Absolutely Perfect Roast Chicken

Submitted by Marie

"Perfect, that is if you like crisp garlicky skin, moist flesh and pan juices you have to force yourself not to drink straight from the pan. The flavor of this chicken is amazing and the best I have ever had. The recipe was given to me by my niece. Thank you Nancy!!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 4
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 3 lbs whole chickens
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup water or 1 cup chicken broth

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Remove the giblets and any excess fat from the chicken cavity.
3. Peel the garlic and put it through a garlic press.
4. In a small bowl or on your cutting board, mash the garlic together with the salt.
5. When you have a nice paste, smear half of it inside the chicken's cavity.
6. Rub the rest of the salt and garlic paste all over the outside of the chicken.
7. Then put the chicken on a rack and put the rack in a roasting pan just big enough to hold the chicken.
8. Pour the water into the bottom of the pan.
9. Bake the chicken for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the drumstick just begins to move in the socket.
10. Do not baste.
11. Check a few times to be sure the water has not evaporated; add more during cooking, if needed.
12. Cut the chicken into serving size pieces and serve with pan juices.
13. I like to serve the juice in individual small bowls to dip the chicken.
14. Note: Try to use a chicken as close to 3 lbs as you can find. It is more difficult to get the same results with a larger roaster chicken.
15. Also note: Do not substitute regular salt for the Kosher salt. Chicken must be on a rack in order for the chicken to brown well.

Reviews

[Marie Nixon]

I loved the crispy skin on this chicken. I used a 4 lb. chicken but next time I'll try to get closer to 3 lbs. as chef Marie suggests. I refrigerated the pan juices overnight, skimmed off the fat and then thickened on the stove top with a mixture of 1 T. flour and 2 T. cold water. Next time I will add more water so that I have more gravy. I made this recipe for the Bargain Basement Tag game.

 

[I'mPat]

Everything was spot on with this recipe, I used a chicken that was just under 1.4K and it was beautifully cooked in 1 hour 15 minutes, the only thing I would do differently though would be to start it breast side down for the first 15 minutes and then flip it (to give the back a bit of colour), I admit this is how I normally cook by chicken but the garlic was a new twist and just made it superb. I drain the juices off and then added some butter to the pan which I melted and then added some flour to make a roux and then used the juices to make a gravy and it was the best chicken gravy we have had absolutely chock of flavour, thank you Marie, made for Bargain Basement.