High Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

High Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

  • Prep Time: 45 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
  • Serves: 2-4,Yield: 1.0chicken

    • About This Recipe

    “Perfect Chicken Every Time – a terrific presentation for very small effort. Very economical as well.From Cooks Illustrated.”

    Ingredients

  • 1cup kosher salt or 1/2 cuptable salt( for brine)
  • 1/2 cupsugar
  • 1wholechicken( 3 1/2 to 4 pounds)
  • 3tablespoonsgarlic butter, for, placing, under, skin, optional
  • 2 1/2 lbsrusset potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick( 4 to 5 medium)
  • vegetable oil cooking spray
  • 1 1/2 tablespoonsolive oil
  • 3/4 teaspoonsalt( for potatoes)
  • black pepper

    • Directions

  • Dissolve salt and sugar in 2 quarts cold water in large container.
  • Immerse chicken and refrigerate until fully seasoned, minimum 1 hour, maximum 4 hours.
  • If you’re planning on cooking immediately adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees.
  • Line bottom of broiler pan with aluminum foil and spray with spray.
  • Remove chicken from brine, rinse with water.
  • Butterfly chicken, flatten breastbone and smeer on flavored butter.
  • Place chicken on the top of the broiler pan.
  • For the crispest skin the bird should be placed, uncovered in the fridge for 8 hrs or overnight, Toss potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper in medium bowl.
  • Spread potatoes in even layer in foil-lined broiler pan bottom.
  • Place broiler pan rack with chicken on top.
  • Rub chicken with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil and sprinkle with pepper.
  • Roast chicken until spotty brown, about 20 minutes.
  • Rotate pan and continue to roast until skin has crisped and turned deep brown– 20-25 minutes longer.
  • A thermometer should registers 160 degrees in thickest part of breast Transfer chicken to cutting board and tent with foil.
  • Remove HOT broiler pan rack; soak up excess grease from potatoes with paper towels.
  • Carefully peel back foil, using a metal spatula to help scrape potatoes off foil as needed.
  • With additional paper towels, pat off remaining grease.
  • Cut chicken into serving pieces and serve with potatoes.

    • Reviews

  • “Steve, this is the only way to go -The brine is great! ~keeps the chicken really moist. My hubby used brown sugar instead of white.”

  • “Steve this was such a neat recipe in that you bake the chicken and potatoes separately but in the same pan – easy cleanup.The chicken was moist and flavorful (garlic) as were the potatoes which my family devoured.I like that this recipe calls for you to butterfly the chicken rather than baking the bird intact – makes for a nice presentation.Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!”

  • “Oh this is so very nice. Absolutely wonderful smells came from my kitchen this weekend when I made this bird. The brine keeps the chicken so moist and tender and the garlic & butter drippings on the potatoes added excellent flavor. I loved the presentation of this dish and added fresh green beans and crusty rolls on the side. Thanks so much! Loved this one Steve!”

  • “Steve, this was fantastic.My husband and I really enjoyed the flavours.The potatos were perfect, crispy, and flavourful.And you’ve taught me a new and quicker way to prepare a whole chicken.I will definately make this one again.”

  • “Very good, I especially loved the potatoes done this way. I added some chopped carrots too. It would be good with chunks of onion as well. The chicken seemed perfect, done in a 450 oven , I was afraid to put mine on 500. DH wasn’t home until it had cooled down so I reheated it in a 350 oven uncovered after breaking it into pieces. This really dried the chicken. So serve this immediately or find a way to keep the chicken moist while re-heating. I had also drained the pan and made a sauce from the drippings with rice flour, Helmans olive oil mayonnaise (soy free) and water which was nice. Therefore there were no juices in the pan upon re-heating either. The chicken was soaked for 1 1/2 hours. I used olive oil and crushed garlic in replacement of the garlic butter and I did not leave the chicken in the fridge after removing it from soaking but dried it off. It crisped a bit but not as much as I would have liked. (Did not try cornstarch to crisp it because of allergy) I had no problem with the potatoes being too greasy because I cut off much of the extra skin. I served it with a salad on the side. Would try this recipe again for sure.”

  • “Terrific chicken Steve!!! Wanted to try a different way to roast my bird..and since you’ve talk so highly of this method..had to give it a try.I’m glad that I did!”

