Spicy Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken & Veggies

I have to apologize for my sporadic posting as of late. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the current (and unfortunate) state of my kitchen. I was without a functioning kitchen for about a week due to some major water damage was caused by a leaky sink. An avid home cook’s (and food blogger’s!) worst nightmare.

Use of my sink and stove was just restored, so I’m hoping to cram in some recipes before I lose functionality again (we have to do a full kitchen gut in about a month – exciting because I will get a dream kitchen in its place, but not so exciting because it was unplanned).

I actually made this chicken prior to the kitchen issues, but haven’t had time to gather my thoughts on the recipe given all the recent upheaval. My thoughts are this: this chicken is awesome. Simple as that.

I tried a new method (new to me, anyway) of roasting chicken where you remove the backbone and slightly break the breastbone so the chicken roasts flat and more evenly. This technique is called “spatchcocking.” Weird, right? I have no idea who came up with that name, but the idea is genius! The chicken roasts much more evenly and all meat (even the white meat!) stays moist and juicy. I flavored this one up with a spicy and lemony compound butter, but you really could use any flavors you like. My favorite roast chicken rub consists of butter, garlic, lemon, and herbs…and that’s it. Simple but so tasty. This was a nice departure for me.

The veggies that roast in the bottom of the pan are killer. They not only cook in all the yummy chicken juices, but also in some spicy pickling liquid from a jar of pickled jalapeños. They get tender and golden and are packed with spicy flavor. Gotta love roasting for that reason. If you aren’t a huge fan of heat, you could easily omit the jarred peppers/juice completely. I would definitely add more chicken stock in place of the juice, though. Your veggies may burn otherwise. The hot sauce in the chicken rub isn’t too overpowering. I recommend sticking with that.

I may make another one of these this week, just in case I lose my kitchen again suddenly. Roast chicken is awesome to make once and eat all week long. You can use it in so many ways.

My husband will be excited. He loved this chicken. I’m sure you will too!

Spicy Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken & Veggies                             (makes 4-6 servings)

For the Chicken:

5-lb whole chicken, patted completely dry

1 stick of butter, softened

5 garlic cloves

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup hot sauce

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

For the Veggies:

1½ lbs baby red potatoes, halved

1 large onion, cut into large chunks

1 large red bell pepper, cut into large chunks

3 large carrots, cut into large chunks

5 garlic cloves, smashed (and left whole)

1 cup pickled hot peppers (jalapeños, pepperoncini, etc)

½ cup hot pepper pickling liquid from the jar

2 tablespoons hot sauce (optional)

1½ cups chicken stock

First, thoroughly dry your chicken (very important). Next, follow these instructions to spatchcock the chicken. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Next, place the butter, garlic, lemon juice/zest, parsley, and hot sauce in a food processor and pulse until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Rub the butter all over the chicken and under the skin. Place all the veggies on the bottom of a roasting pan, pour the pickled peppers over top, followed by the juice, hot sauce, and chicken stock. Season everything with salt and pepper (See Note** below).

Place the seasoned chicken, breast side down, on top of the veggies. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and rub into chicken with your hands. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Flip over the chicken, drizzle with a little more oil, and then return to the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature registers 160°F on a meat thermometer.

Remove the chicken and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving. While the chicken is resting, return the pan with the veggies to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are deeply browned and roasted. Serve the chicken with the veggies.

**Note: you could also add a cup of white wine to the veggie mixture in place of one cup of stock. I usually do this when roasting chicken, but opted out this time because I’m preggo. Not because of the alcohol, because that mostly cooks out, but because it’s painful to open a bottle of wine and not have a glass. Seriously. It’s the only booze I’m missing these days. It was easier to just skip it.

Adapted from here.