Lemon & Thyme Brined Roast Chicken slathered with thyme butter, surrounded by lemon and oven roasted to golden crispy perfection. The chicken is made extra juicy by brining the chicken before roasting it. Your new family favourite for sure!
Lemon + Thyme Brined Roast Chicken
So while I was recipe testing this roast, I got super organised and made the brine last night, popped in the chicken, then looked up the best amount of time to brine a chook, only to find out it’s a maximum of 4 hours. It was 7pm and I had just put my chook in the brine! Geez, was I going to have to stay up and roast a chook in the middle of the night? Anyway, on further research, found you can remove the chicken once brined, rinse really well then place in the fridge uncovered to allow the skin to dry and become even crispier when cooked. So this roast spent overnight and most of today air drying in the fridge as I cooked it this afternoon, and I have to say the skin did turn out super crispy. Although, that may also be due to the lashings of butter under the skin, the drizzle of oil on top and the blast of 10 minutes at high heat at the start of the cook….. or maybe all of the above combined.
There really is an art to getting your roast chicken to come out looking like a Donna Hay magazine (don’t worry I know mine is far from that). Just trying to tie the drumsticks together took me nearly 10 minutes. Admittedly, I didn’t have any kitchen string and was using my newly discovered kitchen hack, dental floss! Who would have thought! And as you can see my wing tips didn’t successfully stay nicely nestled underneath the body. I think the best idea is to cut the wing tip off and store in the freezer ready to be added to your homemade chicken broth. Think I will do this next time.
Lemon + Thyme Brined Roast Chicken
Description
Ingredients
- aprox 2kg whole chicken
BRINE:
- 8 tablespoons salt
- 3 cups warm water
- 4 cloves garlic, whole & peeled
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 lemon sliced
ROAST:
- 50g butter
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 4 lemons, cut in half
- 4 bay leaves
- salt & pepper
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
Instructions
Wash the chicken. Place the salt and water into a large glass bowl and stir to dissolve the salt. Add the chicken, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns and lemon. Place a small bowl on top of the chicken to keep it submerged, cover and refrigerate for a maximum of 4 hours.
Remove the chicken from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking.
Pre heat oven to 200°C and place shelf on the middle rack. Drain the chicken, pat dry and place into baking dish.
Combine the butter and leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme. Use a spoon or your fingers to loosen the skin of the chicken and spread the butter underneath the skin.
Stuff 1 of the lemons and the bay leaves inside the chicken. Place remainder in baking tray, along with the rest of the thyme.
Tie drumsticks with string or skewer and tuck wing tips under the chicken.
Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes then turn heat down to 180°C and roast a further 1 hr 15 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced. This is best tested close to the drumstick. While the chicken is cooking, occasionally rotate the pan and baste the chicken with pan juices.
Allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
Notes
Do not brine chicken for any longer than 4 hours or it will become too salty.
If you are not ready to cook the chicken as soon as it has finished brining, rinse really well, pat dry and leave uncovered in fridge. This will dry out the skin and help towards extra crispy skin. I brined mine the night before and left the chicken in the fridge overnight.
Here is a little known tip I just learnt….. you can use dental floss to tie the chicken if you don’t have kitchen string.
Macro Organics Chicken
Chef’s Knife from McK’s Knives
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