Chicken Recipes, Part by Part: The Whole Bird

Chicken. We all cook it, but sometimes rely too much on one part. Give the other bits a chance! Every day this week, we’re sharing the definitively best recipes for chicken, part by part. To kick things off: the whole bird.

Photo credit: Peden+ Munk, Bon Appétit

It’s become cool to order roast chicken in restaurants. Just like it’s become cool to wear waxed barn coats in the city or strum a banjo. (I like to call it the Jeansification of America, Part Two.) In the ’80s, our parents wouldn’t have been caught dead ordering chicken out, but with the farm-to-table and homesteading movements of the last decade have come a whoosh of heads turning towards just such humble dishes.

And so we’re cooking chicken at home more!

I, for one, have always believed that chicken and a salad of mixed greens with a house-made vinaigrette are the best ways to test a restaurant’s skills. And I’ve always defaulted to roast chicken, crusty bread, and Sancerre for dinner parties. (I’m just a simple gal.) In other words, I’ve tried a lot of roast chicken in my day.

There are many good recipes out there: Judy Rogers, of course, wins for her famous Zuni Café chicken and bread salad for two; the Canal House cooks’ salt-roasted bird is simultaneously restrained and decadent, as is Thomas Keller’s similar but more Thomas Keller-y version. But the one I return to time and again is this Bon Appétit recipe, published only a couple of years ago. Rubbed inside and out with dried herbs and garlic, it’s pungent and confident—heady, even, if roast chicken can be called that. It’s good juicy and hot, but it’s even better, I might argue, cold, for breakfast.

Cold chicken and coffee; I’m calling it a new trend.

Roast Provençal Chicken
6 servings

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup herbes de Provence
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 3 1/2–4-lb. chicken
Lemon wedges (for serving)

Preheat oven to 475°. Mix garlic, herbes de Provence, oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub mixture all over inside and outside of chicken. Place on a wire rack set inside a roasting pan.

Roast chicken until skin begins to brown, 25–30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thigh registers 165°, approximately 25 to 30 minutes longer. Let rest 10 minutes before carving. Serve with lemon wedges.

DO AHEAD: Chicken can be made 2 days ahead. Let cool. Cover and chill; bring to room temperature before serving.