Chef John's Salt Roasted Chicken

Changed nothing about the ingredients, just tweaked the method of cooking (I have roasted many a fowl in my career). I preheated my cast iron skillet so that when i laid the chicken in it, the bottom/thighs got a nice sear (keeps the dark meat cooking at same rate as white). Then, after about 30 minutes on the high heat, i shut the oven all the way off and let the chicken sit in the cooling oven for another 20 minutes. This lets it continue to cook, but will taper off and seal the juices in. Just don't open the door! This chicken turned out so beautiful golden brown, crispy outside, super moist and tender inside. Thank you chef, for the courage to use so much salt! :))

My husband thought it was excellent. He said: ..."perhaps the best chicken I ever had!". I had followed your recipe without any change. Thank you Chef John.

the chicken came out fantastic. People, please don't rate the recipes based on using the wrong ingredients.

My family has always loved roast chicken, so I have made it for years. This recipe is the best I have ever made. The chicken was very juicy, and so tender. I even made the sauce, and could not believe how good it was and how incredibly simple it was to make. I was out of lemons so I substituted white wine vinegar and it was terrific! Chef John, another winner. Thanks for the video, it helps.

Okay, it's starting to be that I only want to make Chef John's recipes! This one is (as always) incredible. Who knew that roasting a chicken at 450 degrees for an hour would make the moistest chicken imaginable?! The only slight change I would make (not for me, but for my husband) is to maybe cut the lemon juice in half. I personally loved it, but he thought it was a little too "lemony".

In response to those complaining about being too salty - I think the secret is the last sentence in instruction line 3: "Wipe excess salt out of skillet with paper towels." If ALL salt is wiped off skillet, there shouldn't be a problem.

I made this with an organic whole chicken and my picky family raved over it! Juicy, crispy crust and not a salty taste. Be sure to brush excess salt off the bird before cutting and plating, so it doesn't get into the rest of your meal.

We really enjoyed this chicken! I love making whole chickens and do so at least twice a month. This recipe was a nice change up from my usual rosemary and garlic roasted bird. It did turn out rather salty, and I used coarse ground kosher salt - but it wasn't inedible salty. (and of course, I expected it to be salty!) I prepared this in my infrared oven which I believe helped the skin to crisp very nicely. The whole thing was a beautiful, uniform golden color. My husband, teenage daughter and I loved the sauce, but my young children didn't care for the lemon flavor of it, so next time I will try making it with white wine in place of the lemon juice. This recipe is a keeper that I will make again and again.

the chicken was magnificent. but for some reason, my sauce turned out way too salty. I'm wondering if I didn't blot out enough oil from the pan. will try again.

well, I really mucked this recipe...I used sea salt instead of Kosher--didn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it did. The chicken came out greasy and way to salty tasting, and the jus is inedible. Sorry Chef-will try again using kosher next time! I don't think it is proper to give this recipe a rating until I follow it exactly so I will give it a 3 for now.

I know its extremely unusual on this site to follow the directions and ingredients but brace yourself that's just what I did. The chicken is moist and very tasty and the sauce is really outstanding. The skin didn't get a true golden brown so the next time I make this I will cook it as directed and for about the last 5 minutes I will turn the oven to broil just to finish off the outside, but that's just for my preference. Thank you for the recipe!

Delicious!,, And so easy! I followed it exactly and my husband and I both devoured it ! It was the juiciest chicken that I have ever tried and the easiest. The sauce was a perfect addition. Thanks Chef John!

By far the best roast chicken I have ever made! Chef John you are the best. I rarely rate a recipe because I often make changes to suit my taste and it is TOTALLY unfair to do so unless you rate it after following the recipe EXACTLY as written. Kosher salt and wiping out excess salt is a must! Not doing so will cause your bird and sauce to be overly salty. Please follow the recipe to a T.

Yup! Another home run, Chef John! Getting a roasted chicken that's moist and juicy in less than an hour??? My go to chicken recipe for sure now! And I roast the breast side down. It does seem to make for white meat that's more moist. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Who'd have thought? Chef Genius!

