Perfectly cooked whole chicken in less than 30 minutes (easy and delicious)!- Scratch Mommy

How To Cook A Whole Chicken FAST!

Learn how to cook a chicken at 500 degrees (quick!) and it's easier than you think!- Scratch Mommy
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One of my intentions for 2016 is to try to really focus on having almost everything that I consume be grown locally. My husband is on board as well (after we drafted up a list of list of a few nonnegotiable items like coffee. And, chocolate).

Together, we have taken lots of baby steps towards local food over the last three years and we do pretty well for the most part, especially in the summer. But, I just think it would be pretty neat to really make this an effort with the best of our ability year round.

Some of our first steps were dabbling with gardening and trying to make the farmer’s market our go-to place for vegetables. This was great, but as we learned more about local food, we wanted to buy more local food.

And, we are not a vegetarians. So, I needed to learn more about local meat sources.

I could always get pastured chicken delivered right to my door (here at Scratch Mommy we love Home Grown Cow and the services they offer), but toward the end of that first summer of eating local I finally connected with a farmer who sells pastured chicken and I couldn’t wait to try it.

One problem.

This farmer only sold whole chickens.

Cook a whole chicken in 25 minutes (so easy and SO tasty!)- Scratch Mommy
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In fact, it was hard to find any farmer selling just a package of breasts or thighs.

I love this post about my experience with that first whole chicken (and here on Scratch Mommy I share how you can break down a whole chicken into pieces)! …But, I had never cooked a whole bird before, so I was intimidated and nervous by the whole concept. Today, though, with a couple years and a few more whole chickens under my belt (we actually raise our own now!), I love cooking a whole chicken.

I love getting a bird out to roast all afternoon on a Sunday. I love how the aroma slowly wafts from the oven through my home making it feel so cozy. I love that the slow and low process is so traditional and makes me feel timeless. I also love the nourishing chicken stock I get from the leftover carcass!

But, I hate that this slow roasting process is basically impossible to achieve on a weeknight.

After work, meetings, and the gym I can’t have a chicken in the oven for hours. I don’t have kids yet, but have only heard that kids have a tendency to make things like getting dinner on the table even more challenging. I can’t help but believe there is some truth to this, so I know a busy family can’t have chicken in the oven for hours most weeknights either. I needed to learn how to cook a whole chicken FAST!

So, when celebrity chefs and popular food magazines recently started sharing a simple and super fast way to roast chicken, I was all ears.

Their claim was that all you needed to do was to roast a whole bird at 500 degrees for ten minutes for every pound. So, say you have a four pound chicken? You would roast it for 40 minutes.

I was skeptical.

Would it really cook all the way through in that short amount of time?

And, if it did, would it be charred to a crisp because of the super high heat?

Wouldn’t it be dry?

500 degrees is hot… Would my smoke detector blare through the house the whole time?

Despite my skepticism, I gave it a try.

Look at this beautiful whole chicken (cooked in less than 30 minutes!). Learn how on ScratchMommy.com
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I grabbed a two and half pound bird from my freezer, let it defrost in the fridge for a couple days, and pulled it out for dinner after a busy day at work.

I let the bird come to room temperature as I settled into the house and did some minimal prep. All I added was a little olive oil, sea salt, and pepper to the skin. Things like lemons and garlic could be added to the cavity, if desired, but if I was going the simple route, I was going to keep it very simple.

Once the oven reached 500 degrees I put the chicken in on a roasting pan breast side up and hit the timer for 25 minutes.

I checked on the bird periodically anticipating smoke or a splattered mess.

Instead, I found neither.

Perfectly cooked whole chicken in less than 30 minutes (easy and delicious)!- Scratch Mommy
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The bird’s skin was becoming perfectly golden and crispy. The sputtering sounds and scents of the meat gave me the same warm and fuzzy, traditional cooking feelings I get with a whole chicken roasting low and slow all Sunday afternoon. And, upon exiting the oven, the bird was cooked through, yet still incredibly juicy.

So much for skepticism. It was simple, speedy, and delicious. Perfect for a week night…or even to switch things up on a Sunday! You have got to learn how to cook a whole chicken FAST!

*Note: We have had some readers state that following this recipe gave them a house full of smoke. Yikes! Claire cooked a 2.5 lb chicken, so a very small chicken. We have not tested this recipe with a large chicken. You’ll want to make sure that you have a deep roasting dish (avoid glass as it can get too hot, clean metal is best) and a clean oven to start (or debris will burn).

4.2 from 6 reviews
How To Cook A Whole Chicken FAST!
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken (be sure to note the weight, as it will be needed for the cooking time)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (quality organic olive oil)
  • Sea salt (kosher sea salt, if desired), generous sprinkle
  • Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
  • Optional: ½ lemon or a couple cloves of garlic for stuffing the cavity
Instructions
  1. Move oven racks so that the chicken will be on the rise second from the bottom. Heat oven to 500 degrees.
  2. Let chicken come to room temperature on the counter. Trim any fat and remove any giblets.
  3. Cover the chicken in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. If lemon or garlic is desired, place in cavity.
  4. Place chicken on a roasting pan, breast side up. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes per pound of the chicken, or until the juices run clear. (Example. If using a four pound chicken, roast for 40 minutes.)
  5. Let chicken rest ten minutes upon removal from the oven.

Here are some other ways we love to cook chicken in our ‘from scratch’ kitchens!

Comments 14

  1. I’m not going to lie, I too am skeptical. But I am ready to give it a try and see if you really can cook a whole chicken in 30 minutes! Pinned.

  2. I never knew you could cook a chicken so quickly! I always cook ours on moderate heat for an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of the chicken.

  3. I really wanted this to work. Don’t try this if your oven has any debris on bottom. Also the pan and oil around the bird got too hot and started to smoke. This was a big fail for us. I filled the house with smoke before the bird was half done.

    1. Post
      Author

      Hi Cat, I am so sorry to hear that this did not work for you and your family. I am now imagining this with an oven with debris on the bottom and can see how easily it could cause smoke. Thanks for letting us know you had some trouble.

  4. This did not work for us either and the over was clean. That is too high. The wings burned and the oven was full of smoke. Thankfully I checked it 1/2 into the cooking and turned down the oven.

  5. This was excellent!!! I was definitely in a time pinch when I found this recipe and it worked beautifully. Thank you for sharing!

  6. This did not work for me. Smoked and splattered up my oven and my house, and took 70 mins to cook a 4 lb chicken. Will go back to my old way of cooking chicken.

  7. This saved dinner one night!! Yes, it works. Did my smoke alarm go off? Once, when I checked on it near the end… it also goes off every time I try to broil anything, so I took it with the usual grain of salt. Thank you for this!! Came out tender and super yummy. ????

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