---
title: "The Perfect Roast Chicken: Everything I Know"
created: 2024-05-05 10:00
author: Amelia Fontaine
keywords: roast chicken, dry brine, pan sauce, technique, Sunday roast
description: Dry brining, the trussing debate, temperature science, resting, and a glossy pan sauce — everything you need to roast the best chicken you've ever made.
---

# The Perfect Roast Chicken: Everything I Know

Roast chicken is the thing I cook most often when I want to impress without appearing to try. It arrives at the table deeply bronzed and crackling, the kitchen filled with the smell of caramelised skin and rendered fat, and there is very little effort involved once you understand a few things about what is actually happening in the oven.

The technique I use now is the result of about eight years of incremental adjustment. I will share everything.

## The Single Most Important Step: Dry Brining

Twenty-four to forty-eight hours before roasting, season the chicken generously all over — including inside the cavity — with fine sea salt. Use about 1 teaspoon per kilogram of bird. Pat dry with paper towel, then refrigerate uncovered.

What happens: the salt draws moisture to the surface through osmosis. The moisture then dissolves the salt, creating a concentrated brine. This brine is then reabsorbed into the meat via osmosis. Simultaneously, the exposed skin dries out in the fridge, which is exactly what you want.

The result is twofold: the meat is seasoned all the way through (not just on the surface), and the skin becomes dry enough to crisp dramatically in the oven.

Do not skip this step. More than any other single technique, this is what separates a good roast chicken from a great one.

## The Trussing Debate

Trussing — tying the legs together and tucking the wings — is traditional but, I now believe, counterproductive for even cooking. The legs take longer to cook than the breast. If you truss the bird tightly, you bring all parts into proximity and the breast overcooks while waiting for the dark meat to finish.

I leave the bird untrussed, legs loosely apart. The breast still finishes first, but I compensate by starting the chicken breast-side down for the first third of the cooking time, then flipping to finish breast-side up. The direct pan heat starts rendering the back fat; the eventual breast-up position crisps the skin.

## Temperature and Timing

I roast chickens at a single consistent temperature: 220°C (fan)/240°C (conventional), no lower. High heat renders fat quickly and drives the Maillard reaction on the skin. A lower temperature produces pale, soft skin even if the interior is correctly cooked.

**Timing**: approximately 20 minutes per 500g, plus 20 minutes resting. A 1.5kg bird takes about 80 minutes in the oven. But timing is a guide, not a rule.

**The test that matters**: an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh (not touching bone) should read 74°C. The juices, when the thigh is pierced, should run clear. If you see any pink, return it to the oven for 10 more minutes.

## Resting

Resting is not optional. After the chicken comes out of the oven, rest it uncovered (not tented with foil, which creates steam and softens the skin) for at least 20 minutes. During this time the internal temperature continues to rise slightly and the muscle fibres, contracted from heat, relax and allow the juices to redistribute. A chicken carved immediately after roasting loses significantly more juice than one that has rested.

While the chicken rests, make the pan sauce.

## Pan Sauce

Pour off most of the fat from the roasting tin, leaving the browned fond and about 2 tablespoons of fat. Place the tin directly over medium heat. Add a glass of white wine or vermouth and scrape vigorously — every browned bit is flavour. Add 200ml chicken stock. Reduce by half, stirring occasionally. Taste: it should be intensely savoury and slightly glossy. Swirl in a small knob of cold butter off the heat. Strain through a fine sieve, pushing gently on any solids.

This sauce takes 8 minutes and rewards the roast enormously.

## The Aromatics

Inside the cavity: half a lemon, a few garlic cloves (unpeeled, slightly crushed), some thyme. These aromatics perfume the inside of the bird gently as it cooks. They are not a recipe element — they are flavour infrastructure. On the roasting tin: roughly chopped onion, carrot, celery, which will contribute to the pan sauce and the flavour of the drippings.

## The Variations

**With tarragon butter**: Mix 80g softened butter with 2 tbsp tarragon, a clove of garlic, lemon zest, salt. Carefully loosen the breast skin with your fingers and push the butter underneath. The butter bastes the breast from the inside as it melts.

**Spatchcocked**: Remove the backbone with kitchen shears and flatten the bird. It cooks in about 45 minutes and the skin coverage is even and extraordinary. Excellent for weeknights.

**The next day**: Strip the carcass. Make stock. Use the stock to make the risotto from last month's post. This is not a meal plan — this is a system.
