Ingredients Chicken Whole Chicken 37 Roast Chicken Recipes for Cozy Everyday Dinners By Food & Wine Editors Updated on March 8, 2023 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley Roast chicken is a fantastic dish for an easy dinner any night of the week. Preparation is as simple as adding in some fresh herbs and popping it in the oven. This collection of our favorite roasted chicken dishes includes incredible recipes such as Julia Child's Favorite Roast Chicken, Brined Roast Chicken with Olive Bread Panzanella, and Umami-Mayo Roast Chicken. Turn on your oven and get ready for the comforting, warming aroma of a deliciously browned roast chicken. 01 of 37 Roast Chicken with Chile-Basil Vinaigrette, Charred Broccoli, and Potatoes Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Christine Keely Chef Hillary Sterling's epic chicken at Vic's in New York got its juiciness and deep flavor from brining, air drying, and marinating. The process is simple but does require some planning — start at least a day ahead. She served the bird on a mix of charred broccoli, onions, and fingerling potatoes, fiery from the chiles and fresh from the basil, with a bright kick of red wine vinegar. Get the Recipe 02 of 37 Roast Chicken with Cilantro-Mint Chutney Jen Causey Roast chicken, whole or separated into pieces, benefits brilliantly from chutney-based marinades. You make the chutney and reserve half as your dipping sauce, while the other half gets folded into creamy, tangy yogurt to make a flavorful marinade for the chicken. Get the Recipe 03 of 37 Butter-Roasted Chicken with Soy-Garlic Glaze © Con Poulos For this recipe, we make a spiced butter with ground cloves and star anise, then rub it under the chicken skin before roasting to create an incredibly juicy and delicious bird. Get the Recipe 04 of 37 Poblano Pimento Cheese-Roasted Chicken Con Poulos Ashley Christensen, the chef at Poole's in North Carolina, kicks up her pimento cheese with spicy poblanos and green hot sauce. In this brilliant riff, the creamy dip is spread under the skin of a whole bird before it's roasted to get both crispy skin and juicy meat. Get the Recipe 05 of 37 Roast Chicken and Warm Escarole Caesar Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Hannah Greenwood This roast chicken from the menu at Dusek's in Chicago is a sleeper hit, combining comforting roast chicken and the briny flavors of Caesar salad for a cozy meal. Marinating the chicken for at least 24 hours in a koji marinade makes it nice and juicy, while infusing it with tons of flavor. Get the Recipe 06 of 37 Zuni Chicken (Roast Chicken with Bread Salad) Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley The iconic recipe for Zuni Café’s Roast Chicken with Bread Salad by the late, great Judy Rodgers stands the test of time. Pre-seasoning the bird guarantees succulent meat and salty, crispy skin; the bread salad is punctuated with currants and tempered with slightly bitter chicories. It’s the perfect thing to eat on a Sunday night. Get the Recipe 07 of 37 Umami-Mayo Roast Chicken Photo by Eva Kolenko / Food Styling by Carrie Purcell / Prop Styling by Jillian Knox The secret to this juicy roast chicken is umami mayo, a two-ingredient powerhouse combination of brewer's yeast and mayonnaise. Slathering the bird with a mayonnaise–brewer's yeast mixture before it goes into the oven yields maximal umami flavor. It also helps lock in its juiciness. Letting the chicken stand uncovered in the refrigerator overnight dries out the skin for a crispier bird. Get the Recipe 08 of 37 Roasted Chicken Legs with Potatoes and Kale © TINA RUPP For this one-pan dish, chicken legs roast on a bed of potatoes and kale so the meaty juices keep the vegetables moist. Prep takes just 10 minutes and the resulting meal serves eight or makes for excellent leftovers. There's very little clean-up as everything bakes up together and can be served straight from the pan. Get the Recipe 09 of 37 Buttermilk-Brined Roast Chicken David Cicconi Chefs Evan and Sarah Rich of RT Rotisserie in San Francisco make the very best chicken. They use a buttermilk brine that includes umami powder, garlic, and Douglas fir — a signature ingredient from their flagship restaurant, Rich Table, that they forage themselves. In this adaptation, the chicken is roasted in the oven, and the brine is made with buttermilk, dried porcini, garlic, and rosemary. If you have access