Recipe: Friday Night High-Roast Chicken
I loved this Cook’s Illustrated recipe from the moment I tried it. During the pandemic, high-roast chicken became our family’s go-to Friday night meal. I’ve simplified the recipe for our repeat use, but the original still offers some variations you might enjoy.
Serves 4 hungry people.
Ingredients
- 1 whole kosher chicken, 4 pounds, trimmed of excess fat
- 2.5 lb. small gold potatoes, sliced 1/8” to 1/4” thick
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- a bit of extra olive oil, kosher salt, and ground black pepper
- vegetable oil spray or a bit more olive oil
- 2 green onions, sliced
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position, and heat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Butterfly the chicken and flatten the breastbone. Position the chicken on the broiler pan rack and push each leg up to rest between the thigh and breast. Thoroughly pat the skin dry with paper towels.
- Line the bottom of a broiler pan with foil and spray with vegetable oil spray (or brush with olive oil).
- Toss the potatoes with 1 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. kosher salt, and pepper to taste. Evenly layer the potatoes in rows in the foil-lined broiler pan bottom, overlapping each potato by about half.
- Place the broiler pan rack with the chicken on top. Rub the chicken with a bit of olive oil, plus salt and pepper to taste.
- Roast the chicken for 45 minutes, until the chicken skin and potatoes below are deeply browned. (I use the “bake time” feature on my oven and then switch it to Sabbath mode, so the chicken finishes closer to the time we’d actually sit down for dinner. After the oven switches off automatically, we often leave it in the oven for 10-15 minutes longer and it’s still delicious.)
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Cut into individual pieces. Scrape potatoes carefully off of foil into a serving dish and garnish with sliced green onions.