This was amazing! The chicken was so moist. The gravy, however, didn't work for us. I took the 'salt generously' to heart and the pan drippings were way too salty. It had a great taste under all the salt so we'll try making the gravy again.

Perfect chicken! As easy as it can get and end result is just as promised, perfect. Not too crazy about the sauce because the chicken is that good and the sauce really isn't. Sorry. Doesn't need a sauce.

Tried the recipe today and we loved it. I didn't have any Thyme, so I left it out and it made no difference as far as I was concerned. To decrease some of the sodium, I used Salt Sense salt which has 33% less sodium; I only used it for the inside of the bird and used the Kosher salt to coat the outside. Worked just fine with no over salty taste. Most definitely be sure to wipe all of the loose salt out of the bottom of the pan (I used a cast iron skillet). We both loved the sauce. Just the right amount of kick for the chicken which was excellent. I don't like the breast meat because it's usually dry but this was sooooo good and moist. As someone who already posted said this is good enough for special dinners and I will most definitely have it for company and for dinner for two. Thanks for the easy, tasty chicken recipe. I've never been disappointed with any of the recipes you have shared Chef John. ***** Ryleesmom

I haven't tried this recipe yet but I just wanted to say that I find it so completely annoying and arrogant when people make all kinds of substitutions or don't follow the recipe as stated and then critize the heck out of it when it doesn't taste good! Hey people..how about trying it as is or if you do change it and it comes out bad, then don't leave any comments at all! Nothing wrong with tweaking or making substitutions if you don't like an ingredient etc., If it comes out good then by all means share! Just don't think it's fair to give low ratings when you've changed the original recipe!

Roast chicken is my Sunday dinner-type comfort food. This is especially easy and turns out "elegant" with the thyme gravy. I think what makes it so juicy is that the salt makes the skin like a seal - it locks the juices in while it roasts, and leaves the skin perfectly crispy. The beauty is that you can make any gravy or side dish to go with this chicken; its only spice is salt, which goes well with everything! :D Score!

I've made lots of roasted chicken but this was by far the best and easiest. My family raved about it! The chicken was great but the sauce took it up to an amazing level of flavor. I wish all recipes were this easy and wonderful.

We loved this! Made it exactly as described. Now I did have a fresh, locally grown young chicken that was cage free. It was perfect, as promised, moist and with perhaps the best crispy skin ever. Lovely to look at as it came out of the oven. And the chicken was not too salty. However, as some others describe, the sauce was too salty and I had to fool around with it some to balance the flavor. The basic flavor of the sauce was terrific, loved the lemon and the thyme (had some fresh in the garden, which always helps). Next time (and there will be a next time!) I will be extra careful in getting the excess salt out of the skillet. We love roast chicken and I make it a lot, have some excellent recipes (butterflied and cooked over thinly sliced potatoes in a 500 degree oven is wonderful), but this one is great and the easiest ever.

Oh my... This is the best chicken I've ever had! I may never even buy chicken pieces again!

Moist, was the first thing I thought of for the white meat, very, very moist. Just salt and it tastes this good, can that be? It sure was. The sauce yummy!

I do my Thanksgiving turkey this way and it always comes out tender and juicy. The real secret to this method is to rinse the kosher salt off under running water before adding additional seasoning and baking. Fall off the bone juicy and tender.

Ridiculously easy and the sauce is the bomb. Made it exactly as stated and wouldn't change a thing.

We love this recipe. So easy and so delicious!!!! Gravy also is remarkably tasty!!!! Thank-you Chef John for another great recipe!!!!

I too salted the chicken in one pan and then transferred to another pan to cook. Not too salty that way. I baked the chicken until the cooking thermometer read 160 degrees F when inserted into the chicken breast.

Who knew that I could make chicken taste this good with so few ingredients and just a little bit of effort? Chef John you are amazing! Thank you.

I make a whole roasted chicken about twice a month, if not more. This is the best we've had! My husband requested to have this once a week, he loved it that much. This would be great for entertaining - easy and delicious.

