Servings:

This roast chicken recipe is a classic for a reason: It’s simple, succulent, comforting, and versatile, with golden-brown crackling skin and juicy, tender meat.

It’s often been said that the ultimate test of a chef (or a home cook) is their ability to make a perfect roast chicken—because simplicity is not always easy. There are many ways to make a delicious chicken ... and even more ways to make it not quite as good as it could be.

What about the endless debate over what is the ideal roast chicken oven temp: Low and slow? Fast and furious? Somewhere in between? It’s possible to achieve juicy, delicious results with a range of temperatures, but here’s how to make it our very favorite way: Martha Stewart’s roast chicken.

What is Trussing?

To truss or not to truss? This technique for using butcher’s twine to tie the legs together and tuck the wings in tight to the sides ensures that the chicken remains a tidy bundle with nothing sticking out to get burned before the rest of the bird is cooked. Some chefs swear by it; others think it’s unnecessary.

How to Safely Handle Raw Chicken

Rinsing raw chicken before cooking is the norm for many cooks, but the USDA and the Partnership for Food Safety Education have both determined that this process actually increases the risk of food-borne illnesses, as it spreads bacteria (mainly salmonella and campylobacter) around your sink and can easily infect your sponge and other items you use to wash dishes and wipe down counters. It’s safer to avoid cross-contamination by skipping the rinse and placing the raw chicken directly in a baking pan. The cooking process will kill any surface bacteria.

Tips for Making the Juiciest Roast Chicken

Unless you have lots of experience, it can be very difficult to judge just by looking if a roast chicken is done. If you’re relying only on your eyes, the chicken should be done if the joints move easily when you wiggle the leg and the juices run clear when you pierce the skin between leg and thigh.

Check for Doneness

However, the very best way to get a roast chicken just right is to measure the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer. It’s ready to come out of the oven when the temperature begins to climb past 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The residual heat will cause carryover cooking as the meat rests, bringing it to the perfect temperature of 165 degrees. Cooking chicken to the correct temperature is a matter of food safety, but it’s also a matter of tastiness: Overcooked chicken can be tough and dry.

Rest the Chicken

Before carving the chicken, it’s important to let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes so the juices at the surface can settle back into the meat instead of running out all over your cutting board!

Ingredients

1 6-pound roasting chicken
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced crosswise ½ inch thick
2 lemons
3 large cloves garlic, peeled
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup Homemade Chicken Stock, or canned low-sodium chicken broth, skimmed of fat

Directions

Roast Chicken ingredients — Grant Webster

Preheat oven and prepare chicken:

Let chicken and 1 tablespoon butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425°F. Remove and discard the plastic pop-up timer from chicken if there is one. Remove the giblets and excess fat from the chicken cavity. Dry chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Tuck the wing tips under the body. Sprinkle the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Grant Webster
Layer onions in roasting pan:
1. In the center of a heavy-duty roasting pan, place onion slices in two rows, touching.
Grant Webster
Prep lemon:

Place the palm of your hand on top of lemon and, pressing down, roll lemon back and forth several times. Pierce entire surface of lemon with a fork.

Pressing down on the lemon with your hand and rolling it softens the citrus and allows the juice to flow more freely.

Grant Webster
Crush garlic:

Using the side of a large knife, gently press on garlic cloves to open slightly.

Grant Webster
Add garlic, thyme, and lemon to chicken:

Insert garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and lemon into cavity.

Grant Webster
Place chicken in pan and tie legs:

Place chicken in pan, on onion slices. Cut about 18 inches of kitchen twine, bring chicken legs forward, cross them, and tie together.

Grant Webster
Rub chicken with butter and roast:

Spread the softened butter over entire surface of chicken, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place in the oven, and roast until skin is deep golden brown and crisp and the juices run clear when pierced, about 1 1/2 hours. When chicken seems done, insert an instant-read thermometer into the breast, then the thigh. The breast temperature should read 180°F and the thigh 190°F.

Grant Webster
Remove chicken and let rest:

Remove chicken from oven, and transfer to a cutting board with a well. Let chicken stand 10 to 15 minutes so the juices settle.

Grant Webster

Make Gravy

Collect pan drippings:

Meanwhile, pour the pan drippings into a shallow bowl or fat separator, and leave onions in the pan. Leave any brown baked-on bits in the bottom of the roasting pan, and remove and discard any blackened bits. Using a large spoon or fat separator, skim off and discard as much fat as possible.

Grant Webster
Pour drippings from cutting board into roasting pan:

Pour the remaining drippings and the juices that have collected under the resting chicken back into the roasting pan.

Grant Webster
Cook over medium-high heat:

Place pan on the stove over medium-high heat to cook, about 1 minute. Add chicken stock, raise heat to high, and, using a wooden spoon, stir up and combine the brown bits with the stock until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 minutes.

Grant Webster
Strain gravy:

Strain the gravy into a small bowl, pressing on onions to extract any liquid.

Grant Webster
Discard onions and add butter:

Discard onions, and stir in the remaining tablespoon of cold butter until melted and incorporated.

Grant Webster

Carve Chicken and Serve

Untie the legs, and remove and discard garlic, thyme, and lemon. Carve the chicken and serve the gravy on the side.

A sharp, thin knife is your best friend when it’s time to carve the chicken. For step-by-step instructions, see How to Carve a Whole Bird Like a Pro.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between roasting and baking a chicken?

Both roasting and baking involve cooking with dry, ambient heat, usually in an oven, but there is a difference between the two techniques, even if the definitions are sometimes a matter of debate. Roasting generally takes place at higher temperatures (400 degrees Fahrenheit and above) and has a goal of browning and caramelizing foods. Baking happens at lower temperatures and can be applied to a vast variety of foods.

Learn more about the differences between roasting and baking.

Do you need to cover a chicken when roasting?

If you want your chicken to be truly roasted with crisp, golden-brown skin, it needs to spend time in the oven uncovered. If you find that some parts of the skin are browning more rapidly than others, you can loosely tent the browner parts with foil to allow the rest of the skin to catch up.

How do you keep a chicken from drying out while roasting?

Paying close attention to oven temperature, cooking time, and internal temperature is the best way to keep your chicken moist and juicy—no extra brining or marinating necessary.

Do you put water in the pan when roasting a chicken?

It’s usually not necessary to add water to the pan for a roast chicken: the steam created by the water can prevent the skin from becoming browned and crisp. However, if you do notice during roasting that all of the drippings in the bottom of the pan have evaporated, a splash of water can prevent the pan from scorching and preserve the tasty drippings.