Oven Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken Recipe
Spatchcocked Chicken is an excellent way to roast your chicken. Tender chicken, well-spiced, and a hit at the dinner table always.
This method of cooking your chicken saves time and will help you create one-pan meals as well. Add your favorite vegetables around the chicken and roast everything for a complete meal.
What is Spatchcock?
The origin of the term spatchcock is uncertain. A spatchcock or spatchcocked chicken is a method to cook chicken. The backbone is removed from the tail to the neck. The breast section is also flattened by pressing down on the top section of the bird. This method is also referred to as butterfly chicken.
The chicken is cooked much after when the spatchcocked or butterfly method is used. This will also help you season the cavity and under the skin.
This method can be applied to most types of birds.
Preparing your Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken
Before starting, you need a good pair of poultry shears or kitchen scissors. Be sure to clean and rinse the chicken inside and out.
The following steps show how to spatchcock a chicken or any other type of poultry. A good pair of poultry shears or kitchen scissors are needed.
To start:
- Place the chicken on a large cutting board breast side down. Hold the bottom/tail of the chicken firmly and start cutting one side along the backbone up to the neck. Cut the other side to detach the backbone completely. (the larger the chicken, the more challenging it will be to cut along the sides of the backbone.
- Set the backbone and giblets aside to make chicken soup or chicken stock.
- With a sharp knife, cut along the breast bone. Do not slice the breast open.
- Flip the chicken over – breast side up – and press firmly on the center of the breast until you hear it snap. Continue to press down until flatten out.
- You can choose to cut the wings’ tips if you want. I don’t because I want to preserve the wings. The tips are removed after roasting.
This method is also called butterfly chicken. Place the butterfly or spatchcock chicken on a baking tray, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This will also help prevent the butter from melting quickly when applying it to the skin.
Prepare your seasoning for the Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken Recipe.
A mixture of dried seasoning or even poultry seasoning is a good option. Next is figuring out whether you will add seasoning to the butter.
Adding a seasoning mix to the butter is a fantastic way to create a flavorful chicken. The butter must be soft to mix well with the spices. We decided to use Noubess Poultry Seasoning and Noubess Hot and Spicy Mango with Herbs or NouBess Hot and Spicy Sauce.
The blend is incredibly flavorful! It seasoned the chicken perfectly, and the meat was moist and tender.
How to roast the Spatchcocked chicken
Usually, a baking sheet pan and parchment paper are used to roast the chicken. If you don’t have parchment paper, lay the chicken flat on a well-greased baking sheet pan.
From experience, when using only a baking sheet pan, building a wall around the rim of the pan made with aluminum foil is not a bad idea. The aluminum foil will block most grease splattering from the melted butter.
If using parchment paper, the paper will absorb some of the melted butter. Using parchment paper to line a baking sheet is a good idea.
Final thoughts and side dishes ideas
This Oven Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken recipe is an excellent dish for any weeknight. It is easy and very simple to make. You can serve it with any vegetable broccoli side dish, for example, or a starch or carbs dish.
Oven Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 lb whole chicken
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted softened (1 stick)
- 1/4 cup Noubess Poultry Seasoning
- 1 tablespoon Noubess Hot and Spicy Mango with Herbs
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 F degrees. Spray a deep baking sheet pan with cooking spray or a large skillet that can hold the chicken.
- Prepare butter mixture: In a small bowl add the butter, hot and spicy sauce and poultry seasoning. Whisk or mash with a fork or spatula until well combined.
- Spatchcock chicken: Place the chicken breast-side down and the legs towards you on a large cutting board. With a pair of kitchen shears, cut up each side of the backbone, cutting through the rib bones as you go. Open the chicken to loosen up the breast soft bone and turn it over then flatten the breastbone with the heel of your hand, by pressing down (see photos above). Cut the wing tips off – optional – you may cut them after to avoid the meaty part of the wings to overcook.
- Season the inside of the chicken generously with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, then flip it over so that the breast side is up.
- Run your fingers under the skin – loosen up the skin on the thighs and the breasts.
- Apply half of the butter mixture under the chicken skin (breasts and legs) and spread the rest of the mixture over the top of the bird.
- Place the chicken in the prepared pan and bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until it registers 165 to 170 F on an instant-read thermometer. (consider building a wall with aluminum foil to avoid the fat from splattering inside the oven and creating smoke.)
- Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes before carving and serving.
- Optional: To make the sauce, pour the fat from the chicken in a saucepan. Bring the fat to a boil under medium heat. Add ½ cup of white wine, and 1 cup chicken broth low sodium. Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper or Noubess Poultry Seasoning and Noubess Mango Hot and Spicy Sauce as needed. Add one small onion, sliced and continue to boil until the sauce has reduced to at least half.
- Cut up the chicken in pieces and place in a large pan. Pour the sauce over the chicken pieces and serve immediately.
Notes
Add olives, cornichons, or capers to the sauce.
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