to Douglas fir sprigs, feel free to use them. Get the Recipe 10 of 37 Chicken Roasted on Bread with Caperberries and Charred Lemon © Christina Holmes In this super-simple dish from F&W Culinary Director at Large Justin Chapple, chicken legs roast on top of torn pieces of bread that absorb the rich and tangy juices, becoming deliciously crisp and chewy. Get the Recipe 11 of 37 Honey and Lemon-Glazed Roast Chicken © Fredrika Stjärne "I'm crazy for chicken," winemaker Piero Incisa della Rocchetta says. "I regularly eat a whole one by myself." Inspired by beautifully browned Peking duck, he brushes chickens with a mixture of soy sauce and honey. Get the Recipe 12 of 37 Roast Chicken with Salsa Verde and Roasted Lemons CON POULOS This crisp and juicy roast chicken from star chef Jonathan Waxman of NYC's Jams is perfect with his chunky seven-herb salsa verde. For ease of preparation, make the salsa a day ahead. Get the Recipe 13 of 37 Roast Chicken with Butternut Squash © ANDREW PURCELL Chicken quarters roasted with golden squash and sage are nice for a chilly autumn evening. To help the squash to brown evenly, be sure to spoon off the fat from the roasting pan after removing the breasts. This is a case where less is more: A thin layer of fat will brown the vegetable better than a quarter-inch of it. Get the Recipe 14 of 37 Butter-Roasted Chicken with Cilantro and Mint © John Kernick Rubbing butter on chicken skin (as well as under it) and letting it sit in the fridge for a few hours is a great way to make it extra crispy, with moist breast meat. In this recipe from the late, great chef Floyd Cardoz, the butter is flavored with cilantro, garlic, mint, chiles, cumin, and lime juice. Get the Recipe 15 of 37 Ginger-Roasted Chicken © Lucy Schaeffer For this flavorful dish, we first rub a seasoned garlic-ginger butter under and atop the skin, then roast the bird with more garlic and ginger, onion, serrano chiles, and lime. Try pairing this roasted chicken with an aromatic Riesling. Get the Recipe 16 of 37 Roast Chicken with Tangerines © Quentin Bacon This six-pound bird yields a lot of meat. But if you want even more, get a capon (a castrated rooster). They're quite huge: 9 to 11 pounds. You'll have to increase the amount of ingredients relative to the size of the bird, which will also take longer to cook. Get the Recipe 17 of 37 Sour Orange Yucatán Chickens © Con Poulos This fragrant roasted chicken dish starts with a spiced citrus marinade that includes 20 garlic cloves and ancho chile powder. After it's marinated overnight, the chicken is brushed with honey and baked to perfection. The pan juices get cooked with a bit more honey to make a sauce for serving. Get the Recipe 18 of 37 Brined Roast Chicken with Olive Bread Panzanella © John Kernick This is a fantastic roast chicken, but the real star in the recipe is the olive bread, which gets spread in the roasting pan and toasted in the chicken pan juices. The bread turns custardy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Get the Recipe 19 of 37 Tea-Smoked Roast Chickens © John Kernick "This recipe looks like a doozy, but it really delivers," says James Beard Award-winning chef Andrea Reusing. "The chickens are just so reliably juicy, even when they're cooked longer than they should be." Smoking the birds quickly over anise-scented tea makes them wonderfully fragrant. Get the Recipe 20 of 37 Moroccan Roasted Chicken © Lucy Schaeffer This roasted chicken is redolent of a warm spice blend made from cumin, coriander, sweet paprika, cayenne, and cinnamon. Tangy dried apricots and sweet dates mingle with garlic and onion during the roast to create even more depth of flavor. Get the Recipe 21 of 37 Aleppo Pepper and Mint Roasted Chicken © Quentin Bacon Butter combined with garlic, scallions, Aleppo pepper, lemon zest, and mint gets rubbed under the chicken skin; tart lemon juice marries with the drippings to baste the bird as it roasts. The result is fresh, zingy, and deeply satisfying. Get the Recipe 22 of 37 Julia's Favorite Roast Chicken CON POULOS The beloved chef Julia Child seasoned this roast chicken inside and out by packing sautéed vegetables, lemon slices, and fresh herbs into the cavity, then rubbing the skin with butter. In typical French fashion, she trussed the bird to promote even cooking. Get the Recipe 23 of 37 Chilaquiles-Style Roasted Chicken Legs © Kana Okada Chilaquiles is a baked