Buttermilk Roast Chicken
- Total Time
- 1½ hours, plus overnight marinating
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 14-pound chicken
- 2cups buttermilk
- ¼cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2cloves garlic, lightly crushed
- 1tablespoon crushed black peppercorns
- 1tablespoon Maldon or other sea salt
- 2tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
- 1tablespoon honey
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
921 calories; 69 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 35 grams monounsaturated fat; 14 grams polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 62 grams protein; 1410 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Butterfly chicken by placing breast side down and using heavy-duty kitchen shears to cut along both sides of backbone. Discard backbone, turn chicken over and open it like a book. Press gently to flatten it.
- Step 2
Place chicken in a large freezer bag. Add buttermilk, ¼ cup oil, garlic, peppercorns, salt, rosemary and honey. Seal bag securely and refrigerate overnight or up to two days.
- Step 3
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a rack so excess can drip off. Line a roasting pan with foil and place chicken in pan. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Roast for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees. Continue roasting until well browned and until juices run clear when chicken is pierced where leg joins thigh, about another 20 minutes.
- Step 4
Place chicken on a carving board and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting into serving pieces. Place a portion on each of four plates, and drizzle each serving with pan juices.
Private Notes
Comments
Great recipe. But instead of draining the excess liquids, suggest cooking spatchcocked chicken in a over potatoes to absorb the sauces. Using a cast-iron frying pan eliminates the need for wasteful foil, and if the pan is well-cared for and seasoned it's essentially non-stick.
Drizzle oil on the seasoned pan, add as many nugget or cut-up potatoes as are wanted, and just place the chicken on top, backbone up to help keep the white meat moist.
I've made versions of roasted chicken but this one was awesome. I used my xlarge cast iron skillet and 20 minutes into the bake surrounded it with carrots and halved brussel sprouts and they were carmelized beautifully. No left overs!
Should I place the chicken on the rack in the roasting pan or place the chicken directly on the foil in the roasting pan?
This has become my go-to wet brine recipe for roast chicken. I prefer it over the similar but simpler version by Samin Nosrat become it has more flavor. I don’t spatchcock my chickens, though. Instead I follow Melissa Clark’s technique splaying the chicken and then cooking it in a cast iron at 450 degrees until the breast is at least 150 degrees in the deepest part. I’ve also started adding parchment paper with oil between the cast iron and the chicken bc otherwise the buttermilk chicken sticks to the pan a bunch (though that’s not a deal breaker) unlike with a dry brine with some olive oil that mostly doesn’t stick.
Terrific recipe. I’ve also used an alternative to buttermilk, used plain Greek yogurt 5% with whole milk (3/4 yogurt and 1/4 milk) and same for sour cream combo. Brining the chicken this way produces tender, tasty chicken with a crispy skin.
I would honestly consider this to be more of a method than a recipe. The chicken came out juicy and tender. But bland. The first time I made it, I made the recipe exactly as printed and it was very bland. This time I used significantly more salt and it came out better, but still bland for my taste. Seasoning is subjective, but if you are used to more flavorful food I'd recommend dialing up the salt & pepper and adding any others you enjoy.