Chicken
The Roast Chicken I Make Constantly
Salt it the night before. That is the whole trick and I am not hiding a second one.
Prep
15 min
Cook
1 hr 20 min
Serves
4, plus leftovers
Level
Easy
Ingredients
1.8kg — whole chicken
2 tbsp — flaky salt
1 — lemon, halved
1 head — garlic, halved across the middle
1 small bunch — thyme
40g — softened butter
700g — small potatoes, halved
There is nothing clever here. A bird, salt, time, heat. The difference between a good roast chicken and a forgettable one is entirely whether you salted it a day early.
I make this most Sundays and eat it in some form until Wednesday. The carcass becomes stock. Nothing is wasted, which makes me feel like a much more serious person than I am.
Method
The day before: pat the chicken completely dry and salt it all over, including inside. Leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight. The skin will look dry and papery, which is exactly right.
Take it out an hour before cooking. Heat the oven to 200°C.
Rub the softened butter over the breast and legs. Put the lemon, garlic and thyme in the cavity and tie the legs together.
Scatter the potatoes around the bird in the tin, turning them in whatever fat is there.
Roast for 1 hour 20 minutes, basting once at the halfway mark. The juices should run clear at the thigh.
Rest it for 20 full minutes before carving. This is not optional and I know you want to skip it.
A note
If the skin browns before the bird is cooked, tent it loosely with foil. If it is pale at the end, blast it at 240°C for five minutes.
Good to know
More About This Recipe
Nutrition
Calories
430 kcal
Protein
38g
Carbs
14g
Fat
24g
Tips & tricks
Salt it the night before, uncovered in the fridge. This is the entire difference between a good roast chicken and a forgettable one — don’t skip it for a same-day bird.
Bring it to room temperature for a full hour before it goes in the oven — a cold bird straight from the fridge cooks unevenly.
Rest it for the full twenty minutes before carving. Cutting in early sends all the juice onto the board instead of staying in the meat.
Substitutions
Whole chicken
A smaller or larger bird works with the same method — adjust the time by roughly ten minutes per 250g difference from 1.8kg.
Small potatoes
Larger potatoes, quartered, if that's what's on hand — just cut them roughly the same size so they cook evenly.
Pairs well with
Simple enough not to compete with a Sunday roast, and it clears the palate between bites.
Storage & leftovers
Keeps well — refrigerate in a sealed container for up to three days. Reheat in the oven or an air fryer to bring the skin back to something crisp; the microwave heats it through but leaves the skin soft. The carcass makes good stock if you're not ready to be done with it.
Questions people ask
Do I really need to salt it the night before?
How do I know it's done without a thermometer?
What do I do with the carcass?
Postcards from my kitchen
Made this one?
Tell me how it went, or what you did differently. The best changes to these recipes have come from readers.