This was awesome! The chicken was so tender and juicy. I used a 5 + lb. oven stuffer roaster and it was done in an hour which really surprised me. Will be making this again. Thank you!

I thought the sauce had too much lemon. The chicken alone was excellent.

This is now my go to method for roasting chicken. Beautiful skin, tender and moist meat. Husband's not fond of sauces, but the chicken is still delicious without the sauce. Coarse ground Kosher salt is a must!

Wonderful recipe. Incredibly juicy chicken! Has anyone found Chef John's recipe for his Roasted Red Pepper and Trout Bean Ragout? I'd love to try that too!

This recipe is fantastic...my boys and I loved how juicy the chicken was and I used four skinless boneless pieces of chicken...sauce was wonderful too....Thanks Chef John ....another great recipe!!

The best roast chicken I've ever made. Sometimes simplicity is a beautiful thing. Thank you, Chef John, one more time; your recipes are seemingly always spot-on!

This was awesome! Very pleased, however I usually just cook for myself and a whole chicken is more than I want to have around for seveeral days. I refrigerated the leftovers but they were not very appetizing the next day. I made creamed chicken and it was delicious. Wondering if I can use the same method on chicken quarters? What do you think, should I alter the heat? Should I put them on a rack? I'd appreciate any suggestions or encouragement. Bought some quarters today in anticipation.

Home run! This was awesome! I can get chicken to fall of the bone, no problem. But it is never moist. This was moist and delicious! The sauce was phenomenal! Sunday night dinner was a huge success! Thanks for sharing this recipe.

I thought it would take my 6 lb. bird longer, so I set the timer for 60 minutes. It was in the high 180s at that point. I thought I had ruined it. But it was beautifully cooked, not over cooked and definitely not raw. I used the correct salt but salted the chicken before placing it in the pan to avoid the extra salt problem. The chicken was the most tender and juicy we ever made but it was way too salty. I would try this method again using far less salt.

We just finished supper and I must say, this is the moistest chicken I have ever cooked. It is a terrific recipe.

Not my favorite rosted chicken recipe. It cooked quickly and was very moist, but didn't care for the sauce very much

My husband and kids think I am a goddess chef now, served it on a summer white bean ragout. Absolutely delicious!

I was anxious to try this dish and decided to count on Chef John for his expertise to cook, so I cooked this amazing recipe for my son's last home cooked meal before he leaves for college in the morning. It was a success!! What an amazing recipe and I ALWAYS add my own twist t a recipe but I actually stuck to this one--did increase the amount of sauce though because we love sauce and I am glad I did because it's simplicity was superb! Served it with roasted asparagus, mashed cauliflower and sliced homegrown tomatoes!! This will be a favorite in my recipe box for sure!

I'm glad I read the reviews before trying this recipe. I have a big container of sea salt and thought I could use it, but now I see that I would have made a huge mistake. We love baked chicken and this sounds so good, so off to the store to buy the correct kind of salt and a chicken.

This was perfect! Moist and delicious. I only used the salt and didn't make the sauce but will another time. My husband loved this.

The chicken was deliciously moist, as promised, but I did find the gravy too salty, although I followed instructions and ingredients precisely (I watched the video, too). More importantly, the hot oven meant that the chicken spat all over as it cooked, and the air was a bit smoky. The oven now needs to be cleaned before I use it again. Overall, The tastiness of the chicken wasn't so unique that I would make a mess of my oven again for it.

I've made this 3 times in the last month or two, so obviously I like it. Not sure why Chef John says to season with salt at the end. No way! The sauce is too salty already. Last time I made it, I didn't salt the pan-side of the body and did the salting before putting the chicken in the pan. This kept the salt in the sauce to a barely acceptable level. The chicken was still wonderfully moist. This is a recipe I'll use indefinitely, but not always with the sauce.