Mexican dish that's often made with leftover shredded chicken, tortilla strips, and cheese. In this more substantial and refined version, we bake whole chicken legs with tomatoes, hominy, jalapeños, and tortilla chips. Get the Recipe 24 of 37 Pan-Roasted Chicken with Corn Relish © Antonis Achilleos This one-skillet recipe is based on a dish chef Cathal Armstrong's father, Gerry, made when Armstrong was growing up in Dublin, with a big difference. "We only got fresh corn for our birthdays. Otherwise it was frozen," he recalls. Get the Recipe 25 of 37 Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Mole Negro © Maura McEvoy Oaxaca is famous for its complex mole sauces, often made with more than 20 ingredients, like unsweetened chocolate, seeds, and chiles. Since moles are so time-consuming to make, most Mexican cooks rely on the prepared pastes sold at the outdoor markets, and chef Alejando Ruíz Olmedo is no exception. Instead of stewing chicken in the mole, he takes a more elegant approach: He roasts chicken breasts until the skin is crisp and serves the mole alongside. Get the Recipe 26 of 37 Vinegar-Braised Chicken with Leeks and Peas © JONNY VALIANT This easy main-course chicken dish is elegant enough for both entertaining and a simple weeknight dinner. White balsamic, fresh tarragon, and a hefty dollop of crème fraîche round out the mellow leeks and sweet baby peas in the glorious pan sauce. Get the Recipe 27 of 37 Spice-Rubbed Roast Chicken with Two Sauces © Con Poulos This crisp-skinned, juicy chicken is rubbed with a fennel-lemon mixture before roasting and served with smoky piri piri and spicy, herb-flecked wasakaka sauces. Get the Recipe 28 of 37 Rustic Garlic Chicken © Jennifer Causey Yes, three heads of garlic. You don't have to peel the cloves first. They soften during cooking and take on a subtle sweetness. Each person squeezes the garlic out of its skin onto the plate to eat with the chicken. Get the Recipe 29 of 37 Roast Chicken with Ratatouille © Stephanie Meyer Thyme, rosemary, and cayenne flavor chef Andrew Zimmern's chicken before and during roasting. By roasting pieces rather than a whole bird, no carving is necessary. Get the Recipe 30 of 37 Crispy Roast Chicken and Shallots with Miso Gravy © The Jewels of New York This wonderful roast chicken is made with eight whole shallots — seven to bake with the chicken and one to perfume the exquisite miso gravy along with ginger, chives, and parsley. Get the Recipe 31 of 37 Cardamom Chicken with Rice Pilaf © Susan Spungen Sprinkled with cardamom, roasted until crisp, and topped with an apple-tinged sauce, chicken legs become extraordinary. The chicken is perfectly matched by the raisin-studded rice pilaf that's also flavored with cardamom. Get the Recipe 32 of 37 Roast Chicken Thighs with Tomato-Tapioca Porridge © Antonis Achilleos Pioneering chef Wylie Dufresne serves his delicious crisp-skinned chicken with a simple, flavorful tomato-tapioca porridge. He created the dish when he was challenged as a Top Chef Masters contestant to prepare a fast recipe. Get the Recipe 33 of 37 Herb and Lemon Roasted Chicken © Antonis Achilleos This roast chicken is foolproof and fantastic. Plus, it's versatile enough for a weeknight dinner or weekend dinner party. Serve it with a crisp, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc. Get the Recipe 34 of 37 Whole Roast Chicken with 40 Brussels Sprouts © John Kernick We add brussels sprouts to the roasting pan so they absorb the fantastic flavor of the caraway-infused chicken juices as everything bakes. Get the Recipe 35 of 37 Quick-Roasted Chicken with Mustard and Garlic © Lucy Schaeffer For this delicious, mustardy chicken, master chef Jacques Pépin splits the chicken and cuts between the leg and shoulder joints to halve the cooking time. Get the Recipe 36 of 37 Roast Chicken with Port and Figs © Dana Gallagher Dried figs are poached in port to make a luscious Portuguese-inspired sauce that pairs with roast chicken, a meal perfect for the first fall nights. Ruby port provides the best color, and tawny would also work well. Get the Recipe 37 of 37 Lola's Roast Chicken with Sambal Chimichurri These juicy roast chickens are marinated in a tangy, garlic-laden, Puerto Rican-style marinade. "It's the vinegar that makes you want to keep eating," chef Bill Kim says. "That flavor lingers and haunts you." Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit