*old post, but updated recipe – it was fun reading this back from 3+ years ago, pre-babe, pre-huge life changes, but still pretty dang happy and enjoying the outdoors*
What a Sunday we had yesterday! Nothing makes me happier than getting outside to play and explore in nature with my friends, family, and pups. And yesterday 
was the best combination of all 3. Hours of exploring with my husband, brother, his girlfriend, and our pups in Santa Cruz’s Nisine Marks State Park, followed by organic hard cider at a brewery in Capitola with my good friend Taz, and then home to make some of the most amazing crispy roasted chicken we’ve ever had. After months of weekly trips to buy LOTS of leg, wing, and thigh packs of pastured chicken from our favorite farmers at farmers market, AND after tons of work trying to perfect this recipe, we’ve finally done it. And today, I’m happy to share this recipe with all of you!
So without further ado, I bring to you my finger lickin’ crispy roasted chicken. The trick is to get as much moisture as possible off the bird before cooking. Then once it’s nice and salty and dry, you smother the bird with a layer of the perfect fat. And to really knock it out of the park, you cook it just right, at the perfect temperature with a broil to finish. The result is the crispiest, most delicious salty, crispy chicken skin that hugs the juiciest, most flavorful dark meat chicken ever. Yum! I HIGHLY recommend going with pastured chicken here. The dark meat will have much higher nutrient density, much more flavor, and nothing beats buying and eating happy chickens from the farmers that make it their life’s mission to farm and sell sustainably. Get this week off to a good start today. Go outside, move, play, and roast up some of this finger lickin’ good chicken. You can’t go wrong!
Crispy Roasted Chicken
WHAT YOU NEED:
- as many as you’d like of skin-on, bone-in chicken legs and/or thighs OR one WHOLE chicken
- 2-3 TB organic avocado oil, bacon grease, lard, tallow, or ghee per pound of meat
- plenty of sea salt
- wire roasting rack of some sort (I just use the top shelf of my cooling rack)
WHAT YOU DO:
Optional: 1-3 hours before it’s time to cook, pat your chicken dry with a paper towel, place on a plate, and sprinkle with sea salt until each piece is evenly covered, then, put plate in the fridge (the salt pulls the moisture out of the bird, and the cold air evaporates it away giving you extra crispy skin)
When it’s time, preheat the oven to 400 F (I use convection roast setting on my oven), and pull your chicken out and pat it dry just incase there’s any remaining moisture.
Brush it evenly with the fat mixture until fully covered, and sprinkle all over with sea salt; then, place it on a wire rack sitting on top of a baking sheet
Put in the oven or toaster oven and let the heat do the magic. There is no perfect number here because it depends on how thick and how much meat you have, but it will never take less than 40 min, so start checking then. It could go over an hour. I roast a whole chicken for 2 hours for fall off the bone tenderness.
Check with a thermometer, and once the inside hits 165, it’s ready to come out; if you want crispier skin, set your oven to high broil and keep an eye on the chicken as it broils, waiting till its nice and crispy before pulling it out (about 2-3 minutes)
Eat it hot! And ENJOY every bite.
*Keep the bones and throw them in a pot with water, bay leaves, and any veggies you’ve got; set to simmer overnight and enjoy fresh broth in the morning!
We paired it last night with sweet potato and rutabaga mash and roasted romanesco (all from farmers market). Let me know what you think! We have this every single week. The skin is crispy and delicious, and the inside is just oh so juicy and tender. Recreate. Share. Enjoy! Cheers.
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