I wasn't too sure that I wanted to make this dish, first of all I am not a fan of the breast meat,no matter who does the cooking. It is always too dry for me, so I don't cook whole birds, just the dark meat. I decided to give this a try, because I like a lot of Chef John's recipes. I have no idea if I used 3 TBS of salt or not, just eyeballed it. The chicken was outstanding!! The first piece I tried was the breast meat and it was amazing! The chicken was NOT salty at all, just juicy. I did not bother with the sauce, because I am not a sauce person, I personally don't think it is needed, but that's just me. I think for the people tha said the chicken was too salty maybe you should measure out the salt first. Like I stated earlier I did not measure the salt, so I have no idea if I under seasoned the bird,but the bird was delicious, it had great flavor and color and the skin was crispy. This is going in my recipe box for sure!!

I had problems with the high heat causing the chicken to spatter all over the oven causing it to become very smoky. I used a temp probe that registered 160... Let it rest as stated... Underdone!!! I ended up putting it back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes at 350.

I didn't change a thing , I followed it as it was written! We loved it , it was excellent& not salty at all. After reading the reviews , I decided to stick to the recipe & I'm glad I did! After all john is the chef here, & I want to thank him for the great roasted chicken we had for dinner!!! I made sure all the salt was rubbed off, & it was not salty at all!! I always try to follow recipe as written the first time, too many people make changes, then they complain that something went wrong!!! Anyway , KUDOS TO YOU CHEF JOHN, great roasted chicken, & will make it again !!!

I thought it was too salty, Scot liked it.

The recipe was way too salty. The sauce was inedible due to salt even after I wiped the pan of all excess salt. The underlying flavor of the sauce was good. The chicken tasted good but no better than with normal convection cooking. I will try again with only 1 tsp of salt on the top only and a little in the cavity. The real bonus of this recipe was the high heat used to cook the chicken. I was able to cook a pan full of delicious roasted vegetables that were cooked perfectly after the chicken was cooked for 60 minutes and rested for 10 minutes.

I gave it 5 stars for the taste and moistness of the chicken. My hubby even commented on how the breast meat turned out. I did use about 1 Tablespoon of salt; then after the chicken was done cooking, I rested it on a cutting board, knocking off any loose salt. I also did NOT add additional salt to the butter sauce nor any cayenne (personal preference). One note: it made a mess in my oven. Since the temperature is so high, it splattered chicken fat/grease all over. I think maybe loosely tenting the chicken until maybe the last 15 minutes, then take off the foil to finish browning good?

I made gravy for mashed potatoes with the drippings. I thought it was too salty but my daughter liked it

Moist meat and easy to make. I was real careful with the salt, wiped all of it away from pan and even brushed it from the chicken after baking. 3 Tbl spoons of kosher salt was way too much in my opinion. I use kosher salt for most everything. I didn't use the whole 3 tbl sp and the sauce was still too salty. Good flavor on the sauce, hence the salty taste. I am going to use this sauce with my old stand by roasted chicken.

I made with a chicken my grandparents raised and the only thing I didn't quite do the same was the amount of salt. I used 2 instead of 3 tablespoons. Chicken turned out great, the sauce was totally awesome and everyone loved it. Thanks chef John for your great recipe!

Simple and delicious, my family loved this. The chicken browned nicely and the skin was crispy, meat juicy,will make again. This is a new family favorite.

I wanted so much for this to work! I read the rave reviews and watched the video - followed the directions to a T: wiped the excess salt out of the pan, roasted for 55 min. till the thermometer read 160, let it rest. It looked gorgeous on the platter! My husband cut into it while I stirred the sauce - and it was practically raw inside! He put the cut up pieces back in the oven. I tasted the sauce - it was inedible, so salty! Once the chicken cooked fully, it wasn't as moist as I'd hoped but still not too bad. I poured out half the sauce and started again with more unsalted broth and made a gravy that was less salty but probably less flavorful. What went wrong??? My chicken may have been too large - I didn't really check. I probably should have cooked it longer. Has anyone done this successfully with a larger chicken? I used a glass pan - would this affect the result? I really want to make this work next time I try it!

