Mastering the Art of Roasting Chicken: Tips and Tricks

Discover how to roast the perfect chicken right in your own kitchen. We’ll share the essential tools, spices, and expert tips for cooking a whole chicken to perfection, including how to achieve the juiciest meat, crispiest skin, and the most mouthwatering flavor. Ready to dive in? Let’s go!

The Ultimate Guide to Roasting Chicken

Roast Chicken with Savory Skillet Stuffing

Kim’s Kitchen Adventures

In this guide to roasting chicken, we'll cover the essentials:

Which roasting tools to buy
How to brine a chicken for roasting
How to boost flavor with dry rubs and more
Whether or not to skin the chicken for roasting
How to truss a chicken for roasting
How long to roast a chicken, depending on size
How to roast the chicken in the oven and when to take it out

Keep reading to discover all the tips and tricks you need to roast a perfect chicken every time.

Essential Roasting Equipment

All you need is a roasting pan (or a rimmed baking sheet in a pinch) and an instant-read thermometer. While a roasting rack is optional, it helps the chicken cook more evenly by allowing air to circulate beneath it. Plus, the rack keeps the chicken from sitting in its own drippings, resulting in crispier skin. For easier cleanup, line the pan with aluminum foil.

Meredith

Another method is to spatchcock (or butterfly) your chicken, which involves removing the backbone and flattening it out before roasting on a flat rack in a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet. This technique allows the chicken to cook faster and more evenly, resulting in extra crispy skin. Learn how to spatchcock and achieve the juiciest chicken ever.

Brining Your Chicken (Optional)

Brining is a secret to truly flavorful and juicy roast chicken. You can either wet-brine by soaking the chicken in a saltwater solution or dry-brine by rubbing it with salt and optional seasonings. If your chicken is kosher, you’re in luck — it’s already been brined!

How to Wet-Brine a Non-Kosher Chicken:

Dissolve ½ cup kosher salt (or ¼ cup table salt) in two quarts of water. Immerse the chicken completely in the solution and place in the refrigerator.
You should let it soak for at least one hour, but no longer than five or six hours.
Pour off the brine, rinse the chicken under cold running water, and pat it dry with paper towels. For extra-crispy skin, return the bird to the refrigerator and let it air-dry for another hour, or overnight, before roasting.

How to Dry-Brine a Non-Kosher Chicken:

Measure 1 tablespoon kosher salt (not table salt) for every 5 pounds of chicken. You can add dry spices or lemon zest if you'd like, but it's the salt that will make the chicken juicy.
Sprinkle the salt inside and outside the chicken. At this point you can roast the chicken right away, or cover the chicken loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours or up to 3 days. If you refrigerate for 3 days, uncover the chicken during the last 8 hours so the skin can air dry. This creates the crispiest skin.
No need to rinse the bird, simply pat dry as needed and proceed with the recipe of your choice. Just remember the chicken drippings will be salty, so taste them before adding any more seasoning to the pan sauce or gravy.

If you’re not brining, simply pat the chicken dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture, helping the skin to crisp up. For more brining tips, check out How to Brine Turkey.

Roast Chicken Flavor Enhancers

A chicken seasoned with just salt, pepper, and butter is already delicious. But it’s easy to elevate those basic flavors. Try tucking fresh herbs and butter under the chicken’s skin or stuffing the cavity with herbs, quartered onions, and garlic cloves. For an added burst of fragrance, stuff wedges of citrus fruits like lemons or oranges into the cavity — as they roast, they’ll infuse the chicken and its juices with a burst of fresh flavor.

Close-up of a roast chicken with a lemon half in the cavity

Photo Courtesy of Baking Nana.

Dry Rubs for Roast Chicken

Many chefs use a dry rub — a mix of dried and ground spices — applying it under the chicken’s skin and inside the cavity. Since the rub is under the skin, it won’t burn and will instead infuse the meat with flavor. This is an excellent way to add spice, especially if you plan on removing the skin later.

