Easy Roasted Chicken Recipe
A broiled chicken should be one of your go-tos for easy weeknight dinners. You just set it and forget it. It’s affordable and easy. Plus, the crispy chicken skin is super delicious.
While a whole roasted chicken is something to be celebrated, it is much more time-consuming than cooking chicken that has already been butchered into its different parts. A whole roasted chicken would take 1.5-2 hours, whereas chicken drumsticks take 30-45 minutes, depending on their size.
What is the secret to the best roasted chicken recipe?
- Marinate the chicken overnight
- Lots of oil
- Broiling in the oven
- Remove juices from the roasting pan
These are the crispiest, yummiest, caramelized roasted chicken pieces of magical goodness you will have. And they are super easy and quick to make. They are no fuss and foolproof if you follow the cooking directions.
The trick is in letting your chicken marinate in garlic salt overnight, patting dry your chicken before cooking, and oil to coat the skin. It is also important to drain your chicken of juices 3-4 times during the cooking process. Seems sacrilegious, but trust me on this.This prevents your chicken from steaming or boiling in its own juices. It will be the most amazing crispy baked chicken ever. And you don’t even have to fry it! You can use the pan juices to make a sauce for roasted chicken.
How to Get Crispy Chicken Skin
- Water is the enemy in these roasted chicken legs, y’all. Always pat your meat dry before broiling or searing to create a beautiful golden brown color. Please please pat your chicken dry before roasting. I do this with tofu, chicken, steaks, salmon, and scallops before pan-frying. In this chicken drumstick recipe, the same is true.
- Rub your chicken skin with oil before broiling to help the skin to become crispy. That is the trick to a crispy skin in any roasted chicken recipe. The same is true for pork skin, fish skin, and duck skin. Oil is your friend.
How to Season Chicken
This recipe is a garlic roasted chicken. Allow your chicken to marinate overnight in garlic salt for best results. If not, then marinade for at least 4 hours.
You can also brine your chicken, but sitting in brine will make your skin less crispy. Which is why seasoning with good old garlic salt is a great way to go.
Roasted Chicken Seasoning
The are so many ways to season your roasted chicken.
- Brine (garlic, salt, rosemary, thyme)
- Blackening seasoning (cayenne, paprika, black pepper, garlic salt)
- Seasoned salt
- Garlic salt
- Herb Butter
Roasted Chicken Cook Time
Your chicken cooking time depends on a few factors:
-Is your chicken bone-in?
-The size of your chicken
-Is your chicken whole or cut into thighs, legs, and breasts
-Oven temperature
This recipe is using bone-in chicken with broil settings (or the highest setting) in the oven. It needs 25-30 minutes to cook on this setting. 350 degrees will not cut it with this recipe as it will not result in a nice crispy skin.
Cooking time also depends on how hot or cold your oven is. Use your senses to see if your chicken is done. Look at the skin to see if it is brown enough. Pierce the chicken a little to see if juices are running clear. It needs more cooking time if juices are still pink.
Why is my meat burning?
Problem 1: Oven Hot Spots
When you are making a broiled chicken, the heat is on very high. Every oven has its hotspots and cooler spots. To get perfectly evenly cooked chicken, you’re going to have to rotate your chicken from the hotspot to the cool spot and vice versa. Or put your chicken farther away from the heat source. If it is too close, it will burn. Having it be 6 inches away would be a good starting place. Move farther away if it is burning.
Problem 2: You have sugar in your marinade
Another reason could be that you are using sugar in your marinade. Sugar burns at a low temperature. If you are baking chicken that has sugar in the marinade, cover the chicken for the majority of cooking time, and then uncover and crank up the heat for final crisping.
What do I do with pan juices from roasting chicken?
Retain chicken juices to make a sauced for your roasted chicken. You can easily do this by adding some garlic, shallot, butter, and sauteing them until softened. Then add white wine and chicken pan juices and you’ve got a delicious pan sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can even add a splash of lemon juice for some extra brightness and turn it into a roasted lemon chicken dish.
What can I serve with this roasted chicken recipe?
- Healthy Caesar Salad: Salad with roasted chicken is a classic combination. Healthy, light, and delicious!
- Caramelized Butternut Squash with Thyme: Roasted chicken and veggies is so perfect. You can roasted your squash at the same time as your chicken.
- Potato Casserole with Leek
Price Comparison
A roasted chicken dinner costs $20-30 depending on what kind of restaurant you are dining at. I paid $3 for these chicken drumsticks. Other ingredients: garlic salt ($.25), pepper ($.25), and oil ($.25).
Restaurant ($10-15) vs. Home-made: ($1.88). You can save so much money by making your own roasted chicken and vegetables or roasted chicken and potatoes at home.
Happy cooking! Tag me on Instagram @jennskitchendiary if you’ve made this dish! Would love to see how it turned out.
Best Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken drumsticks
- 2 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Marinate chicken in garlic salt and black pepper. Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to broil setting.
- Take chicken out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking to allow to come to room temperature.
- Drain juices from chicken and pat dry with paper towels.
- Place chicken on lined baking sheet. Cover chicken generously with oil.
- Place into the oven 6 inches away from the top broiler. Broil for 15 minutes.
- Remove chicken from oven and pour out excess juices. Flip over and broil for another 15 minutes. Repeat as needed to achieve crispy chicken skin.
- When both sides of chicken are golden brown, remove from oven and serve.
This is very common problems when trying to get crispy chicken in the oven. I’m glad you pointed out why & how to resolve this issue. Thanks for the tips, very informative & will bake my chicken tonight & get it right this time!
Thank you! Hope it turns out delicious and crispy! 🙂