Made this tonight and it was fantastic. The chicken was moist and juicy and I did not find it salty. I almost didn't make the sauce which would have been a huge mistake. It was wonderful. I made it using 1/2 lemon juiced and a little white wine and it was perfect. Another hit for Chef John!

I found this recipe too salty. I made gravy which was very salty. Very moist but a little tough as it cooks very quickly.

I'm so thankful for good food like this - it keeps it so interesting and keeps me cooking. This recipe is so easy. I used only 2 T. kosher salt and that was plenty for me. Salt was not needed for the sauce; it was salty enough from the chicken. The meat was juicy and slightly salty, which I love salt, and the skin was crispy and very salty. I couldn't resist the skin either. The tangy sauce over the meat was so delicious with a pungent lemony thyme taste. On second try with this recipe I changed it to 4 stars because of instructions to bake chicken in a skillet. The first time I tried recipe I used a rack for the chicken and it was perfect then I tried to do it in my heavy iron skillet and while baking, grease was popped all over the oven. Maybe if I had used a stainless skillet like Chef John in the video it wouldn't have happened. I had to dispose of my reusable oven liner and replace. Then I had to thoroughly clean my oven. The racks were very hard to get clean and those have to be hand scrubbed. Thankfully I have a self-cleaning oven because it was coated with grease! Even with the fan on the fire alarms went off about 3 times - Ha! I suggest using a poultry rack or a slotted broil pan to cook. Thanks Chef John.

I didn't want to do a whole chicken, so I did chicken thighs. I only baked it for 40 min and it was enough. Although I didn't do the sauce quite right, it still tastes great. It's almost like fried chicken, without the fried... Thanks. I'll make this again for sure.

One of the best chickens I have ever had!

Absolutely delicious as written! Don't change a thing! Who knew chicken so simple could be this good?

The chicken turned out ok but the sauce was waaayyy too salty and I followed the recipe to the T. Even watched the video! Felt like the chicken needed a sauce so we were very disappointed.

Didn't change anything. Moist, tender and delicious. Next time, I will try to wipe all the salt off thats left on the chicken after roasting. The skin was perfect, just the remaining salt was too much. The sauce was too salty as well. I will do again. Very good.

Super juicy & delicious! My family loved it and my husband said it was the best chicken he had ever tasted!

I felt it was way too salty. The chicken was just ok. Thought I followed everything to exactly what the Chef said. Was very disappointed.

My sauce was a little too salty for my taste, but still, the bird did turn out very juicy and tasty. My husband loved it!

Very moist. Saltly

Yes, yes, and yes! The best white chicken meat we ever ate! I used "Himalayan Natural Crystal Salt" and reduced it to 1.25 tbsp at medium grind since it's much denser than the flaky "Kosher Salt". Chef John, you're a genius. Paired it with a fragrant Pulao and it was the most exciting Tuesday we've had in a while.

Best Roasted Chicken I have ever had. The first time I made this my children asked for seconds. I've made this 3 times already in the last month. I even made it with legs and thighs and it came out equally delicious.

I made this recipe last night (minus the sauce). It was wonderful and I will be making it again. The chicken was juicy and my husband loved the crust the best.

My family loved this juicy chicken! The sauce was delicious!

Ok here is what I did, I followed the recipe, I salted the inside first, then the back, and finally the breast. I even made sure that I bought a 3.5 lb. bird AND I measured out the Kosher salt.I have made this at least 1/2 dozen times ( without the measuring) and it has been perfect everytime. Just an update, I cooked a 13 lb. turkey and an a lot of cornish hens using this method, and once agian perfection. The only thing I changed was the amount of salted needed for each bird.

Really delicious, moist chicken and an outstanding sauce. Not nearly as salty as I had feared. This recipe is going into my personal hall of fame recipe folder. One thing I am convinced that makes a big difference is buying a whole free range chicken. I only use fresh thyme, if I have it on hand.

i made this and it turned out awesome but i put my chicken in a brine overnight of saltwater and sugar.(the brining process is a must try if you havent.. chicken comes out even juicer and more flavorful depending on what you use in your brine) and also i found my sauce was a little salty but i added some milk to cut the saltiness

The salt made the skin very crispy but inedible. I cleaned out the salt religiously as prescribed by the directions, and the 'excess fat' left in the skillet when the chicken was done. The resulting juices from the chicken and the rest of the bits in the skillet made the sauce extremely salty and inedible. Done with this one.

