Roasted Whole Chicken — Awesome Alternative to Turkey

Instead of serving turkey during holidays, at our house we serve roasted whole chicken. The size better suits our small family, and we still have plenty of leftovers for next-day sandwiches.

What type of chicken?

I have roasted both American Bresse and Cornish-Cross. Any breed that is fairly compact works well for roasting whole.

The bird’s weight should be about 4 pounds. The lightest chicken I have roasted weighed 2 pounds 13 ounces. The heaviest weighed 5 pounds even. The one that came out the juiciest was a Cornish-Cross weighing 4 pounds 13 ounces.

Note: For a chicken that weighs more than 4 pounds, increase the total cooking time by 10 minutes per extra pound. For a chicken that weighs less than 4 pounds, decrease the total cooking time by 5 minutes per missing pound. At the bottom is a table showing the weights and times for birds I have roasted in the past.

About the recipe.

The inspiration for this recipe comes from the book Artisan Farming by Richard Harris, who calls it the World’s Best — and I’m inclined to agree. It’s an easy recipe that takes about an hour in the oven, with a slight adjustment to the time for the size of the chicken.

The recipe also calls for oven temperature adjustments if the chicken doesn’t sizzle or if the skin blisters. I have never encountered either problem, so I just keep it at 475°F.

The chicken spits and spatters while it’s roasting. I therefore remove one oven rack so I don’t have to clean it. The hardest part of this recipe is wiping out the oven after the chicken is done.

Best Ever Roasted Whole Chicken (recipe)

1. Start with a whole chicken, with skin, weighing approximately 4 pounds.
2. Rinse the chicken inside and out, and dry well with paper towels.
3. Mix ¾ teaspoon sea salt + ¼ teaspoon pepper per pound of chicken.
4. Rub the chicken inside and out with the salt and pepper.
5. Cover chicken and refrigerate for now.
6. Place one rack in the middle of the oven and remove the second rack.
7. Preheat oven to 475°F and let it continue to heat for 20 minutes.
8. Place large cast iron skillet on cook top burner set to high (no oil).
9. When the skillet smokes, add the chicken, breast side up.
10. The chicken should immediately sizzle; move the skillet to oven.
11. If the chicken fails to sizzle within 10 minutes, increase oven by 25°F.
12. After 30 minutes, use tongs to turn the chicken breast side down.
13. If chicken has blistered, reduce heat by 25°F.
14. After 20 minutes, turn chicken breast side up.
15. Roast for 10 minutes more, to an internal temperature of 165°F.
16. Ready to serve!

Weight	Breast Up	Breast Down	Breast Up	Total
2 lbs 13 oz	25 min	20 min	10 min	55 min
3 lbs 0 oz	25 min	20 min	10 min	55 min
3 lbs 12 oz	30 min	20 min	10 min	60 min
4 lbs 0 oz	30 min	20 min	10 min	60 min
4 lb 15 oz	35 min	25 min	10 min	70 min
5 lbs 0 oz	35 min	25 min	10 min	70 min

Great side dishes.

We enjoy whole roasted chicken with homegrown sweet potatoes, whole cranberry sauce, and home pickled watermelon rind. For dressing, I use the same recipe I would use to stuff a whole roasted chicken, but instead I slow-cook it with lots of butter to keep it moist. For dessert, of course we always have traditional Lebkuchen.