Brined Chicken

A roast chicken is a versatile, easy, and comforting dish to make and eat. I’m always trying different recipes to see which I like the best, and I must say this brined chicken recipe made a darn good roast chicken. The skin was crisp not soggy, yet the meat was moist, tender, and flavorful. I think the brining may have helped some, although I did not brine it for very long. I hated to throw away all the onions, garlic, and herbs, so I made a quick gravy with the drippings and stuffing. I brined the chicken for 2 hours and dried it in the refrigerator for 2 hours. I followed directions and roasted it for 35 minutes, and I had a perfect roast chicken. I let the chicken sit under a tent for 30 minutes before slicing it. I found the stuffing was a bit much for the cavity, but I did manage to get it all in there! I will keep this recipe as one of my favorites.

This brined chicken recipe makes extraordinarily moist, full-of-flavor chicken. Even the part of the breast that was uncovered because of a tear in the skin (oops) was soft and tender. You have to be pretty insistent to get everything in the cavity, so I found that mixing those ingredients before stuffing the chicken was a good idea to make sure everything was evenly distributed. I brined the chicken for 3 hours and air-dried it for 1 hour. And I genuinely thought my neighbors had called the fire brigade on me, there was so much smoke from the hot oven. Maybe my oven needs to be cleaned. Or replaced.

I REALLY liked this recipe’s quick brining and drying process. The meat was moist and well-seasoned, and the skin was super crisp. Although this roast chicken recipe just doesn’t compare to the Barefoot Contessa’s roast lemon chicken recipe. And let’s face it—I compare every roast chicken recipe to hers. That said, I will definitely be using this brining and drying technique for every chicken I roast from now on. That is, when I have the time to brine the chicken for 2 hours and air-dry it for another 2 hours.

What could be more “Sunday Lunch” than a roast chicken? This brined chicken recipe produces a lovely moist chicken with a delicate flavor. The recipe directions are pretty clear, and the ingredients are easily available. I brined the chicken for 4 hours and air-dried it for 20 hours in the fridge. I found that the skin where the lemon slices were placed was much darker than the rest of the skin. Everyone found the meat to be very moist, and we enjoyed the flavor. I think it makes a perfectly good roast chicken.

This brined chicken had a gorgeous sheen, a satisfying flavor, and was delicately infused with the lemon and herbs. I brined the chicken for just over 4 hours and let it air-dry for 1 hour and 15 minutes. It ended up with a pretty crisp skin, but I wonder if it would have been even more so had I dried it overnight. I roasted the brined chicken for 20 minutes and then for 25 minutes more, which was perfect. A nicely crisp skin and very, very juicy, tender meat was the reward.

Now this is a Sunday favorite! I’m always looking for ways to jazz up a roast chicken, and this brined chicken recipe did the trick. The brine is a cinch to make and really imparts a nice flavor to the chicken, even when brined for the minimum amount of time. The meat came out tender and extremely moist with a nice, crisp skin. The lemon slices under the breast skin also made for an attractive presentation. My family gave nothing but rave reviews on how good this was and asked when I’d be making it again! This will now be my go-to chicken recipe. For the lemon, I used 2 slices under each breast since the bird was kind of wide.

I love a good roast chicken recipe, and this sounded very interesting and a change from the ordinary. It came out very tender, juicy, and flavorful. In my opinion, although the active hands-on prep is only 30 minutes or so, it is way too much planning ahead, so I did not find it practical for a weeknight meal. The lemon under the skin added a nice touch of flavor to the chicken and is easily accomplished by pushing fingertips under the skin from the front to loosen and sliding the lemon in place. I was hard-pressed to fit the remaining ingredients in the cavity after mixing them together in a bowl; I had to cram. Wanting the skin to brown a bit more, I left the oven at 475°F for 25 minutes before lowering it to 375°F. I cooked it an additional 30 minutes and let it rest a bit. Having done a lot of roast chickens without the brining and drying, I’d still make it again but without all the extra time and planning and steps. I’d use all the same ingredients but just change the method a bit. It was very good and flavorful. No gravy needed.

What drives me crazy is loving a roast chicken recipe that is absolutely amazing, then along comes another roast chicken recipe which blows your mind. For the brine, I decided to use a large glass bowl. I left the chicken for a little over 3 hours. In terms of air-drying time, I left the chicken in the fridge for a full 8 hours. Adding the slice of lemon under the skin of each breast was pretty easy, though I think we could’ve added 2 slices. I followed the instructions to a T in terms of the timing. The skin was amazingly crisp and golden. I wish I’d taken a photo, though I will the next time I make it, as there WILL be a next time. The meat was very juicy, even the breast, which none of us are fans of most of the time. The lemon taste was apparent but not over the top; same with the herbs.

Altogether it took 13h 40m to prepare this chicken, though hands on it was only 25 minutes. This is indeed a recipe to try and make often as a perfect roasted chicken comes out of it.

Roast chicken is a family favorite, so I couldn’t pass up a chance to try out this brined chicken recipe. The directions were very easy to follow. The results were moist and extremely tasty. The aroma was lovely and the chicken’s appearance was appealing—impressive enough for company. We all enjoyed our meal tremendously.The brine came together easily and the tip to put a plate over the chicken to keep it submerged did the trick.I went to a couple grocery stores but couldn’t find a chicken smaller than 4 1/2 pounds. I made my way over to the organic section of the second grocery store and found the organic chickens did run smaller, so I grabbed the smallest one I could find, which was still more than a 1/2 pound heavier than what the recipe indicated. I kept the chicken in the brine for 3 1/2 hours.My goal was to let the bird air-dry overnight as the recipe recommended. but due to unforseen circumstances I was unable to make the chicken the following night as planned and had to put it off for another 24 hours. So the bird ended up air-drying for 2 nights instead of one. Aside from those snags, the recipe came together without further incident. Once I reduced the oven temperature, the chicken took another 25 minutes to reach 165°F. Although the recipe requires some advance preparation with the brine and air-drying, I still feel it’s simple enough for a weeknight meal yet impressive enough to serve to company.