Spatchcock Chicken
Juicy recipe for Spatchcock Chicken
Growing up, my mom would sometimes buy hot rotisserie chicken at the grocery store. They were delicious (especially the skin with all the spices), but a tiny bit dry. Since then, I discovered the magic of spatchcocking a chicken and I can never go back.
How Ina garten inspired me to make more chicken
After meeting my partner, we bonded on our love for food and we watched many of Ina’s cooking videos during the pandemic. We’ve tried many of her recipes. One thing that did stick was how she would always make chicken on Friday for her husband Jeffrey.
My partner Anthony and I have made many chicken variations over the years: honey mustard, greek style, breaded. We’d sometimes buy one rotisserie chicken from the store and enjoy it as is. We changed our barbecue around March 2025, and it came with a rotisserie kit. There are no words to explain how ecstatic we were.
After many, many tries at making rotisserie chicken at home, it just didn’t work. It was a bit dry. The struggle was real dealing with the rotisserie kit. I had to find a way to make juicy chicken.
After searching and searching for a new method, I discovered spatchcock chicken. It made so much sense in our mind to cook chicken this way: the meat cooks evenly, it is very juicy AND you get crispy skin. It is also now the perfect base for new chicken variations in our household.
You can make this exact recipe, it is delicious and approved by picky eaters in our family, or you can also experiment. I’ve made a brown sugar, miso, gochujang glazed version of a spatchcock chicken and we loved it! Enjoy!
HOW to make this spatchcock chicken recipe (VIDEO)
Spatchcock Chicken
Ingredients
Method
- Start by spatchcocking (butterflying) your chicken. You can either do it yourself by removing the backbone with poultry sheers or you can ask your butcher to do it for you.
- On a baking sheet with a wire rack, heavily salt your chicken on both sides. Let your chicken to dry brine overnight in the fridge, or let it out of the fridge for 2-3 hours.Once the chicken is done brining, use paper towels to fully dry the skin.
- Coat both sides of the chicken with neutral oil (like avocado oil). Sprinkle your spices over both sides of the chicken.
- Warm up your cast iron skillet at 450℉ (if you're doing it on the barbecue). Add 1-2 tbsp of ghee (my preference, but you can use avocado oil) and let the ghee melt and warm up.
- Once you see slight smoke coming out of your cast iron skillet, add your chicken skin down for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Flip the chicken and cook for 45 minutes at 400℉ or until your meat thermometer reads 165℉ in the white meat and 180℉ in the brown meat.
- Rest your chicken for 10 minutes on a baking sheet with a wire rack.Once rested, carve your chicken and serve. Enjoy!
- Optional: Add 1 tbsp of flour and 1 tbsp of butter to the chicken drippings in the cast iron skillet and whisk until combined. Whisk in a cup of chicken stock and you will get a delicious gravy to go along with your chicken.
