Thomas Keller’s Simple Roast Chicken

Let’s end the week with a ridiculously simple recipe, shall we?

Guess what? This recipe has 4 ingredients. That includes salt and pepper. When I said ridiculously simple, I meant it. You literally rub a chicken with salt and pepper and put it in the oven for an hour—no oil, no fancy stuffings, that’s it!

After it’s cooked, you can sprinkle some fresh thyme (or another herb) over the top, or skip it.

Everyone needs an amazing whole chicken recipe in their repertoire, and this is definitely it. It’s really kind of silly that this even calls for a recipe, and it’s even sillier that I didn’t come up with something so simple on my own. The amazing and super talented Chef Thomas Keller is to thank for this masterpiece!

He recommends serving the chicken with dijon mustard, which is something I hadn’t even considered before, but it works perfectly. The piquant-ness of the dijon pairs wonderfully with the succulent chicken.

By the way, did I mention that this chicken is crazy moist?

I like to cut the legs & thighs and the breasts & wings off, and serve those, then pick at the rest of the carcass and share some with Rookie (which gets him wayyyyyy too excited, by the way). Then, I put all the bones in a big Ziplock baggie and into the freezer to save to make stock.

Oh, and if you’re scared of trussing a chicken, don’t be! It’s actually so easy! I added a video to the recipe below that should be super helpful.

Serve this with a simple green salad, or some veggies (I served these green beans with it), and be in heaven.

Happy Friday!