Tips on keeping my roast chicken moist

frobisher

Aside of course from buying a good bird, as anyone got any tips for getting a crispy skin but keeping the inside moist?

The Sweeper

There's the "cover it in butter" option.

Personally, I use a "20 minute sizzle" - the dressed and prepped bird goes into a 220 degree oven for 20 mins. At the end of the 20 mins the temp is dropped right down to 180 for the rest of the cooking time - and I mean right down - I leave the oven door open while basting the bird so the temp drops. I find it helps.

bonkey

An important but often overlooked point here is....

...don't overcook it!!!

I know when I was raised, the threat of undercooking chicken was so ingrained into us, that you took whatever was the recommended time, and added some sufficiently large increment to it that the bird wouldn't be undercooked even if your oven was running a little colder then its set to, and the bird was a bit denser in places then expected and, and, and.

Another option - although I normally only do this with turkey - is to drape some streaky bacon over the bird after you turn down to 180 (cooking as per MAJDs instructions).

Cal

Start the roast with the bird on it's back - Baste as usual - Half to two thirds way through flip the bird over so the breast is down. This lets the juices flow back into the breast. Try it.

Cal.

Alun

I like to make a mixture of soft butter, finely chopped herbs and maybe a bit of crushed garlic and get it underneath the skin of the breast. You have to use your fingers or some long pointy implement like a plastic chopstick to loosen the skin away from the breast meat and then spread the butter/herb mixture under it using your fingers. Makes for a gorgeously moist chicken, but not a terribly crispy skin unfortunately.

Alun

Cal wrote:

Start the roast with the bird on it's back - Baste as usual - Half to two thirds way through flip the bird over so the breast is down. This lets the juices flow back into the breast. Try it.

Cal.

You can get adjustable v-shaped roasting racks that make this much easier (a chicken perched on it's breast side isn't very stable).

CJhaughey

I always stuff my chickens, I think the moisture in the stuffing helps the bird stay moist.
I have also experimented with roasting the chicken breast side down this helps as the liquids tend to flow downwards into the normally dry breastmeat.

Tree

my mum (im not allowed touch roasts in at home) covers the bird in tinfoil and tehn just takes it off for the last twenty mins. oh and a bit of butter over the skin when it goes in first.

kmick

Make sure you leave your all meat to stand after cooking. I would leave a large chicken to stand in its cooking tray - lightly covered with the tinfoil (which you took off for the last 45 minutes of cooking) for at least 25 minutes. It allows the moisture in the bird to redistribute. Have you ever noticed if you carve a bird straight from the oven water flows from it. If you leave it stand this does not happen.

tk123

I've taken to cooking the chicken 'flat' I've actually got one in the oven now It sounds a bit gruesome but what I do is turn it over and cut out the back bone then press down on the breast bone to flatten it out. Its easy to lift this skin and stuff it this way with a small wooden spoon or your fingers - usually i would chop up some rosemary and garlic and mix it with a little softened butter but today I made up a small amount of bread and onion stuffing for a treat It only takes an hour this way and its always lovely and moist. Also because it only takes an hour you can have it flattened and ready to go into the oven when you come home from work.