  • “Steve, you must develop recipes for “Cook’s Illustrated” magazine. ;)”

  • “Oh my goodness! YUM YUM YUM! Lovely crispy skin! Moist tender chicken! Best potatoes I have ever eaten! Had the inlaws over for dinner and only had half a days notice, but all the ingredients were on hand and I whipped it up no problems. Used fresh minced garlic for the butter and probably doubled the quantity but I had no problems in using it all, stuffed it under the skin as well as on top resulting in a very tasty dish.Also added some oregano to the potatoes. I too will continue to brine my chicken…made a real difference to the taste.MIL finally admitted that I was capable of feeding her precious son and went back for seconds! Unheard of!! Thanks for this recipe!”

  • “This is the best roasted chicken I’ve ever tasted ! It’s so easy to make too. Plus cleanup is a breeze. This recipe is a keeper.”

  • “This chicken is wonderfully moist. I made it exactly as posted, but next time I’ll add some herbs to it (rosemary, thyme). My skin was nice and crisp! The potatoes were wonderful, but I did add extra garlic to the potatoes. I will definitely use this method in the future to cook my veggies with my roasted poultry. A bonus with this recipe is that I learned how to butterfly a chicken! Easy to do, and now I’ll do it for the grill! Buying my chicken on sale brought the chicken and potatoes in under $6.00 for 4…very economical for me, even adding in the cost of a side and dessert!Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe!”

  • “This is the best roasted chicken and potatoes I have ever made!! Thank you so much for this recipe. I will never roast a chicken any other way.”

  • “What a family pleaser! We live in the tropics and I don’t like to use the large oven so usually try to find ways to cook on the stove top or use the toaster oven. Here is what I did: I soaked the bird in brine 1/2 the day.Once butterfly cut, I then split the bird in 1/2 and roasted it in the toaster oven directly on the rack with the potatoes in the roasting pan below. My oven only goes up to 450 but since it’s smaller, it took about the same amount of time to cook through. I also threw in a carrot with the potatoes.Yummm all the way around!”

  • “Here is another 5 star review…This recipe is AMAZING!! My DH (who hates chicken) loved this recipe and was licking his fingers!! I had the chicken in the brine for about 1 1/2 hours, and it was a moist bird!! I also tossed the potatoes with some fresh rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper which made the house smell DIVINE with the garlic in the butter!! What a great presentation, and easy to carve, I thought. Thank you for a wonderful chicken recipe that my DH will eat!!!”

  • “This is very easily the BEST chicken I have EVER cooked! It took a little time and effort but was soooo worth it. I added 3 cloves of minced garlic to the potatoes when I tossed the in the oil and they were absolutely divine. My husband and I ate until we were miserable and then fought over the leftovers the next day! The potatoes themselves are worth trying this recipe. Five stars, all the way!”

  • “I have made this recipe twice now, it’s a big hit with the family.I have done it both times with bone in skin on chicken breasts and adjusted the time accordingly.I also cheat and just put it in a 13×9 baking dish layering the breasts directly on top of the potatoes.This is an easy and tasty meal!”

  • “Perfect!Only thing I did different was toss some garlic in with the potatoes.”

  • “This was by far, the tastiest roast chicken I’ve ever made! I’ve done butterflied chicken before but the garlic butter under the skin, not to mention the brining, made the difference in the moistness of the meat.And the potatoes, what can I say but DIVINE! Afreind stopped by while we were eating and there was a fight over them.I made extra the next time I made it and they were even great cold the next day. “

  • “Who could not love this delicious chicken??? :)It was the best I have ever had!It sounds like alot of work- but it is worth it! Thanks so much for sharing!”

  • “LOVELY, LOVELY! This is the 3rd grilled chicken recipe that I tried from recipezaar. When I wanted to make grill chicken again, my hubby requested for a repeat of this (thumbs up!). I used molasses instead of sugar and I pressed some, ok lots of garlic to mix with butter with extra portion. While the grill is still hot after the chicken is out, I toasted some bread and spread the extra portion of garlic butter. Mmmmm…. The potatoes were very good too. I threw in some sliced carrots in with the potatoes and in the last 15 minutes, added some onion wedges as well. Thank you for posting this!”

  • “This was terrfic in every respect.It was quick and easy to put together, tasted fantastic and cleanup was a breeze.Dh said THREE times (as he went back for more) how great it tasted and I agree.As we were cleaning up he asked why it was sooo moist.I LOVE the taste of the roasted potatoes cooked this way.I used the recipe to roast a 1/2 turkey, something the local grocer occasionally makes available.It was 8.78 pounds, brined for 4 hours, roasted for 40 minutes, turned, and roasted another 40 minutes.What a great technique!!”

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