl
Butcher’s twine
Roasting tray with rack
Meat thermometer

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
150g (5.3 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lemon
3 cloves garlic
salt and freshly ground white pepper (or black pepper)
small bunch thyme, picked and chopped

Directions

Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F), or 210°C (410°F) if your oven doesn’t have a fan.
In a bowl, mix the room temperature butter with the lemon zest, freshly grated garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper, and the chopped thyme. Set aside.
Optional: Remove the wishbone from the front of the chicken by carefully scraping down each side of the bone, then using your index finger and thumb to pull it out, trying to keep it whole.
Cut the lemon in half and place both halves inside the chicken cavity along with some salt and any leftover thyme. Season the underside of the chicken with salt and a little bit of the butter.
Using your fingers, gently lift the skin from the chicken breasts, working your way to the top. Spread the butter mixture evenly under the skin, covering the breasts.
Truss the chicken. Then, rub the rest of the butter all over it and season with some salt.
Place the chicken in the oven to roast. Begin checking the temperature after 40 minutes. A small bird will take about 45-50 minutes, while a larger chicken may take 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. You're aiming for an internal temperature of at least 62°C (145°F) in the thickest part of the leg. Resting the chicken will allow the temperature to rise above 70°C (160°F) due to carryover cooking.
Once cooked, let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving. Enjoy!

Recipe notes

Chef Tips

Bring the bird to room temperature first

Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before roasting. A room-temperature bird cooks more evenly than a cold one straight from the fridge, the breast won’t overcook before the legs are done. Leave it on the bench, uncovered, while the oven preheats, and pat the skin dry with paper towel before the butter goes on.

Use a meat thermometer

Roasting times are a guide, but every chicken and every oven is different. A meat thermometer in the thickest part of the leg (not touching the bone) is the only way to know for sure. Minimum 62°C is your target out of the oven, over 70°C after the rest.

Don’t skip the rest

Resting for 15 minutes is what makes the difference between juicy and dry. Carryover cooking finishes the leg meat, and the juices that were pushed to the surface during roasting have time to redistribute. Carve a chicken straight out of the oven and you’ll lose half the juices to the board.

Make a pan sauce with the resting juices

When the bird is done resting, stand it up over the tray so the juices in the cavity drain out. Don’t throw them away. Combine them with the pan drippings, then deglaze the tray (or add to a pan) with some shallots, stock and some butter. You can also add in some sherry vinegar for acid and thyme or rosemary, and you’ve got a 30 second pan sauce that’ll beat any gravy from a packet. Watch my youtube video about making a pan sauce.

Storage

Pull the meat off the carcass once it’s cool enough to handle. Store the meat in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The carcass is good for stock, throw it in a pot with an onion, carrot, celery stalk and a few peppercorns, cover with water and simmer for 2 hours for a homemade chicken stock that’ll outclass anything in a carton.

FAQs

Do I need to brine the chicken first? Not for this recipe. A good quality bird with butter under the skin and the right cook temperature will give you juicy meat without brining. If you want to brine for extra insurance, a dry brine works best: rub the bird inside and out with salt and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight, then roast as normal.

What if my oven doesn’t have a fan-forced setting? Roast at 210°C without a fan and check the temperature 5 minutes later than the recipe suggests. Fan-forced ovens circulate heat more efficiently, so without it you need a slightly higher temperature for the same result.

Can I roast vegetables in the same tray? Yes, and you should. Halve potatoes, carrots and onions, toss them in olive oil and salt, and scatter around the chicken in the tray. They’ll roast in the chicken fat and pick up all the flavour from the bird as it cooks. Add them about 20 minutes after the chicken goes in so they don’t overcook.