This roast chicken with apples has the crispiest skin around, thanks to a few tricks. Apples, toasty pecans, and a luscious pan sauce make it perfect for the Fall season, and it's only 15 minutes of hands-on time!
Why you should make this recipe this Fall
- It's classic, simple roasted chicken, but with a twist using classic Fall flavors.
- It can be served alone, or with virtually any side dish you have on hand.
- It's less than 20 minutes of hands-on time, so most of the actual cooking is in the oven.
- You can use the leftovers to make immune boosting bone broth.
Ingredients
- Let's talk about the apples. I think a Honeycrisp apple is perfect for this recipe, but any sweet, slightly tart reddish apple will do. Yellow delicious will also suffice, but AVOID Granny Smith or any variety of green apple. They're tasty, but too tart for this dish.
- The size of the chicken that you choose doesn't matter, and chickens generally come in a 4-6 pound range. Choose a weight that best suits your family. For our family of 6, I choose as close to a 6 pound chicken as possible (4 pounds is too small for us).
- Although I prefer to use pecan halves and pieces, the pecans can be chopped, whole or halved.
How to make this recipe
Clean the inside of your chicken. Some come with clean cavities, some don't. Here's a quick read on what it looks like, and what you can do with it, aside from throwing it away.
Stuff the chicken with the sliced apples, shallot, garlic, thyme and cubes of butter (photo 1) (this will infuse flavor into the chicken, and the drippings as they release from the bird). You can truss your chicken, or not, since it's stuffed.
Prepare a bed of apples and pecans inside the skillet or roasting pan (photo 2), that the chicken will rest on. This will elevate the chicken (in place of a roasting rack) and also infuse additional flavor into what will become the pan sauce.
Place the chicken on the bed of apples and pecans (photo 3). Season the chicken and entire pan with salt and pepper.
Roast the chicken at 350 degrees for one hour and 15 minutes (or about 20 minutes per pound, until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, 75 degrees Celsius).
Remove the chicken from the pan, and let it rest on a cutting board for a minimum of 10 minutes.
Carve the chicken, and serve with the pan drippings, pecans and apples (photo 4).
Tips
- Cleaning out the inside of the chicken, and allowing it to "dry" in the fridge, uncovered overnight makes for a much crispier skin.
- The juices are released right before the chicken is about to be done; so keep an eye out for a dry pan, turned juicy.
- Allowing the chicken to rest on a cutting board before cutting into it, allows the juices to distribute, which guarantees the most juicy chicken possible.
Does this recipe give you all the Fall feels, and a nice twist on classic roast chicken? Leave a 1-5 star rating in the comments, and let me know what you think!
Roast Chicken with Apples
Equipment
- Cast iron skillet or roasting pan
- Knife
Ingredients
- 4-6 lb whole chicken inside cavity empty and cleaned
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2-3 medium size red variety apples sliced
- 3 cloves garlic smashed, peeled, minced
- 1 cups pecans halves or peeces
- 1 shallot sliced
- whole thyme sprigs
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Clean inside of chicken cavity and pat completely dry. Pat dry the outside of the chicken so that there is no moisture. (Optional: let further air dry uncovered, in the refrigerator for 1-24 hours, til completely dry, resulting in a crispier skin.)
- Stuff the inside of the chicken with thyme, garlic cloves, and as many sliced apples as will reasonably fit. Tie the chicken legs with kitchen twine.
- In a large cast iron skillet or baking dish (lightly greased with butter if not non-stick), line the bottom of the pan with all the remaining sliced apples and pecans.
- Place the chicken on top of the bed of apples and pecans. Take both wings, bend down and around the back of the chicken, further propping it up over the apples and nuts.
- Heavily salt the chicken with coarse kosher salt, and lightly pepper. Place oven-go thermometer between the thigh and breast, but not touching any bone.
- Bake uncovered, for around 1 hour 15 minutes, until internal temp reaches 165 degrees. Periodically spoon over the pan drippings. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.
- Serve with extra pan sauce, apples and pecans spooned over.
Notes
- Cleaning out the inside of the chicken, and allowing it to "dry" in the fridge, uncovered overnight makes for a much crispier skin.
- The juices are released right before the chicken is about to be done; so keep an eye out for a dry pan, turned juicy.
- Allowing the chicken to rest on a cutting board before cutting into it, allows the juices to distribute, which guarantees the most juicy chicken possible.
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