Busy Evening Roast Chicken

Quick and easy dinners are my jam. Unfortunately, they can sometimes start to taste the same. Something something pasta skillet, something in the crockpot, something soup, something pizza, etc. I love all of those things but I was getting a bit tired of having the same thing over and over.

What I was really craving was roast turkey but a roast chicken would do. Unfortunately, roast chicken takes a while and I never seem to be able to get it done on the first try. I am incessantly cutting the chicken apart and sticking it back into the oven to try to get it cooked through. I knew there HAD to be a better way.

Enter learning about spatchcocking. Yep. It’s a weird word. In fact, it makes my husband squirm more than a little bit. It isn’t a weird torture term (unless you are chicken), it’s a way of cooking chicken that is much faster than traditional roasting. Plus, it’s really simple. All you need is a good pair of heavy duty kitchen shears.

First thing you do is buy a whole chicken. Unwrap it and flip it breast side down. You are looking at the back of the chicken. Open your shears and insert the bottom blade into the cavity and cut up the backbone. Repeat on the other side of the backbone to remove it. Give the two halves a push to open them. Flip the chicken over and push firmly on the breast bone until it is flat and looks like my chicken above. If rinsing chicken is your thing, rinse it and dry it with paper towels. Place it cut side down in a lipped baking sheet that you’ve oiled lightly.

Then season your chicken as you normally would and add any roasting veggies that you desire. I used ~1/4 cup of butter with salt, pepper, chopped fresh sage, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary added. I separated the skin from the breast, thigh and leg meat and pushed the butter mixture under. I massaged it around until it was spread out. I spread about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil on the outside of the chicken and salted it.

Bake in a 425 degree convection oven or a 450 degree oven for 35 – 45 minutes or until the chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the breast and/or thigh.

It’s just that easy. All one pan plus a salad and dinner is DONE. I can’t wait to make it again!

Oh and I forgot to mention….the skin of the chicken gets amazingly crispy on the entire chicken not just the breast. It is delicious!