Name: Spatchcock Roast Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 3-4 Servings
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken (3 to 3 ½ pounds); 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional); 2 teaspoons salt; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 3 cloves garlic, minced; ½ teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon smoked paprika; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; Zest of 1 lemon, preferably organic or unwaxed

Mains

Spatchcock Roast Chicken

Author: Mary DiSomma

Sometimes I want a good roast chicken without making a whole production out of it. That's where a good spatchcock chicken recipe comes in. Spatchcocking a chicken is one of my favorite ways to get crisp skin and juicy meat without roasting it forever. Removing the backbone and flattening the bird helps it cook evenly and quickly. It's a very practical technique when you're short on time, especially when you still want dinner to feel like you put in some effort.

I love making a spatchcock roast chicken during a busy week. Once the chicken is roasted and has rested for a bit, I can use the meat in sandwiches, salads, wraps, and anything else that sounds good when I'm wondering, “What the heck am I going to make for lunch?” Before we get into the details, don't let this technique intimidate you! With a sturdy pair of kitchen shears and a little confidence, you'll have spatchcocking down in no time.

Spatchcock Roast Chicken

Crispy skin and juicy meat are the hallmarks of this spatchcock roast chicken, which will cook quickly as part of meal prep for my chicken sandwich, three ways recipe.

Yield: 3-4 Servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes 15 min
Cook Time: 50 minutes 50 min
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes 1 hr 5 min

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 °F.
Place the chicken breast-side down on a cutting board. Make sure the legs are pointing away from you. Using a sturdy pair of kitchen shears—poultry scissors are ideal. Work your way from the tail toward the neck and repeat the cut on the other side. Lift out the backbone and you’re good to go! Try to keep your cuts as close to the backbone as possible so you get more meat.
Flip your chicken over so it’s breast-side up. Place the heels of your hands on top of the breastbone and press down firmly until the chicken flattens out. You will likely hear a crack when the breastbone breaks. That's normal! The goal is to get the bird to lie as flat as possible. Pat the chicken dry all over with paper towels. This step makes a difference, especially if crispy skin is your end goal. Use paper towels to thoroughly pat the chicken dry all over before seasoning it.
Combine the baking powder and salt, then evenly rub all over the skin—this helps the skin crisp up. Let the chicken sit uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. This step can be skipped if you are short on time, in which case just rub the bird with salt and proceed to the next step.
Once your chicken is flat and dry, you're ready for the baking powder and salt mixture.
In a small bowl, mix the olive oil with the garlic, black pepper, paprika, oregano and lemon zest. Rub this mixture all over the chicken, making sure to also get under the skin wherever you can.
Place the chicken, skin-side up, on a rack set on a baking tray. You can place it directly on the tray if you don’t have a rack.
Roast for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the skin is golden and the internal temperature reaches 165 °F in the thickest part of the breast and 175 °F in the thigh.
Let the chicken rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving—this allows it to cool a bit and the juices to settle.

View Mary's Tips

Ingredient Tips

I prefer to use aluminum-free baking powder to avoid any metallic aftertaste. Bob’s Red Mill, Argo, & Trader Joe’s are some brands that sell this kind.

If you want to use the backbone instead of throwing it away, you’re in the right place. Once you remove the backbone from the bird, you can save it in a freezer bag along with any other chicken bones and scraps you might have. When you’re ready, you can use these to make your own homemade chicken stock. I don’t know about you, but I love getting another use out of something that would go in the trash otherwise.

Preparation + Preservation Tips

Spatchcocking is a preparation technique where you remove the backbone from a whole chicken and press the bird flat before you cook it. Sometimes it’s also called butterflied chicken or flat chicken because it takes on a butterfly-like shape after you flatten it down.

Why bother spatchcocking a chicken? Well, a whole chicken has different-sized sections that naturally take different amounts of time to cook through. For example, on a regular roasted chicken, the breast is relatively lean and might dry out before the thighs are even finished cooking.

Flattening the bird evens out its heat exposure in the oven, so more of the chicken is exposed to heat at the same time. The result is an evenly cooked whole chicken with plenty of nice crispy skin. So, all in all, spatchcocking sounds much fancier than it actually is. It’s pretty easy to execute!

Not really. The most important tool you need to spatchcock a chicken is a good pair of kitchen shears. Poultry shears are ideal because they are specifically designed for cutting through poultry bones. A strong, heavy-duty pair of kitchen scissors will also get the job done. You'll also want a large cutting board. If yours tends to slide around, you can place it on top of a kitchen towel to keep everything in place while you're working. Some people even dampen the towel for extra grip!

That's really it—no fancy roasting pan or culinary school required. My best advice is to use sharp, sturdy scissors and take your time. You're cutting through bones along either side of the spine, so you really don’t want to mess around with a flimsy pair of scissors.

For this recipe, I roast a 3 or 3½-pound chicken at 425 °F for 40 to 50 minutes. Size, oven temperature, and the exact shape of the bird can all affect cooking time. Flattening it out makes a big difference in cook time for spatchcock chicken, but I still recommend using an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness.

Your spatchcock chicken is ready when the thickest part of the breast reaches an internal temperature of 165 °F and the thigh reaches about 175 °F. Make sure you’re measuring as close to the center of the meat as you can. So even if you calculate your spatchcock chicken roast time in advance, you should still use a thermometer to check it before taking it out of the oven. Then let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

If crispy chicken skin is your favorite part—and if you’re like me, it is—I have two tips for you: dry the chicken and give the salt time to work:

Make sure the chicken dry: Use paper towels to thoroughly pat the chicken all over before seasoning it. This step makes a difference, especially if crispy skin is your end goal.
Apply the salt and baking powder mixture before adding your oil and spices: Once your chicken is flat and dry, combine the salt and baking powder and rub it evenly over the skin. The baking powder helps the skin crisp up, while the salt seasons the chicken and draws moisture out from the skin. For the best results, leave the chicken uncovered in your refrigerator for 30-minutes or overnight. That resting period helps the surface dry out before roasting, which is exactly what you want for a nice crispy skin. This process is called dry-brining. If you don’t have time for all that, you can skip the refrigerator step, and apply the oil, spices. This will help to achieve a crispy skin. Just salt the chicken and roast it. The skin won’t be quite as crackly, but you'll still get a delicious dinner out of it.

Extra Tips

After roasting, let the chicken rest for 10 to 15 minutes. This lets the juices settle and makes the chicken easier to handle. For sandwiches, I remove the legs and thighs first, then pull the breast meat off the bone. Slice or pull the meat into pieces that are easy to layer into a sandwich. I prefer to keep the pieces substantial in size rather than shredding them.

My Chicken Tinga is one of the most popular recipes on my site. It's packed with flavor and gives you plenty of options for tacos, bowls, salads, and leftovers.

Remember that backbone you saved? Put it to work in my One-Pot Homemade Chicken Soup, especially if you have a few more chicken bones to add to the pot.

And if you're craving something crispy, try my Chicken Milanese with Arugula Salad and Balsamic Vinaigrette. It's a classic combination that never gets old.