Would of been a 5 out of 5 if the thigh part of the chicken was crispy like the top and legs where. The breasts where moist and crisp, but the bottom was not edible. Any ideas on how to fix that. Oh yea that sauce WAS 5 out 5! Just need some ideas on how to get the back side crisp.

No changes at all, but I didn't care for the flavor. Seemed salty and the sauce had too much thyme in it. The recipe is fine, I just didn't care for the end result.

So simple yet so good. Have made this repeatedly since running across the recipe. Made exactly as stated in the recipe. No changes are needed. Will continue to use over and over. Thanks for the recipe.

Recommend highly. Bob Perry

Way too salty for me ..... I must have used toooo much salt

Yum! And super easy. Was my first time cooking a whole chicken and I will be making it again shortly. I stuffed with lemon (half ) . Two thumbs up!

Delicious and easy - my favorite kind of recipe!

The salt was a the main flavor of the chicken, but if you like salt then you'll love this recipe. I'll make this again with a more controlled portioning of salt.

I've got to give it 4 stars, because as nice as the skin is, I've had better tasting roasted chicken. The meat was moist and just fine, but it lacked the flavor of some other techniques.

Sorry, Chef John. I love all your other recipes I've tried, but not this one. We couldn't eat the meat closest to the skin because it was so salty. It was juicy. It worked well in a soup recipe. Just couldn't eat it as made.

Have made this recipe twice in one week because my pickiest child, who has the hardest time trying and liking anything new, went crazy over it. So did the rest of the family. If there is anything left over, you can make a delicious chicken salad for lunch! Chef John, if you were a beautiful woman I would ask you to marry me!

Excellent! The chicken was juicy and the skin crispy plus it tasted wonderful. Made exactly per Chef John but my chicken was a 5.25 lb organic chicken so roasted at 450 for i hour and 20 minutes, then lowered heat to 375 for another 25 minutes. When the legs moved easily I knew it was done. Sauce smelled great and was sooo tasty. Husband loved it saying it was so tender and good.(He had been afraid that my roasting a chicken at 450 would ruin it-haha!)Another home run from our Chef John!!

The best roast chicken for those who appreciate cooking from a purist point of view.

It's pretty incredible that just salt can produce such a juicy, delicious chicken. The sauce was also excellent. I used 1 T. olive oil rather than 2 T. butter. I drizzled some of it over the barley I made as a side dish, and it was great. The chicken was rather salty, hence the four star rating, but I'll still be making it again.

This was OMG good.

I used fresh basil instead of thyme, followed to a tee. Very juicy and delicious.

Amazing! How can all of this flavor be so simple? I'll never roast a chicken any other way. This recipe is fantastic!

Chicken was not nearly done in one hour.

Really simple and amazing flavor for just salt. I just loved the thyme butter sauce with it. I used dried thyme and it was still very good. I have always cooked my chicken to 165 degrees in the thigh so I did that again. The temperature at 55 minutes was 159, so the timing for the recipe was pretty accurate. I did have some pink near the bone even cooking to 165 but I am not very good at not hitting bone when testing chicken. The flavor was awesome. The skin was crunchy. It looked beautiful out of the oven. 5 stars for sure.

Even though I cooked the chicken past 160, by mistake, the breast meat was rich and juicy. The recipe is very easy and the result is spectacular. One question - the picture looks like you can eat the skin, but I found it inedible due to the amount of salt. Did someone out there have a different result? Did I use too much kosher salt when I covered the bird? (I had a 5+ lb bird, so the amount of salt and the cooking time had to be estimated.)

Easy and delicious. I tried this for the first time two weeks ago and I'm making it again today. Great for busy Moms!

Amazing! No salt needed in the final step of the sauce. Just some pepper, and you're good to go.