(Winner, Winner) Roast Chicken Dinners
Is there anything more delicious than a perfectly-roasted chicken? We say: no. Here are 7 reasons why -- and 7 healthy, simple meals to boot. You'll be feeling like a winner in no time.
• Make it count: check out 3 ways to stretch your roasted chicken all week long.
• What to do with the leftover bones? Make this chicken broth.
• Browse recipes for winter side dishes to serve with your chicken.
• Got a question in the kitchen? The Food52 Hotline is here to help!
Roasted Butterflied Chicken with Cardamom and Yogurt by TasteFood
TasteFood turns the everyday roast chicken on its head, simply by bathing it in an intoxicatingly spiced yogurt marinade, butterflying it, and flattening it into a cast iron skillet to roast. If you only have 3 hours to marinate, that'll do, but in our experience, overnight is well worth the wait. Note that, depending on your oven, you might need to cover the chicken with foil for the last 15 minutes of cooking if it's getting too brown. - Amanda & Merrill
Serves 2-4
seeds from 6 cardamom pods
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 3-4 pound chicken, butterflied
Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
Grind cardamom seeds and peppercorns in a mortar with pestle to a fine powder. Add salt, coriander, cumin and garlic. and smash the garlic. Add the olive oil to form a paste. Stir in yogurt, ginger and lemon juice.
Place chicken in a large bowl or pan. Rub yogurt between skin and breasts and thighs. Then smear remaining yogurt over the outside of the chicken, front and back. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours. Remove chicken from refrigerator 30 minutes before roasting.
Preheat oven to 425 F. Place chicken breast-side up in a baking pan or cast iron pan. Bake in oven until thoroughly cooked, 45 minutes - 1 hour. Remove and let rest 15 minutes before carving. Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.
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Misoyaki Roast Chicken with Shoyu Onion Sauce
We've never tasted chicken quite like this. The red miso and mirin marinade permeates the bird inside and out, giving it an addictive sweet and savory laquered skin. The simple onion sauce, which consists of butter, onions and garlic, soy sauce, mirin, miso and more butter, is an extra bonus, perfect for drizzling over the tender meat. Do make sure to scrape off as much of the marinade as possible before you roast the chicken -- it will just blacken otherwise. - Amanda & Merrill
Spatchcocked and Braise-Roasted Chicken
At a dinner with some fellow food52ers in Boston, our conversation touched on chef Gordon Hammersley's technique of "braise-roasting" poultry -- where he submerges the meat in broth and leaves the skin exposed to the oven heat. I thought it was time to get in the kitchen to try the combo of spatchcocking and braise-roasting. As usual, rather than do any research, I winged it. Here are the results! - Amanda
Wishbone Roast Chicken with Herb Butter
This recipe with its unassuming 5 ingredients caught our eye for its use of simple techniques to achieve a flavorful bird with crisp skin. Monkeymom has thought a lot about roasting chicken: she has you tuck shallots and butter under the skin, season the bird and then let it rest in the fridge, uncovered, for 8 hours. The butter keeps the meat moist and the air-drying in the fridge ensures a crackly skin. The verticle positioning allows the fat to drip off the bird while it cooks, and we think it does a great job of helping to cook the bird evenly, as every part is equally exposed to the oven heat. - Amanda & Merrill
Lemon and Onion Roasted Chicken
When my dad and mom visited us last fall, he asked me to make him roast chicken like he used to make it. When we sat down to this meal, the look on his face was priceless, and I will always remember him saying, "I taught you well!" - Bevi
Late Night Coffee Brined Chicken
We nicknamed this recipe "Breakfast Chicken," since it includes all three arms of the morning triumvirate: coffee, orange juice and milk. Like pork braised in milk, gingerroot's roast chicken emerges from the pot tender and melting, and it has a beautiful burnished exterior wherever the skin hasn't been submerged in the liquid. - Amanda & Merrill
Roast Chicken with Mustard and Grapes
This recipe is living proof that keeping things simple often yields great results. By creating a pan sauce with a few carefully chosen ingredients, lastnightsdinner takes roast chicken and elevates it to elegance. We're pretty certain we could eat this every day. - Amanda & Merrill
