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Slow Roasted Piri Piri Chicken

There are a gazillion ways to roast a chicken. To cook it on a spanek, a sheet pan, or in a dutch oven? To spatchcock it or truss it? To brine in buttermilk, marinate with herbs, rub with salt, or stuff butter under the skin? There are so many questions, and each answer claims to offer the silver bullet to an evenly cooked, crispy-skinned, flavor-blasted bird. In my ten years of roasting chickens, I’ve tried nearly every trick in the book. What I’ve learned is that while you can have it all, you can’t have the best-ever version of both crispy skin and abundant juicy meat. To me, rendered-to-a-crisp chicken skin is the ultimate treat, better than pretty much every other food out there. If I could subsist on just chicken skin and nothing else, I would. But the type of skin I’m after requires contact with a screaming hot skillet, which just isn’t possible with a full bird. For this craving, I turn to a cast iron chicken thigh. But when the occasion calls for roasting a whole bird (feeding a bigger group, meal prepping, feeling festive, saving money, or re-upping on chicken stock for the freezer), I optimize for the juiciest, most tender, fall-apart chicken I can muster. Enter the slow roast. 

Now, if you told most roast chicken stalwarts that I’d advised a three-hour cook time, they’d tell you to unfollow/unlike/unsubscribe. You should invite that person over for dinner, make them this chicken, and watch them lick the plate. 

I leave the food science to Serious Eats, but what I know is that by roasting the birds lowww and slowww, it stays juicy as can be. If I had to guess, the skin holds the moisture in, while the shmaltzy fat seeps into the meat, practically confit-ing the whole thing. By releasing yourself from unrealistic expectations, you unlock the whole chicken’s whole potential. And to be clear, the skin on this chicken is still supremely yummy - some might even call it crispy! But the meat – the MEAT – is finer than the finest grocery store rotisserie chicken, practically does the carve job for you, and glistens with moisture in such a way that could bring tears to your eyes. 

Because it roasts for-practically-ever, the chicken reaches fully-cooked temperature early on in the process, so you’re very much in the clear once the timer goes off and can therefore skip the meat thermometer altogether. Just wiggle the drumstick after 2.5 hours and once it feels nice and loose in the joint, you’re golden.

I love making this chicken for groups of friends who devour it on-site or for just my partner and me on a date night in. The leftovers are a no-brainer salad topping and make a killer chicken sando when mixed with some aioli and crunchy veg. I’ve also used the drippings to whip up a spicy gravy for a festive touch. And the gift keeps on giving! Boil the carcass with about ten cups of water, some salt, and whatever wilted vegetables are in your fridge to create a simple broth to flavor rice or beans or drink straight up.

Bottom line - roasted chicken needs not to be complicated, fussy, or scary. There’s a time and a place for crispy skin and this isn’t it; but what it lacks in that one category it makes up for in many others. Ditch the other roast chicken recipes and stick with the slow roast. You’re gonna love it.

This recipe originates from my newest favorite cookbook, Cook This Book by Molly Baz. If you liked this, you’ll love everything else she’s got too!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

  • 1 whole chicken (innards removed)

  • 4 teaspoons kosher salt

  • 5 cloves garlic, microplaned or chopped into a paste

  • 2 Fresno chiles, chopped as finely as possible (use 1 for a less spicy version)

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. 

  2. Pat the chicken dry and rub it all over with salt (season inside the cavity too). Place it breast side down on a rimmed baking sheet.

  3. Add the garlic paste, chopped chiles, olive oil, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, and smoked paprika to a small bowl and combine with a fork.

  4. Using a basting brush, pastry brush, or your hands, rub the mixture all over the outside of the chicken’s backside. Flip it over so the breast is facing up and rub the remaining seasoning on the front of the chicken. Make sure to cover all the nooks and crannies, but don’t worry about the inside of the cavity.

  5. Place the chicken in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Then turn the heat down to 325°F and roast for 2 ½ to 3 hours. The chicken is ready when you wiggle one of the legs and it feels extremely loose in the joint like it could fall right out. Remove the chicken from the oven, transfer it to a carving board, and let it rest for 15 minutes.

  6. Carving this chicken is easy because of how fall-apart tender it is. My process is below, but Molly Baz also has an excellent ‘Carve a Chix’ video that walks through the play by play.

    1. Start with the legs and thigh. With the chicken’s legs facing toward you, use a large chef’s knife to slice the skin that holds the leg to the body to reveal the meat and joint. Pull the leg slightly away to make the joint even more visible. Pierce it with the tip of your knife and press down, which should release the thigh and leg from the body. 

    2. Now hold the thigh in one hand and find the joint that connects it to the drumstick with the other. Pierce it, and separate the thigh from the leg. Repeat this process on the other side.

    3. Pull a wing slightly away from the breast. Either slice it off, or because this chicken is so tender, it may come right out. Repeat on the other side.

    4. Now onto the breasts. Using a fork, pierce one side of the chicken, close to the breastbone (the long line of cartilage that runs down the center of the bird). Use your chef's knife to make long, smooth cuts on just the other side of the breast bone. The breast should come away from the carcass and you can slowly slice it off into one wonderful piece. Serve as is, or slice into pieces perpendicular to the main cut, so that you have around 5 smaller pieces. Repeat on the other side.

    5. There will likely be some meat left on the bone. Either finger-pick it off to serve with the rest of the bird, or do this step after dinner and combine the picked meat with any leftovers.

recipesSienna Mintz