For a Southwestern flavor, try chile powder or pureed fresh chiles, cumin, and sage.
For an Indian-inspired bird, mix together equal parts ground coriander and cumin, plus turmeric and a pinch or two of cardamom or garam masala.
To give the chicken a Thai flair, try a paste of ginger, lemon grass, green chilies, cilantro, and lime juice.

Explore Our Collection of Rub Recipes.

To Skin or Not to Skin?

Crispy, flavorful roast chicken skin is a treat, though it can be a bit fatty. Whether you choose to eat it or remove it, always roast the chicken with the skin on. It helps retain moisture and prevents the meat from drying out.

How to Truss a Chicken for Roasting

If you're roasting a whole chicken that hasn’t been spatchcocked (see above), you can truss it — tie the bird with butcher's twine to keep the legs close to the body. While this step isn’t necessary, it does make the chicken easier to handle and keeps stuffing in place if you’ve added it.

To truss a chicken, cut about a 3-foot length of heatproof butcher's twine.
Lay the chicken on a clean surface with the breast facing up.
Hold one end of the string in each hand, and loop the center of the string underneath the chicken's tail.
Catch the ends of the legs inside the string, then cross the string over the chicken's breast, making an X.
Loop the string under and around the wings, then tie the string snugly in a knot across the middle of the breast. Make sure that the ends of the wings are tucked in.

Trussing the Chicken | Photo by Meredith.

Roasting Techniques

There are two primary methods for roasting a whole chicken:

1. Standard-Heat Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Roast whole (thawed) chickens for 20 minutes per pound, plus an additional 15 minutes.

2. High-Heat Method (for crispier, darker skin):

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) and cook whole (thawed) chicken for 10-15 minutes.
Then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and roast for 20 minutes per pound. (Do not add the extra 15 minutes to the cooking time as with the regular method.)

VIDEO: Orange Herb Roasted Chicken

Here’s a roast chicken recipe using the standard-heat method.

How to Check if Your Roast Chicken Is Fully Cooked

No matter which roasting method you choose, your chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the inner thigh (close to, but not touching, the bone) reads at least 165°F (74°C).

The temperature of the meat will continue to rise slightly when you pull it out of the oven (this is called "carryover cooking"), so if the thermometer shows a few degrees below the target, give it a few minutes to rest — the internal temperature might still rise to at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
When you remove the chicken from the oven, cover it loosely with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. This redistributes the juices and results in moister chicken.

Checking the chicken’s doneness with a thermometer

Meredith

How Long to Roast a Chicken

Use the following chart to help determine the ideal roasting time for your chicken:

Roasting Time Guide

Weight (in lbs.)	Regular Method	High Heat Method
2.5 to 3	1 hour 15 minutes	1 hour
3 to 3.5	1 hour 25 minutes	1 hour 10 minutes
3.5 to 4	1 hour 35 minutes	1 hour 20 minutes
4 to 4.5	1 hour 45 minutes	1 hour 30 minutes
4.5 to 5	1 hour 55 minutes	1 hour 40 minutes
5 to 5.5	2 hours 5 minutes	1 hour 50 minutes
5.5 to 6	2 hours 15 minutes	2 hours
6 to 6.5	2 hours 25 minutes	2 hours 10 minutes
6.5 to 7	2 hours 35 minutes	2 hours 20 minutes
7 to 7.5	2 hours 45 minutes	2 hours 30 minutes

NOTE: These times are for unstuffed whole chickens (not spatchcocked). If you're roasting a stuffed chicken, add 15 minutes to the total cooking time. Be sure the stuffing also reaches an internal temperature of at least 165°F (74°C).

A spatchcocked chicken requires less time to roast. For example, a 3-pound spatchcocked chicken roasted at 400°F (200°C) will be ready in about 45 to 55 minutes. Try this recipe for Butterflied Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary.